Hymn to Mercury by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Newborn Mercury makes a tortoise-shell lyre, steals Apollo's cattle and disguises his tracks. Jupiter orders him to reveal the herd; Mercury's music wins Apollo over, and he exchanges the lyre for a herdsman's lash. Mercury swears not to rob Apollo, who promises a golden wand and grants him three prophetic sisters while withholding Jove's secret divinations.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Classical Poetry, Mythological Poetry · 8,978 words
First lines
Sing, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove, / The Herald-child, king of Arcadia / And all its pastoral hills, whom in sweet love / Having been interwoven, modest May / Bore Heaven's dread Supreme. An antique grove / Shadowed the cavern where the lovers lay / In the deep night, unseen by Gods or Men, / And white-armed Juno slumbered sweetly then.
Genres
- Classical Poetry — Rhymed stanzas recount Mercury's birth, his dispute with Apollo and their appearance before Jupiter on Olympus, beginning with an invocation to the Muse.
- Mythological Poetry — The narrative follows a newborn god who invents the lyre, steals divine cattle and reconciles with Apollo through music and exchanged gifts.
Tags
mythology · greek-myths · hermes · apollo · lyre · theft · olympian-gods · narrative-poetry
What this Textopian page supports
Hymn to Mercury is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Classical Poetry, Mythological Poetry
- Length: 8,978 words
- Structure: 1 section, 97 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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