Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Percy Bysshe Shelley was a profound Poet during the Romantic era in England. He was a famous figure in the Romantic era alongside John Keats. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poetry often explores the themes of love, social justice, freedom, and free will to live. His poetry often reflects his worry for the people and his desire to make the earth a better place for people to live. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s most famous works include “Prometheus Unbound” and “The Revolt of Islam”. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poetry is a service to English literature.
Also Read: Pomes by Rudyard Kipling
1-Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ode to the West Wind
I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, O hear!
II
Thou on whose stream, ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!
III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!
IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
O! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
V
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among human beings!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Explanation :
The poem “Ode to the West Wind” is a poem that is divided into 5 cantos. In the poem, the poet describes the west wind as a powerful and metamorphic force of nature. The poet wants to be like the wind, he wants to float everywhere. The west wind symbolizes the destructive power of nature and a transformative element of nature. The poem revolves around the theme of transformation, reborn, and the recurring nature of life.
What are some famous poems written by Percy Bysshe Shelley?
Some of Shelley’s famous poems include “Ode to the West Wind,” “To a Skylark,” “Ozymandias,” “Mont Blanc,” and “The Cloud.”
2- To a Skylark
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
In the golden lightning
Of the sunken sun,
O’er which clouds are bright’ning,
Thou dost float and run;
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.
The pale purple even
Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of Heaven
In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight,
All the earth and air
With thy voice is loud,
As, when night is bare,
From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflowed.
What thou art we know not;
What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody:—
Like a Poet hidden
In the light of thought,
Singing hymns unbidden,
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:
Like a high-born maiden
In a palace-tower,
Soothing her love-laden
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:
Like a glow-worm golden
In a dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Its aerial hue
Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view:
Like a rose embowered
In its own green leaves,
By warm winds deflowered,
Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-wingèd thieves:
Sound of vernal showers
On the twinkling grass,
Rain-awakened flowers,
All that ever was
Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass:
Teach us, Sprite or Bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
Chorus Hymeneal,
Or triumphal chant,
Matched with thine would be all
But an empty vaunt—
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
What objects are the fountains
Of thy happy strain?
What fields or waves or mountains?
shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?
With thy clear keen joyance
Languor cannot be:
Shadow of annoyance
Never came near thee:
Thou lovest, but ne’er knew love’s sad satiety.
Waking or asleep
Thou of death must deem
Things more true and deep
Than we mortals dream,
Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?
We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
Yet, if we could scorn
Hate, and pride, and fear;
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.
Better than all measures
Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures
That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
Explanation :
In the poem “To a Skylark” the poet refers to a Skylark that symbolizes joy and happiness. The poem beautifully shows the contrast between the skylark and the human life. The skylark was shown as a symbol of inspiration and the blissful sound and flight were termed joyful and soothing. The poem explores the theme of nature’s beauty and the transcendent power of art and poetry.
What were Shelley’s political and philosophical beliefs?
He was critical of oppressive institutions and championed individual freedom.
3-Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Mont Blanc
The everlasting universe of things
Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,
Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom—
Now lending splendour, where from secret springs
The source of human thought its tribute brings
Of waters—with a sound but half its own,
Such as a feeble brook will oft assume
In the wild woods, among the mountains lone,
Where waterfalls around it leap for ever,
Where woods and winds contend, and a vast river
Over its rocks ceaselessly bursts and raves.
Explanation :
The poem “Mont Blanc” appreciates the beauty of Mont Blanc the highest peak of the Alps. the poem shows the beauty of nature and the inspiring nature of Mont Blanc. The poet loves the encouraging scenes of wilderness. The peak of the Alps, Mont Blanc symbolizes peace, calmness and the existing presence of nature. The poem is termed as a meditating poem by the poet. The poem explores the theme of nature and peace in natural beauty.
4-Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Adonais
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep—
He hath awakened from the dream of life—
‘Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife,
And in mad trance, strike with our spirit’s knife
Invulnerable nothings.—We decay
Like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief
Convulse us and consume us day by day,
And cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay.
