The Witch of Atlas by Percy Bysshe Shelley
An immortal witch on Mount Atlas creates a winged, sexless companion and travels by enchanted boat through mountain streams, southern waters, and the Nile. Among sleeping mortals, she gives selected people a potion that preserves them after burial in warm, undecaying sleep, while her dreams prompt misers to give away wealth, soldiers to turn swords into ploughshares, and estranged friends to reunite.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Fantasy Poetry, Satirical Poetry · 7,251 words
First lines
Before those cruel Twins, whom at one birth / Incestuous Change bore to her father Time, / Error and Truth, had hunted from the Earth / All those bright natures which adorned its prime, / And left us nothing to believe in, worth / The pains of putting into learned rhyme, / A lady-witch there lived on Atlas' mountain / Within a cavern, by a secret fountain.
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed eight-line stanzas recount the witch's birth, creation of a companion, voyages, and interventions among mortals.
- Fantasy Poetry — The witch weaves light and mist, animates a boat, creates a winged being from fire and snow, and preserves bodies beyond death.
- Satirical Poetry — Priests announce that their sacred bull is merely a bull, while courtiers pay homage to an ape dressed in royal robes.
Tags
witchcraft · enchanted voyages · dreams · immortality · magical creation · Nile · social satire
What this Textopian page supports
The Witch of Atlas 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, Fantasy Poetry, Satirical Poetry
- Length: 7,251 words
- Structure: 1 section, 78 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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- Work identity for The Witch of Atlas by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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