XXXIV

by Percy Bysshe Shelley · (no date)
Published 01/07/1880
Part of Adonais

Smiled through their tears; well knew that gentle band

      Who in another's fate now wept his own,

      As in the accents of an unknown land

      He sung new sorrow; sad Urania scanned

      The Stranger's mien, and murmured: 'Who art thou?'

      He answered not, but with a sudden hand

      Made bare his branded and ensanguined brow,

Which was like Cain's or Christ's—oh! that it should be so!

#alienation #biblical allusion #fate #identity #percy bysshe shelley #religious symbolism

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