Percy Bysshe Shelley

Name: The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII
Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Summary

“The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII”, published in 1818, is a work by Percy Bysshe Shelley. It explores elements such as chasms, waves and Fairer.

Quotes from The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ Millions, with hearts that beat both loud and fast,
Watch for the springing flame expectant and aghast.
VIII.
They fly—the torches fall—a cry of fear
Has startled the triumphant!—they recede!
For, ere the cannon's roar has died, they hear
The tramp of hoofs like earthquake, and a steed
Dark and gigantic, with the tempest's speed,
Bursts through their ranks; a woman sits thereon,
Fairer it seems than aught that earth can breed,
Calm, radiant, like the phantom of the dawn,
A spirit from the caves of daylight wandering gone. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ And dark green chasms shades beautiful and white,
Amid sweet sounds across our path would sweep,
Like swift and lovely dreams that walk the waves of sleep.
XXXVII.
And ever as we sailed, our minds were full
Of love and wisdom, which would overflow
In converse wild, and sweet, and wonderful;
And in quick smiles whose light would come and go,
Like music o'er wide waves, and in the flow
Of sudden tears, and in the mute caress;
For a deep shade was cleft, and we did know,
That virtue, though obscured on Earth, not less
Survives all mortal change in lasting loveliness. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness
Spread through the multitudinous streets, fast flying
Upon the winds of fear; from his dull madness
The starveling waked, and died in joy; the dying,
Among the corpses in stark agony lying,
Just heard the happy tidings, and in hope
Closed their faint eyes; from house to house replying
With loud acclaim, the living shook Heaven's cope,
And filled the startled Earth with echoes. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ That scorn or hate has made him bold; his cheek
Resolve has not turned pale; his eyes are mild
And calm, and, like the morn about to break,
Smile on mankind; his heart seems reconciled
To all things and itself, like a reposing child. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ And, through its chasms I saw, as in a swound,
The Tyrant's child fall without life or motion
Before his throne, subdued by some unseen emotion.—
XVII.
And is this death?—The pyre has disappeared,
The Pestilence, the Tyrant, and the throng;
The flames grow silent—slowly there is heard
The music of a breath-suspending song,
Which, like the kiss of love when life is young,
Steeps the faint eyes in darkness sweet and deep;
With ever-changing notes it floats along,
Till on my passive soul there seemed to creep
A melody, like waves on wrinkled sands that leap. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ The streams which bore it, like the arrowy cloud
Of tempest, or the speedier thought of man,
Which flieth forth and cannot make abode;
Sometimes through forests, deep like night, we glode,
Between the walls of mighty mountains crowned
With Cyclopean piles, whose turrets proud,
The homes of the departed, dimly frowned
O'er the bright waves which girt their dark foundations round. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ Their echoes talk with its eternal waves,
Which from the depths whose jagged caverns breed
Their unreposing strife it lifts and heaves,
Till through a chasm of hills they roll, and feed
A river deep, which flies with smooth but arrowy speed.
XX.
As we sate gazing in a trance of wonder,
A boat approached, borne by the musical air
Along the waves which sung and sparkled under
Its rapid keel. A wingèd Shape sate there,
A child with silver-shining wings, so fair
That, as her bark did through the waters glide,
The shadow of the lingering waves did wear
Light, as from starry beams ”

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Source: Wikisource

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (1818)

“ Whose golden waves in many a purple line
Fade fast, till, borne on sunlight's ebbing streams,
Dilating, on earth's verge the sunken meteor gleams.
XXII.
Its keel has struck the sands beside our feet. ”

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Summary

Quotes from The Revolt of Islam — Canto XII (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

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