Prometheus

Lord Byron George’s ‘Prometheus‘ was published in 1816. He was an English poet known mostly for writing poems with romance as the topic. However, ‘Prometheus‘ takes a slightly different approach. It is an ode to a figure (Prometheus) in Greek mythology. He was reputed for challenging the tyranny of the gods by stealing fire from the gods to help humans.

Prometheus
Lord Byron

Titan! to whose immortal eyes         The sufferings of mortality,         Seen in their sad reality,Were not as things that gods despise;What was thy pity's recompense?A silent suffering, and intense;The rock, the vulture, and the chain,All that the proud can feel of pain,The agony they do not show,The suffocating sense of woe,         Which speaks but in its loneliness,And then is jealous lest the skyShould have a listener, nor will sigh         Until its voice is echoless.

Titan! to thee the strife was given          Between the suffering and the will,          Which torture where they cannot kill;And the inexorable Heaven,And the deaf tyranny of Fate,The ruling principle of Hate,Which for its pleasure doth createThe things it may annihilate,Refus'd thee even the boon to die:The wretched gift EternityWas thine—and thou hast borne it well.All that the Thunderer wrung from theeWas but the menace which flung backOn him the torments of thy rack;The fate thou didst so well foresee,But would not to appease him tell;And in thy Silence was his Sentence,And in his Soul a vain repentance,And evil dread so ill dissembled,That in his hand the lightnings trembled.

Thy Godlike crime was to be kind,         To render with thy precepts less         The sum of human wretchedness,And strengthen Man with his own mind;But baffled as thou wert from high,Still in thy patient energy,In the endurance, and repulse         Of thine impenetrable Spirit,Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse,         A mighty lesson we inherit:Thou art a symbol and a sign         To Mortals of their fate and force;Like thee, Man is in part divine,         A troubled stream from a pure source;And Man in portions can foreseeHis own funereal destiny;His wretchedness, and his resistance,And his sad unallied existence:To which his Spirit may opposeItself—and equal to all woes,         And a firm will, and a deep sense,Which even in torture can descry         Its own concenter'd recompense,Triumphant where it dares defy,And making Death a Victory.

Summary

‘Prometheus’ by Lord Byron is a poem about Prometheus, a figure from Greek mythology known for being on the side of humanity.

The speaker starts by addressing Prometheus with a praise name, Titan. Throughout this work of art, we learn how Prometheus chose to risk his life for the sake of mortals, shielding them from the rage, hate, and tyranny of the gods.

Prometheus made humans see that even though they are mortals, they possess some power. He went to great lengths to protect mortals from the wrath of the gods. He stole fire from the gods for the sake of humans. The speaker appreciates him for his sacrifices for humanity. The poem ends with the speaker saying that the selfless Prometheus has made death a victory.

Structure and Form

‘Prometheus,’ though not the simplest of poems, is still easy to understand. It comprises three unequal stanzas, the last being the longest.

The poem is not metered. It also does not have a definite rhyme scheme, meaning that it’s written in free verse. For instance, the first paragraph has abbaccddeecffc as its rhyme scheme. The other two paragraphs are similar in this aspect but not identical. ‘Prometheus‘ does not have a specific rhyme scheme, but it is rhythmic, anyway. The poem has a total of twenty-one lines. The first stanza contains 14 lines, while the second stanza and the third stanza are made up of 20 and 25 lines, respectively.

Detailed Analysis

Stanza One

Titan! to whose immortal eyes

The sufferings of mortality,

Seen in their sad reality,

Were not as things that gods despise;

What was thy pity’s recompense?

A silent suffering, and intense;

The rock, the vulture, and the chain,

All that the proud can feel of pain,

The agony they do not show,

The suffocating sense of woe,

Which speaks but in its loneliness,

And then is jealous lest the sky

Should have a listener, nor will sigh

Until its voice is echoless.

The poem starts with an apostrophe. The speaker directly addresses an entity, Titan—who might be present. Titan is praised for his empathy and concern for mankind. As pointed out by the speaker, the subject addressed came to the rescue of mortals, trying to take away or reduce the wrath of the gods on them, with his reward being intense and silent suffering. Titan does all the good at the expense of facing the rage of the gods.

Prometheus (also referred to as Titan by the speaker) is a figure from Greek mythology known for sacrificing much for humanity. It is on him that the speaker showers the adulations.

Stanza Two

Titan! to thee the strife was given
Between the suffering and the will,
Which torture where they cannot kill;
And the inexorable Heaven,
And the deaf tyranny of Fate,
The ruling principle of Hate,
Which for its pleasure doth create
The things it may annihilate,
Refus’d thee even the boon to die:
The wretched gift Eternity
Was thine—and thou hast borne it well.
All that the Thunderer wrung from thee
Was but the menace which flung back
On him the torments of thy rack;
The fate thou didst so well foresee,
But would not to appease him tell;
And in thy Silence was his Sentence,
And in his Soul a vain repentance,
And evil dread so ill dissembled,
That in his hand the lightnings trembled.

The second stanza follows suit, beginning with an apostrophe just like the stanza preceding it. The speaker continues to rain praises on Titan for shielding humans from the anger of the gods to kill and harm where they cannot. He foresaw pain and kept quiet. And in this silent knowledge, his soul eager to help, evil in awe of that level of determination, the light is snatched for the same of humanity.

The lightning trembles in Titan’s hand. In this part of the poem, “The silence of his sentence” is consonance; two words that are closely placed have the /s/ sound.

The speaker points out the characteristics of the gods and what they are capable of—”the inexorable heaven, deaf tyranny of fate, ruling principle of hate.” The gods do this (prey on humans) to amuse themselves. Titan is commended for bearing all the pain that comes with siding with humans over gods. He is praised for handling it well.

Stanza Three

Thy Godlike crime was to be kind,
To render with thy precepts less
The sum of human wretchedness,
And strengthen Man with his own mind;
But baffled as thou wert from high,
Still in thy patient energy,
In the endurance, and repulse
Of thine impenetrable Spirit,
Which Earth and Heaven could not convulse,
A mighty lesson we inherit:
Thou art a symbol and a sign
To Mortals of their fate and force;
Like thee, Man is in part divine,
A troubled stream from a pure source;
And Man in portions can foresee
His own funereal destiny;
His wretchedness, and his resistance,
And his sad unallied existence:
To which his Spirit may oppose
Itself—and equal to all woes,
And a firm will, and a deep sense,
Which even in torture can descry
Its own concenter’d recompense,
Triumphant where it dares defy,
And making Death a Victory.

The last stanza begins with the speaker listing Prometheus’ crimes in the eyes of the gods. This entity’s wrong is being kind and strengthening man with his own mind. Against all odds, in patience and energy, with an unwavering determination, something even the heaven or earth turned against him could not control or diminish, he extends a helping hand to humans. This, the speaker appreciates so much.

One lesson is that Titan is there to remind mortals of their force and fate, what they too are capable of, for divinity is not only for the gods, and man is partly divine. Mankind sees all its weaknesses and acknowledges they are very much there, and this is where Prometheus steps in to shield mortals from the tyranny of the gods, all the way making “death a victory.”

FAQs

Similar Poetry

Anyone who enjoyed Lord Byron’s ‘Prometheus’ would probably want to read:

• ‘Tithonus‘ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson – is a dramatic monologue addressing the goddess of the dawn.
• Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats – is a poem influenced by Greek mythology. It focuses on the highs and lows of humanity.
• ‘Hymn to the Spirit of Nature’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley – is a lyric addressed to Asia, the spirit of love in nature.