St. Irvyne's Tower by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The poem describes a moonlit scene at St. Irvyne's Tower, where a dark gray turret glimmers under the silver light of the moon while an owl shrieks in the stillness. A speaker laments the concealment of death and the inability of human minds to unveil the future, describing a heart torn by the world that sinks into death.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Romantic Poetry, Gothic Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 237 words
First lines
How swiftly through Heaven's wide expanse / Bright day's resplendent colours fade! / How sweetly does the moonbeam's glance / With silver tint St. Irvyne's glade!
No cloud along the spangled air, / Is borne upon the evening breeze; / How solemn is the scene! how fair / The moonbeams rest upon the trees!
Yon dark gray turret glimmers white, / Upon it sits the mournful owl; / Along the stillness of the night, / Her melancholy shriekings roll.
But not alone on Irvyne's tower, / The silver moonbeam pours her ray; / It gleams upon the ivied bower, / It dances in the cascade's spray.
Genres
- Romantic Poetry — The poem employs sublime natural imagery like moonbeams and a dark gray turret to evoke melancholy, focusing on the speaker's internal emotional state and existential questioning of mortality.
- Gothic Poetry — The text features classic Gothic tropes including a solitary tower, a mournful owl, and themes of death and despair, creating an atmosphere of dread and isolation.
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, musical verse expressing personal emotion and reflection on the human condition through direct address and rhetorical questions.
Tags
romanticism · gothic · mortality · night · moonlight · melancholy · owl
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St. Irvyne's Tower 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: Romantic Poetry, Gothic Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 237 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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