Mutability

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1816

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

Although “Mutability” portrays change as the center of human life, its form and meter are predictable. The poem has an organized look; it consists of four quatrains or four stanzas with four lines. The rhyme scheme is reliable. In each stanza, the first and third line rhyme, and the second and fourth line rhyme. The meter, too, doesn’t deviate. Shelley uses iambic pentameter, with five iambs per line or five sets of unstressed-stressed syllables for a total of 10 syllables in each line (to arrive at 10 syllables, some words might require peculiar pronunciation). In Line 1, don’t stress “[w]e” but stress “are,” don’t stress “as,” but stress “clouds,” and so on. Unlike human nature, the poem’s form and meter abides by a fixed pattern.

The stable form and meter add tension to the poem. By contrasting the overarching theme of mutability with an immutable form and meter, Shelley arguably highlights the power of instability. The formulaic presentation allows the reader to focus on the words or the content. If Shelley had chosen to write the poem in free verse, the content and the form might clash, and the message of mutability could get lost in the mutable form.

Simile and Imagery

The simile is a central literary device in the poem, as the first two stanzas begin as similes—that is, comparisons using a connecting word like “like” or “as.” As each simile continues for four lines, it’s hard to talk about the similes without another literary device: Imagery. Shelley turns the similes into images or keen pictures.

The first simile relies on the connecting word “as,” as in “[w]e are as clouds” (Line 1). The speaker compares humans to clouds. From there, imagery takes over, and the speaker presents a nuanced portrait of clouds/humans moving, shining, and shaking across the darkness. The imagery and simile end when night comes. Night, an agent of mutability, extinguishes the humans/clouds and the simile and imagery that spotlighted their behavior.

The second simile follows the pattern of the first one. The speaker compares humans to forgotten lyres using a connecting word, so they’re “like forgotten lyres” (Line 5). Once again, imagery takes over and sketches a rather desolate scene of violence and emaciation. The strings are “dissonant” (Line 5), they produce a “varying blast” (Line 6), and its body is “frail” (Line 7). By pairing imagery and simile, Shelley paints a sharp picture of how mutability acts on a person.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a literary device where the poet creates a pleasant melody by placing in close proximity words that start with the same letter or that sound alike. As with the form and meter, the presence of alliteration contrasts with the theme of mutability. While the change is harsh and upsetting, the sound is nice and harmonious due to the meter, rhyme scheme, and alliteration. Similar to the form and meter, alliteration arguably highlights the content by clashing with the main theme. The serene sound helps convey the rather severe message.

Although, unlike the form and meter, there’s a bit of unpredictability with alliteration, as the reader never knows when they’ll come across it, and, sometimes, they might have to reread a line to notice it. The first instance of alliteration occurs in Line 1 with “midnight moon.” Line 2 features alliteration with “restlessly,” “speed,” and “gleam,” and Lines 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 all feature alliteration. There are a lot of examples, but there’s no fixed pattern. As with humans and their thoughts and feelings, alliteration leaves and returns.