Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TOWER OF FAMINE, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY



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THE TOWER OF FAMINE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Amid the desolation of a city
Last Line: Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew.


AMID the desolation of a city,
Which was the cradle and is now the grave
Of an extinguished people, -- so that pity

Weeps o'er the shipwrecks of oblivion's wave,
There stands the Tower of Famine. It is built
Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave

For bread, and gold, and blood; pain, linked to guilt,
Agitates the light flame of their hours,
Until its vital oil is spent or spilt.

There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers
And sacred domes, -- each marble-ribbed roof,
The brazen-gated temples and the bowers

Of solitary wealth; the tempest-proof
Pavilions of the dark Italian air
Are by its presence dimmed -- they stand aloof,

And are withdrawn -- so that the world is bare;
As if a spectre, wrapped in shapeless terror,
Amid a company of ladies fair

Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror
Of all their beauty, -- and their hair and hue,
The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error,
Should be absorbed, till they to marble grew.





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