Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
Though not directly identified, the speaker shares much of the same admiration for the character of Prometheus which Byron exhibited and so the convention is to view him as autobiographical. The point-of-view is mostly written from the second-person point of view with the speaker directly addressing the concept of Prometheus rather than the mythological character himself.
Form and Meter
Free verse composed primarily in iambic petameter.
Metaphors and Similes
Zeus is a major figure in the poem but is never mentioned by name. Instead, his identity is made clear through metaphor: “the deaf tyranny of Fate, / The ruling principle of Hate.”
Alliteration and Assonance
Byron uses alliteration to link Prometheus and Zeus together as the criminal and the god who sits in judgment and doles out his punishment: “And in thy Silence was his Sentence”
Irony
The punishment which Zeus confers upon Prometheus is inherently ironic. While the ultimate punishment in our time is a death sentence, that is precisely what Zeus vicious refuses to Prometheus so that, instead, he must relive the misery of his sentence every day: “The wretched gift Eternity / Was thine—and thou hast borne it well.”
Genre
Revolutionary manifesto
Setting
Mythological Greece for the retelling of the story of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods. For the last part of the poem, the setting is undefined and irrelevant.
Tone
Exultant and admiring before becoming philosophically contemplative.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Prometheus. Antagonist: Zeus.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between Prometheus, a Titan who has stolen fire to give to mankind, and Zeus, king of the gods of Olympus who doles out a cruel and unusual punishment.
Climax
The climax of the poem is Zeus fades into obscurity as the gods fall while Prometheus is granted immortality by becoming a symbol for man’s ability to rebel against destiny and overthrow fate.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
“Thy Godlike crime was to be kind” is something of an understated simplification of the Titan’s motivation for stealing fire.
Allusions
Zeus is never referred to by name. Since his part in the drama of Prometheus stealing fire and begin punished is one of the more famous stories from ancient myth, allusion to his identity is really all that is necessary.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“The rock, the vulture, and the chain” are, taken together, metonymic shorthand for the familiar details of the cruel punishment which Zeus forced Prometheus to endure.
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
By the final stanza, Prometheus has made the move from mythological figure to modern-day metaphor for man. Referring to Prometheus as “a symbol and sign” he goes on to make a questionably hyperbolic leap into metaphor, however—at least as far as the aspect concerning man, who is certainly no Titan, is concerned: “Like thee, Man is in part divine”
Onomatopoeia
N/A
