Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A DIALOGUE, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: For my dagger is bathed in the blood of the brave Last Line: And I fear, dear destroyer, I shall not repine. | ||||||||
DEATH FOR my dagger is bathed in the blood of the brave, I come, careworn tenant of life, from the grave, Where Innocence sleeps' neath the peace-giving sod, And the good cease to tremble at Tyranny's nod; I offer a calm habitation to thee, Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me? My mansion is damp, cold silence is there, But it lulls in oblivion the fiends of despair; Not a groan of regret, not a sigh, not a breath, Dares dispute with grim Silence the empire of Death. I offer a calm habitation to thee, Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me? MORTAL Mine eyelids are heavy; my soul seeks repose; It longs in thy cells to embosom its woes; It longs in thy cells to deposit its load, Where no longer the scorpions of Perfidy goad, Where the phantoms of Prejudice vanish away, And Bigotry's bloodhounds lose scent of their prey. Yet tell me, dark Death, when thine empire is o'er, What awaits on Futurity's mist-covered shore? DEATH Cease, cease, wayward Mortal! I dare not unveil The shadows that float o'er Eternity's vale; Nought waits for the good but a spirit of Love That will hail their blessed advent to regions above. For Love, Mortal, gleams through the gloom of my sway, And the shades which surround me fly fast at its ray. Hast thou loved? -- Then depart from these regions of hate, And in slumber with me blunt the arrows of fate. I offer a calm habitation to thee, Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me? MORTAL Oh! sweet is thy slumber! oh! sweet is the ray Which after thy night introduces the day; How concealed, how persuasive, self-interest's breath, Though it floats to mine ear from the bosom of Death! I hoped that I quite was forgotten by all, Yet a lingering friend might be grieved at my fall, And duty forbids, though I languish to die, When departure might heave Virtue's breast with a sigh. Oh, Death! oh, my friend! snatch this form to thy shrine, And I fear, dear destroyer, I shall not repine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ALASTOR; OR, THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AUTUMN: A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ENGLAND IN 1819 by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY EPIPSYCHIDION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY FEELINGS OF A REPUBLICAN ON THE FALL OF BONAPARTE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY HYMN OF PAN by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY HYMN TO INTELLECTUAL BEAUTY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY LINES WRITTEN ON HEARING THE NEWS OF THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY MONT BLANC; LINES WRITTEN IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |
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