“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Introduction

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“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Summary

“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Themes

• 

  Isolation, Despair, and the Consolations of Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples”

• Lines 1-6

  The Sun is warm, the sky is clear,
  The waves are dancing fast and bright,
  Blue isles and snowy mountains wear
  The purple noon's transparent might,
  The breath of the moist earth is light,
  Around its unexpanded buds;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-9

  Like many a voice of one delight,
  The winds, the birds, the Ocean-floods;
  The City's voice itself is soft, like Solitude's.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-14

  I see the Deep's untrampled floor
  With green and purple seaweeds strown;
  I see the waves upon the shore
  Like light dissolved in star-showers, thrown;
  I sit upon the sands alone;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  The lightning of the noontide Ocean
  Is flashing round me, and a tone
  Arises from its measured motion,
  How sweet! did any heart now share in my emotion.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-23

  Alas! I have nor hope nor health,
  Nor peace within nor calm around,
  Nor that content surpassing wealth
  The sage in meditation found,
  And walked with inward glory crowned;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 24-27

  Nor fame nor power nor love nor leisure—
  Others I see whom these surround,
  Smiling they live and call life pleasure:
  To me that cup has been dealt in another measure.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 28-32

  Yet now despair itself is mild,
  Even as the winds and waters are;
  I could lie down like a tired child
  And weep away the life of care
  Which I have borne and yet must bear,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 33-36

  Till Death like Sleep might steal on me,
  And I might feel in the warm air
  My cheek grow cold, and hear the Sea
  Breathe o'er my dying brain its last monotony.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 37-42

  Some might lament that I were cold,
  As I, when this sweet day is gone,
  Which my lost heart, too soon grown old,
  Insults with this untimely moan—
  They might lament,—for I am one
  Whom men love not, and yet regret;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 43-45

  Unlike this day, which, when the sun
  Shall on its stainless glory set,
  Will linger though enjoyed, like joy in Memory yet.

  

  

  

  

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“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Symbols

• 

  The Sea

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“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Polyptoton

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Polysyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Isles
• Transparent
• Unexpanded buds
• Ocean-floods
• The Deep's untrampled floor
• Strown
• Dissolved
• Star-showers
• Noontide
• Measured
• Alas
• That content surpassing wealth
• Sage
• Borne
• Monotony
• Lament

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Speaker

“Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples”

More “Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples” Resources

• External Resources

  • What is Romanticism? — An overview of the Romantic movement. 

  • The Shelley-Godwin Archive — A collection of digitized manuscripts by the Shelley-Godwin family.

  • Tragedy in Italy — Read more about Percy and Mary Shelley's misfortune in Italy.

  • Shelley's Life and Work — A biography of the poet and additional poems via the Poetry Foundation. 

  • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read aloud. 

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