Explanation :
The poem “Adonais” is a lament by Percy Bysshe Shelly. The poem is a mourn for his friend, John Keats who at a very young age. The poet compares John Kaets to a Greek god Adonais who died at a young age and was very beautiful. The poem shows a great contrast between the mortality of human life and the immortality of art. The poem explores the themes of mortality, death and eternal art.
Who was the Author of famous novel “Frankenstein”?
Mary Shelley was the Author of “Frankenstein”.
5-Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Explanation :
The poem “Ozymandias” represents the passage of time and change. The poem shows a statue in the middle of a vast desert of once a mighty soldier. The poet describes the change of time beautifully. The ruler was very arrogant and had a lot of pride but now only a broken statue of him remains. The poet wants the readers to understand the importance of humanity and humbleness. The poem explores the theme of mortality and change.
6- Good-Night
Good-night? ah! no; the hour is ill
Which severs those it should unite;
Let us remain together still,
Then it will be good night.
How can I call the lone night good,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
Be it not said, thought, understood –
Then it will be – good night.
To hearts which near each other move
From evening close to morning light,
The night is good; because, my love,
They never say good-night.
Explanation :
The poem delves into the universal experience of transition, reflecting on the ephemeral nature of life and the solace found in the quiet moments of rest. The poem’s speaker bids farewell to the day, acknowledging the fleeting nature of existence and the inevitability of nightfall.
How did Percy Bysshe Shelley die?
Percy Bysshe Shelley died in a sailing accident in the Gulf of Spezia, Italy, in 1822, at the age of 29.
7- A Lament Poem
O World! O Life! O Time!
On whose last steps I climb,
Trembling at that where I had stood before;
When will return the glory of your prime?
No more -Oh, never more!
Out of the day and night
A joy has taken flight:
Fresh spring, and summer, and winter hoar
Move my faint heart with grief, but with delight
No more -Oh, never more!
Explanation :
The poem shows deep emotions, using eloquent language and vivid imagery to convey the profound sorrow associated with lamentation. The poem exploring themes of mourning are typically characterized by their intense emotional depth and poetic brilliance.
What is the main theme of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Poetry?
Romanticism is the main theme of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Poetry.
8- The Indian Serenade
I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me–who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!
The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream–
The champak odors fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The nightingale’s complaint,
It dies upon her heart;
As I must on thine,
Oh, beloved as thou art!
O lift me from the grass!
die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast;–
Oh! press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last.
Explanation :
The poem “The Indian Serenade” is a ;lyrical poem that shows the poets beloved in a serenade, expressing passionate and tender feelings.The poem is characterized by its lush descriptions, capturing the essence of a moonlit night in India and the speaker’s deep affection for his beloved.
9- When The Lamp Is Shattered
When the lamp is shattered,
The light in the dust lies dead;
When the cloud is scattered,
The rainbow’s glory is shed;
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.
As music and splendor
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
The heart’s echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute:–
No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruined cell,
Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman’s knell.
When hearts have once mingled,
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?
Its passions will rock thee,
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come.
Explanation :
“When the Lamp Is Shattered” is a poignant poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, capturing the melancholic theme of the transient nature of human life and beauty. In the poem, the speaker reflects on the fleeting nature of youth and vitality.
Did Percy Bysshe Shelley have any notable contemporaries?
Yes, Shelley had several notable contemporaries, including other Romantic poets such as Lord Byron and John Keats.
10- Music, When Soft Voices Die
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory;
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.
Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the beloved’s bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.
Explanation :
“Music, When Soft Voices Die” is a sonnet written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. In this poem, Shelley explores the idea of the impermanence of beauty and the transience of life. The central theme revolves around the fleeting nature of artistic and emotional expressions, particularly music.
What are the two dramas written by Shelley?
“Prometheus Unbound” and “Hellas” are the two popular Dramas written by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
11- The Indian Serenade
I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright:
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Has led me—who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!
