Percy Bysshe Shelley - Mutability

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uses cacophony in the majority of the poem, this is used to emphasize the generally unpleasant message that the poet is trying to convey. Now on the other hand, there is also the use of euphony in this poem, which was put there most likely to give the reader a more pleasant and calming feeling to counteract the generally unpleasant thoughts.

Within the poem, Mr Percy Bysshe Shelley uses the literary device of anaphora. This style of writing is found in the line “Whilst skies are blue and bright, whilst flowers are gay, whilst eyes that change ere night” The repetition of the word whilst attempts to give the feeling of peace, happiness, and serenity. Whilst skies are blue and bright, contrary to what the poet had been previously saying, he now shows us a happier side of things, something a little closer to heaven. Whilst flowers are gay, in using the word gay to describe the flowers, the reader may now picture a more vibrant and colourful world. Whilst eyes that change ere nights make glad the day, from the first whilst all the way to here, the reader is able to have a break from all the negative thoughts and ideas that had been circling their mind. By adding in this little moment of euphony, the reader is reminded of the beauty of everything of which surrounds them.

The very end of the poem gives us a real shock, almost like a wake up call. “Whilst yet the calm hours creep” in reading this line, one may be able to find that Mr shelley had added an emphasis on the last whilst, this may be to show us that it is not real, what he had just talked about is not real. “Dream thou and from thy sleep” by using the word dream, we as the readers begin to realize that the happy thoughts in which we were just presented with, may have all been but a dream. “Then wake to weep” at this point we have now been awoken from our dreams, only to find ourselves stuck in the awful reality that the poet had been describing to us all along. Now knowing our break between reality and delusion, we must realise that this is more than just a nightmare, and we must come to know the fragility of all of which is good in our lives. Even within a matter of seconds, they could slip through our hands, only to fall into the cold unforgiving hands of another. Whether its emotions, memories, people, or chances, they all have an end, making nothing in life permanent.