Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819
The speaker mocks two unnamed political figures by comparing them to carrion-seeking ravens, frightening night-birds, and a shark and dogfish waiting for a slave ship. The final stanza likens them to vultures eager for battle, scorpions, wolves, crows on diseased cattle, and entwined vipers.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · First published 1819 · Genre: Political Satire, Poetry · 193 words
First lines
1.
As from an ancestral oak / Two empty ravens sound their clarion, / Yell by yell, and croak by croak, / When they scent the noonday smoke / Of fresh human carrion: -
2.
As two gibbering night-birds flit / From their bowers of deadly yew / Through the night to frighten it, / When the moon is in a fit, / And the stars are none, or few: -
Genres
- Political Satire — The title identifies two political targets whom the speaker ridicules through comparisons with scavengers, predators, and venomous animals.
- Poetry — Four rhymed five-line stanzas build successive animal comparisons before directly addressing the two targets.
Tags
political satire · animal similes · predation · slave trade
What this Textopian page supports
Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819 is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated 1819 CE.
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: 1819 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Political Satire, Poetry
- Length: 193 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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