The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream—
The Champak odours fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The Nightingale’s complaint,
It dies upon her heart;
As I must on thine,
Oh, beloved as thou art!
Oh lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast:
Oh! press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last!
Explanation :
“The Indian Serenade” is a passionate expression of love and desire. Shelley beautifully weaves together images of the night, stars, and nature to create a romantic atmosphere. The speaker describes arising from dreams to seek out their beloved, addressing them with an urgency and intensity that characterizes the theme of love’s overwhelming emotions.
Who is Percy Bysshe Shelley’s first wife?
Percy Bysshe Shelly’s first wife was Harriet Westbrook.
12- To a Lady with a Guitar
Ariel to Miranda:—Take
This slave of music, for the sake
Of him who is the slave of thee;
And teach it all the harmony
In which thou canst, and only thou,
Make the delighted spirit glow,
Till joy denies itself again
And, too intense, is turned to pain.
For by permission and command
Of thine own Prince Ferdinand,
Poor Ariel sends this silent token
Of more than ever can be spoken;
Your guardian spirit, Ariel, who,
From life to life, must still pursue
Your happiness, for thus alone
Can Ariel ever find his own.
From Prospero’s enchanted cell,
As the mighty verses tell,
To the throne of Naples he
Lit you o’er the trackless sea,
Flitting on, your prow before,
Like a living meteor.
When you die, the silent Moon,
In her interlunar swoon,
Is not sadder in her cell
Than deserted Ariel.
Explanation :
“To a Lady with a Guitar” is addressed from Ariel to Miranda, a character from Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest.” The poem begins with Ariel presenting a guitar to Miranda, referring to it as a “slave of music” to be used for the sake of the speaker, who is the slave of Miranda. The verses encourage Miranda to teach the guitar all the harmony she can muster, expressing the idea that music is a powerful and enchanting force. The poem beautifully weaves together themes of music, love, and the ethereal. Ariel, a spirit, offers the guitar as a token of more than words can express.
Why did Percy Bysshe Shelley was called mad Shelley?
Due to his aggressive and straightforward nature which is reflected in this poetry, he was called Mad Shelly.
13- The Masque of Anarchy
As I lay asleep in Italy
There came a voice from over the Sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.
I met Murder on the way—
He had a mask like Castlereagh—
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven bloodhounds followed him:
All were fat; and well they might
Be in admirable plight,
For one by one, and two by two,
He tossed them human hearts to chew
Which from his wide cloak he drew.
Next came Fraud, and he had on,
Like Eldon, an ermined gown;
His big tears, for he wept well,
Turned to mill-stones as they fell.
And the little children, who
Round his feet played to and fro,
Thinking every tear a gem,
Had their brains knocked out by them.
Clothed with the Bible, as with light,
And the shadows of the night,
Like Sidmouth, next, Hypocrisy
On a crocodile rode by.
And many more Destructions played
In this ghastly masquerade,
All disguised, even to the eyes,
Like Bishops, lawyers, peers, or spies.
Last came Anarchy; he rode
On a white horse, splashed with blood;
He was pale even to the lips,
Like Death in the Apocalypse.
And he wore a kingly crown;
And in his grasp a sceptre shone;
On his brow this mark I saw—
‘I AM GOD, AND KING, AND LAW!’
With a pace stately and fast,
Over English land he passed,
Trampling to a mire of blood
The adoring multitude.
And a mighty troop around,
With their trampling shook the ground,
Waving each a bloody sword,
For the service of their Lord.
And with glorious triumph, they
Rode through England proud and gay,
Drunk as with intoxication
Of the wine of desolation.
O’er fields and towns, from sea to sea,
Passed the Pageant swift and free,
Tearing up, and trampling down;
Till they came to London town.
And each dweller, panic-stricken,
Felt his heart with terror sicken
Hearing the tempestuous cry
Of the triumph of Anarchy.
