Marenghi by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Marenghi, a Florentine whose alleged crime is unrecorded, is banished with a price on his life and death threatened against anyone who helps him. He survives for years near Vado's pestilential marshes, finding companionship among animals and relief in contemplating nature. The fragment ends as a ship turns his thoughts toward humankind and his country.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Political Poetry · 1,862 words
First lines
Let those who pine in pride or in revenge, / Or think that ill for ill should be repaid, / Who barter wrong for wrong, until the exchange / Ruins the merchants of such thriftless trade, / Visit the tower of Vado, and unlearn / Such bitter faith beside Marenghi's urn.
A massy tower yet overhangs the town, / A scattered group of ruined dwellings now...
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Numbered rhyming stanzas recount Marenghi's banishment, his struggle to survive, and his years beside the marsh and sea.
- Political Poetry — The narrator condemns retaliatory wrongs, contrasts freedom with monarchy, and challenges Florence over Pisa's subjugation.
Tags
exile · survival · marshes · solitude · revenge · political persecution · Florence · Pisa
What this Textopian page supports
Marenghi 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, Political Poetry
- Length: 1,862 words
- Structure: 1 section, 30 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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