Lines to a Reviewer by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The speaker asks a hostile reviewer what he gains by hating someone who responds with a smile free of contempt. He urges the reviewer to conquer a passion that will receive no answering hatred, closing with a comparison to Narcissus.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Satirical Poetry, Poetry · 151 words
First lines
Alas, good friend, what profit can you see / In hating such a hateless thing as me? / There is no sport in hate where all the rage / Is on one side: in vain would you assuage / Your frowns upon an unresisting smile, / In which not even contempt lurks to beguile / Your heart, by some faint sympathy of hate. / Oh, conquer what you cannot satiate! / For to your passion I am far more coy / Than ever yet was coldest maid or boy / In winter noon. Of your antipathy / If I am the Narcissus, you are free / To pine into a sound with hating me.
Genres
- Satirical Poetry — The verse mocks a reviewer's hostility by presenting his hatred as an unrequited passion that cannot provoke even contempt.
- Poetry — Thirteen rhyming lines sustain a direct address, ending with a Narcissus comparison and the image of pining into a sound.
Tags
reviewers · unrequited hatred · satire · classical allusion
What this Textopian page supports
Lines to a Reviewer 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: Satirical Poetry, Poetry
- Length: 151 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Lines to a Reviewer by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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