For with pomp to meet him came,
Clothed in arms like blood and flame,
The hired murderers, who did sing
‘Thou art God, and Law, and King.
‘We have waited, weak and lone
For thy coming, Mighty One!
Our purses are empty, our swords are cold,
Give us glory, and blood, and gold.’
Lawyers and priests, a motley crowd,
To the earth their pale brows bowed;
Like a bad prayer not over loud,
Whispering—’Thou art Law and God.’
Then all cried with one accord,
‘Thou art King, and God, and Lord;
Anarchy, to thee we bow,
Be thy name made holy now!’
And Anarchy, the Skeleton,
Bowed and grinned to every one,
As well as if his education
Had cost ten millions to the nation.
For he knew the Palaces
Of our Kings were rightly his;
His the sceptre, crown, and globe,
And the gold-inwoven robe.
So he sent his slaves before
To seize upon the Bank and Tower,
And was proceeding with intent
To meet his pensioned Parliament
When one fled past, a maniac maid,
And her name was Hope, she said:
But she looked more like Despair,
And she cried out in the air:
‘My father Time is weak and gray
With waiting for a better day;
See how idiot-like he stands,
Fumbling with his palsied hands!
‘He has had child after child,
And the dust of death is piled
Over every one but me—
Misery, oh, Misery!’
Then she lay down in the street,
Right before the horses’ feet,
Expecting, with a patient eye,
Murder, Fraud, and Anarchy.
When between her and her foes
A mist, a light, an image rose,
Small at first, and weak, and frail
Like the vapour of a vale:
Till as clouds grow on the blast,
Like tower-crowned giants striding fast,
And glare with lightnings as they fly,
And speak in thunder to the sky,
It grew—a Shape arrayed in mail
Brighter than the viper’s scale,
And upborne on wings whose grain
Was as the light of sunny rain.
On its helm, seen far away,
A planet, like the Morning’s, lay;
And those plumes its light rained through,
Like a shower of crimson dew.
With step as soft as wind it passed
O’er the heads of men—so fast
That they knew the presence there,
And looked,—but all was empty air.
As flowers beneath May’s footstep waken,
As stars from Night’s loose hair are shaken,
As waves arise when loud winds call,
Thoughts sprung where’er that step did fall..
And the prostrate multitude
Looked—and ankle-deep in blood,
Hope, that maiden most serene,
Was walking with a quiet mien:
And Anarchy, the ghastly birth,
Lay dead earth upon the earth;
The Horse of Death tameless as wind
Fled, and with his hoofs did grind
To dust the murderers thronged behind.
A rushing light of clouds and splendour,
A sense awakening and yet tender
Was heard and felt—and at its close
These words of joy and fear arose
As if their own indignant Earth
Which gave the sons of England birth
Had felt their blood upon her brow,
And shuddering with a mother’s throe
Had turned every drop of blood
By which her face had been bedewed
To an accent unwithstood,—
As if her heart had cried aloud:.
‘Men of England, heirs of Glory,
Heroes of unwritten story,
Nurslings of one mighty Mother,
Hopes of her, and one another;
‘Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you—
‘Ye are many—they are few..
‘What is Freedom? Ye can tell
That which slavery is, too well—
For its very name has grown
To an echo of your own.
“‘Tis to work and have such pay
As just keeps life from day to day
In your limbs, as in a cell
For the tyrants’ use to dwell,.
‘So that ye for them are made
Loom, and plough, and sword, and spade,
With or without your own will bent
To their defence and nourishment.
“‘Tis to see your children weak
With their mothers pine and peak,
When the winter winds are bleak,—
They are dying whilst I speak.
“‘Tis to hunger for such diet
As the rich man in his riot
Casts to the fat dogs that lie
Surfeiting beneath his eye;.
“‘Tis to let the Ghost of Gold
Take from Toil a thousandfold
More than e’er its substance could
In the tyrannies of old..
‘Paper coin—that forgery
Of the title-deeds, which ye
Hold to something of the worth
Of the inheritance of Earth.
