Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TOWER OF FAMINE, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY 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wealth; the tempest-proof Pavilions of the dark Italian air Are by its presence dimmed -- they stand aloof, And are withdrawn -- so that the world is bare; As if a spectre, wrapped in shapeless terror, Amid a company of ladies fair Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror Of all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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ALASTOR; OR, THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AUTUMN: A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ENGLAND IN 1819 by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY EPIPSYCHIDION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY FEELINGS OF A REPUBLICAN ON THE FALL OF BONAPARTE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY HYMN OF PAN by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY HYMN TO INTELLECTUAL BEAUTY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY LINES WRITTEN ON HEARING THE NEWS OF THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY MONT BLANC; LINES WRITTEN IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |
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