Ginevra by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Distressed after marrying Gherardi, Ginevra meets her lover Antonio in the garden, removes her wedding ring, and offers it as a pledge of fidelity while predicting her imminent death. That evening she is found without motion, pulse, or breath; the wedding celebration turns to mourning, followed by a dirge anticipating her bodily decay.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Gothic Poetry, Tragic Romance · 2,490 words
First lines
Wild, pale, and wonder-stricken, even as one / Who staggers forth into the air and sun / From the dark chamber of a mortal fever, / Bewildered, and incapable, and ever / Fancying strange comments in her dizzy brain / Of usual shapes, till the familiar train / Of objects and of persons passed like things / Strange as a dreamer's mad imaginings, / Ginevra from the nuptial altar went; / The vows to which her lips had sworn assent / Rung in her brain still with a jarring din, / Deafening the lost intelligence within.
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed verse follows Ginevra from the wedding altar through her encounter with Antonio to the discovery of her apparently lifeless body.
- Gothic Poetry — Ginevra's prediction of death, her cold and motionless body, nighttime shrieks, and the dirge's anticipated decay give the wedding narrative its dread.
- Tragic Romance — Ginevra pledges continuing love to Antonio after marrying Gherardi, but their encounter is followed by her apparent death and mourning.
Tags
wedding · divided loyalties · apparent death · mourning · dirge · bodily decay
What this Textopian page supports
Ginevra is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Gothic Poetry, Tragic Romance
- Length: 2,490 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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- Work identity for Ginevra by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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