In Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem - "Autumn, a dirge" he writes:
" Follow the bier
Of the dead cold Year,
And like dim shadows watch by her sepulchre."
what is "watch by"? who is watching? what is he watching?
please help me understand this line, thank you!
Help in English - what is "watch by" in Shelley's poem?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by john236
- Topics:
- autumn, cold, shadow, dead, watch, poem, follow, year, english, write, language, years, help
Details:
Answers (1)
I think Shelley is telling the reader (or his muse) to walk behind the casket (as in funeral cortege) of the old year, which has died (or literally expired) due to time passing. The reader is to stand guard, pay tribute to, protect, grieve (or not), remember at the place where the bier is put to rest, as in grave house or sepulchre. Sort of like visiting your loved one's gravestone at the cemetery. I think it all boils down to not turning attention toward the new year, but to hover as a shadow looking back at the old.