The Two Spirits: an Allegory
One spirit warns against flight as night and storms approach; the other declares that love and inner calm will sustain its passage. The closing stanzas report stories of a winged shape pursued by a storm around a frozen Alpine pine, and of a silver apparition whose passing makes a traveller's night seem like day.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Allegorical Poetry, Dialogue · 493 words
First lines
FIRST SPIRIT: / O thou, who plumed with strong desire / Wouldst float above the earth, beware! / A Shadow tracks thy flight of fire- / Night is coming! / Bright are the regions of the air, / And among the winds and beams / It were delight to wander there- / Night is coming!
SECOND SPIRIT: / The deathless stars are bright above; / If I would cross the shade of night, / Within my heart is the lamp of love, / And that is day! / And the moon will smile with gentle light / On my golden plumes where'er they move; / The meteors will linger round my flight, / And make night day.
Genres
- Allegorical Poetry — The spirits' opposing responses to night and tempest give concrete shape to caution and confidence sustained by love.
- Dialogue — Four rhymed stanzas alternate between one spirit's warnings and the other's replies.
Tags
allegory · spirits · flight · night · storms · love
What this Textopian page supports
The Two Spirits: an Allegory 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: Allegorical Poetry, Dialogue
- Length: 493 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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