We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

Stanza 33 Summary

Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.

Lines 289-297

    His head was bound with pansies overblown,
    And faded violets, white, and pied, and blue;
    And a light spear topp'd with a cypress cone,
    Round whose rude shaft dark ivy-tresses grew
    Yet dripping with the forest's noonday dew,
    Vibrated, as the ever-beating heart
    Shook the weak hand that grasp'd it; of that crew
    He came the last, neglected and apart;
A herd-abandon'd deer struck by the hunter's dart.

  • The speaker is still describing the mysterious, lonely man. He has a crown of flowers and a spear topped with a cypress cone. This is a reference to Dionysus, Greek god of pleasure and partying. Is this the mysterious man? 
  • Maybe—or maybe not. 
  • "Of that crew he came the last" would indicate that he's merely a follower of Dionysus, one that doesn't quite fit in with the rest. After all, Shelley does call him "herd-abandoned." 
  • Let's read on for more clues…