Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VICTORIA by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

Poet Analysis

First Line: TWAS DEAD OF THE NIGHT, WHEN I SAT IN MY DWELLING
Last Line: I WILDLY THEN CALLED ON THE TEMPEST TO BEAR ME --
I

'T WAS dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling;
One glimmering lamp was expiring and low;
Around, the dark tide of the tempest was swelling,
Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling, --
They bodingly presaged destruction and woe.

II

'T was then that I started! -- the wild storm was howling,
Nought was seen save the lightning which danced in the sky;
Above me the crash of the thunder was rolling,
And low, chilling murmurs the blast wafted by.

III

My heart sank within me -- unheeded the war
Of the battling clouds on the mountaintops broke;
Unheeded the thunder-peal crashed in mine ear --
This heart, hard as iron, is stranger to fear;
But conscience in low, noiseless whispering spoke.

IV

'T was then that, her form on the whirlwind upholding,
The ghost of the murdered Victoria strode;
In her right hand a shadowy shroud she was holding;
She swiftly advanced to my lonesome abode.

V

I wildly then called on the tempest to bear me --



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