Percy Shelley: Poems Glossary

Glossary of Terms

Actaeon

In myth, after seeing Diana bathing in a river, Actaeon was turned into a stag and hunted and eaten by his own dogs.

Adonais

Derivative of Adonis. In Greek mythology, the handsome youth was loved by Venus and slain by a boar. In Shelley’s poem, the “beast” responsible for slaying “Adonais” (Keats) is an anonymous author of a scathing review of Keats’ poem "Endymion." (The reviewer was later identified as John Wilson Croker.)

Aerial

Of our belonging to the air (in this case, it suggests a "sky-like" color).

Albion

England (here, a reference to Blake's "Marriage Between Heaven and Hell").

Anadem

A garland of flowers

Aught

Anything

Awful

Deserving of awe. In Shelley's time, this would have meant what today would be the adjective "awesome" instead of "terrible."

Azure

The blue color of a clear sky

Balm

Resin from a tree used as medicine

Band and Tower and Parliament

Three institutional locations in London referring to Business, Law, and Government

Blithe

Cheerful (perhaps, cheerfully unaware of harsh reality)

Bower

Area enclosed by trees, shrubs, and branches

Brere

Brier (a patch of shrubs, usually fruit-bearing)

Carrion Kites

Large birds of prey, specifically hawks

Castlereagh

British Foreign Secretary Viscount Castlereagh (aka Robert Stewart)

Champak

An Indian species of magnolia flower that smells like orange citrus

Chorus Hymeneal

“Wedding-song,” but here, Shelley is being cheeky and perverse, drawing reference to the specific act of love-making or capturing the virginity of a new-found lover.

Clarion

Trumpet, or the sharp sound of a bugle

Clips

Embraces

Consecrate

To make holy or sacred

Countenance

Composure; facial expression

Crag

A steep rock rising above or sticking out from a mountain

Daedal Earth

Intricately formed (derived from Daedalus, builder of the labyrinth in Crete)

Daemon

A supernatural being, halfway between the mortals and the gods

Dell

A small wooded valley

Dirge

A funeral hymn

Dost

Does

Dregs

Sediment at the bottom of liquid; worthless particles

Drone

A male honeybee that does no work

Echo

In Greek mythology, Echo was a nymph who faded into becoming a reverberated sound after Narcissus rejected her (due to falling in love with his own reflection instead)

Eldon

Lord Chancellor Baron Eldon, aka John Scott. Baron Eldon was the court chancellor who denied Shelley access to his children by Harriet Westbrook after her death.

Embower

To enclose in wooden shrubbery or bower

Ensanguined

Having something like a birthmark. God branded Cain with a “bloodmark” for killing his brother Abel.

Ermined

An ermine is a weasel of northern climate that is unique because its fur turns from brown to white in the winter. Because of this distinction, its fur was used for state robes and royalty.

Fond

Foolish

Gauls

A Celtic people, the French before France was a country; here, Shelley is using the term in reference to Revolutionary France.

Gird

To encircle or enclose; to endow; to prepare oneself

Glorious Phantom

A revolution

High Capital

Rome

Hoary brand

A burning log

Hyacinth

In myth, Hyacinth was loved by Apollo, but killed by Zephyrus out of jealousy. Apollo turned the departed into a flower.

Ierne

Ireland

Illumine

Illuminate; shine a light on; figuratively, to make understood

Impetuous

Impulsive

Incantation

Chant, often magical

Joyance

Joyous feeling

Knell

solemn ringing of a bell, as an omen or a sign of death

Liberticide

One who destroys liberty

Lyre

A small harp-like instrument

Maenad

A priest or priestess (specifically, Bacchante, meaning a follower of Bacchus, aka Dionysus)

Mien

Manner

Mire

soggy ground, or to bog down

Mutability

Ability to change or to be changed

Nightingale

A small bird known for its incredibly melodious singing; metaphorically, a poet, or the poetic muse

Ozymandias

King Ramses II of Egypt, whose tomb was sculpted to resemble a male sphinx. According to Greek history, the statue of him was the largest statue in Egypt in its time.

Pageant

A parade

Palsied

Paralyzed

Pardlike

Leopard-like

Pestilence

Contagious disease; plague; something very dangerous to society

Phalanx

A group formed for a purpose, especially an ordered one like an army

Pilgrim of Eternity

Lord Byron

Plastic

Formative; shaping; malleable

Poesy

Poetry

Pumice

A light rock used to smooth and polish objects

Ruth

Pity

Sage

A very wise man

Sanguine

The color of blood

Satiety

State of being sated or satiated, that is, being full or having more than enough

Scepter

A ruler's symbolic staff

Scimitar

A short, Arabic sword

Scourge

Whip

Sepulcher

Tomb

Sere

Dried, withered

Shrill

High and piercing

Sidmouth

British Home Secretary Viscount Sidmouth, aka Henry Addington

Silver sphere

The morning star

Skylark

A small European bird. It sings only in flight, mostly when it is too high to be seen; it therefore is only heard. As a result, British mythology made the bird an emblem of spirit and joy.

Slake

Assuage, satisfy

Sprite

Spirit; a spirit-like being

Surfeiting

Over-indulging

Sweetest lyrist

Sir Thomas More, an Irish poet who had written poetry on the oppression of Ireland by the British, including the renowned Utopia

Tares

Weeds, plants

Targes

Large shields

Tempestuous

Violent; stormy

Torpor

Dullness

Unbidden

Spontaneously; doing something unbidden is to do it without being told or encouraged to do so

Urania

Venus. In Greek Mythology, the muse of astronomy. Shelley makes the Greek goddess the “mighty mother” of Adonais instead of his lover, as in the original myth.

Vale

A valley

Vaunt

To boast

Vernal

Springlike

Visage

A face

Wert

Old way of saying "were," as in "you were"

Wherefore

Why

Winged reeds

Arrows

Witch poesy

The part of the mind that creates poetry; mental experience in general