Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO SIDMOUTH AND CASTLEREAGH, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO SIDMOUTH AND CASTLEREAGH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: As from an ancestral oak
Last Line: Two vipers tangled into one.
Variant Title(s): Similes For Two Political Characters Of 1819
Subject(s): Addington, Henry, Viscount Sidmouth; England; Politics & Government; Statesmen; Stewart, Robert. 2d Marquis Londonderry; Tyranny & Tyrants; Villains In Literature; English; Castlereagh, Viscount


As from an ancestral oak
Two empty ravens sound their clarion,
Yell by yell, and croak by croak,
When they scent the noonday smoke
Of fresh human carrion: --
As two gibbering night-birds flit
From their bowers of deadly yew
Through the night to frighten it,
When the moon is in a fit,
And the stars are none, or few: --
As a shark and dog-fish wait
Under an Atlantic isle,
For the negro-ship, whose freight
Is the theme of their debate,
Wrinkling their red gills the while --
Are ye, two vultures sick for battle
Two scorpions under one wet stone
Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle,
Two crows perched on the murrained cattle,
Two vipers tangled into one.





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