Lines Written on Hearing the News of the Death o
A speaker asks how Earth can remain lively after Napoleon’s death. Earth replies that the dead nourish the living, condemns Napoleon’s course of terror and ruin, and urges the millions who follow to shape his legacy and recover the hopes his glory displaced.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Political Poetry, Philosophical Poetry · 459 words
First lines
What! alive and so bold, O Earth? / Art thou not overbold? / What! leapest thou forth as of old / In the light of thy morning mirth, / The last of the flock of the starry fold? / Ha! leapest thou forth as of old? / Are not the limbs still when the ghost is fled, / And canst thou move, Napoleon being dead?
How! is not thy quick heart cold? / What spark is alive on thy hearth? / How! is not HIS death-knell knolled? / And livest THOU still, Mother Earth? / Thou wert warming thy fingers old / O'er the embers covered and cold / Of that most fiery spirit, when it fled- / What, Mother, do you laugh now he is dead?
Genres
- Political Poetry — Earth condemns Napoleon’s terror, bloodshed and ruin, then calls on the millions who follow to reshape what he leaves behind.
- Philosophical Poetry — The verse dialogue disputes whether one ruler’s death should halt the world and presents the dead as nourishment for continuing life.
Tags
death · renewal · political power · bloodshed · personification
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Lines Written on Hearing the News of the Death of Napoleon 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: Political Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 459 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
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