“‘Tis to be a slave in soul
And to hold no strong control
Over your own wills, but be
All that others make of ye.
‘And at length when ye complain
With a murmur weak and vain
‘Tis to see the Tyrant’s crew
Ride over your wives and you—.
‘Blood is on the grass like dew.
‘Then it is to feel revenge
Fiercely thirsting to exchange
Blood for blood—and wrong for wrong—
Do not thus when ye are strong..
‘Birds find rest, in narrow nest
When weary of their winged quest;
Beasts find fare, in woody lair
When storm and snow are in the air,
‘Athletes with swollen veins
‘Ye are many—they are few.’
Explanation :
“The Masque of Anarchy” is a powerful political poem that denounces tyranny and oppression. It was written in response to the Peterloo Massacre, where British cavalry charged into a peaceful assembly, resulting in many deaths and injuries. The poem presents a vivid allegorical vision, depicting various allegorical figures like Murder, Fraud, and Anarchy.
Was Shelly considered a romantic poet?
Poems like “Mont Blanc” reflect Shelley’s romantic theme beautifully so yes Shelley is indeed a romantic poet.
14- The Witch of Atlas
Before those cruel twins whom at one birth
Incestuous Change bore to her father Time,
Error and Truth, had hunted from the earth
All those bright natures which adorned its prime,
And left us nothing to believe in, worth
The pains of putting into learnèd rhyme,
A lady witch there lived on Atlas’ mountain
Within a cavern, by a secret fountain.
Explanation :
“The Witch of Atlas” tells the story of a witch who lives on the island of Atlantis. The witch creates a magic statue, the “shape of a fair maid,” and then breathes life into it. The maiden, named Ione, embarks on a journey through various fantastical landscapes, meeting different characters and encountering philosophical ideas along the way.
15- A Lament
O world! O life! O time!
On whose last steps I climb,
Trembling at that where I had stood before;
When will return the glory of your prime?
No more — O never more!
Out of the day and night
A joy has taken flight:
Fresh spring, and summer, and winter hoar
Move my faint heart with grief, but with delight
No more — O never more!
Explanation :
These few brief stanzas convey a poignant lamentation. Shelley begins by addressing the world, life, and time, expressing a sense of climbing the last steps and trembling at the realization that the past glory can never be restored. The repetition of “No more — O never more!” emphasizes the finality of the loss.
16- Hymn to Intellectual Beauty
The awful shadow of some unseen Power
Floats though unseen among us,—visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing
As summer winds that creep from flower to flower,—
Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,
It visits with inconstant glance
Each human heart and countenance;
Like hues and harmonies of evening,—
Like clouds in starlight widely spread,—
Like memory of music fled,—
Like aught that for its grace may be
Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery.
Explanation :
In “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty,” Shelley explores the elusive nature of intellectual or spiritual beauty. The poem begins by describing an unseen, powerful presence that moves through the world, touching the hearts of humans. This force is compared to the ever-changing winds and the subtle influences of moonbeams. The poem then goes on to express the idea that intellectual beauty is both enchanting and mysterious, like the harmonies of evening or the lingering memory of music.
17- Epipsychidion
St. Peter’s Church, Rome
It is the hour when from the boughs
The nightingale’s high note is heard;
It is the hour when lovers’ vows
Seem sweet in every whispered word.
And gentle winds and waters near,
Make music to the lonely ear.
Each flower the dews have lightly wet,
And in the sky the stars are met,
And on the wave is deeper blue,
And on the leaf a browner hue,
And in the heaven that clear obscure,
So softly dark, and darkly pure,
Which follows the decline of day,
As twilight melts beneath the moon away.
Explanation :
“Epipsychidion” is a challenging and intricate poem that delves into Shelley’s philosophical and metaphysical reflections on love and the human soul. If you have specific sections or stanzas you’re interested in, feel free to let me know.
There are some of the greatest Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley with explanations in English. Stay tuned for more great pomes and updates.