The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/Similes for two Political Characters of 1819
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SIMILES FOR TWO POLITICAL CHARACTERS OF 1819
[Published by Medwin, The Athenæum, Aug. 25, 1832; reprinted by Mrs. Shelley, P. W, 1839. Our title is that of 1839, 2nd ed. The poem is found amongst the Harvard MSS., headed To S———th and C———gh.]
I
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:— 5
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:— 5
II
As two gibbering night-birds flit
From their bowers of deadly yew[1]
Through the night to frighten it,
When the moon is in a fit,
And the stars are none, or few:—
As two gibbering night-birds flit
From their bowers of deadly yew[1]
Through the night to frighten it,
When the moon is in a fit,
And the stars are none, or few:—
III
As a shark and dog-fish wait 11
Under an Atlantic isle,
For the negro-ship, whose freight
Is the theme of their debate.
Wrinkling their red gills the while— 15
As a shark and dog-fish wait 11
Under an Atlantic isle,
For the negro-ship, whose freight
Is the theme of their debate.
Wrinkling their red gills the while— 15
IV
Are ye, two vultures sick for battle,
Two scorpions under one wetstone.
Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle,
Two crows perched on the murrained cattle,
Two vipers tangled into one. 20
Are ye, two vultures sick for battle,
Two scorpions under one wetstone.
Two bloodless wolves whose dry throats rattle,
Two crows perched on the murrained cattle,
Two vipers tangled into one. 20
- ↑ Similes—7 yew 1832; hue 1839.