Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE FLIGHT OF LOVE, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: When the lamp is shattered Last Line: When leaves fall and cold winds come. Variant Title(s): Lines Subject(s): Despair; Love - Loss Of | ||||||||
WHEN the lamp is shatter'd, The light in the dust lies dead; When the cloud is scatter'd, The rainbow's glory is shed; When the lute is broken, Sweet tones are remember'd not When the lips have spoken, Loved accents are soon forgot. As music and splendour 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 ruin'd 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 possest. 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ROSE AND MURRAY by CONRAD AIKEN THOUGH WE NO LONGER POSSESS IT by MARK JARMAN THE GLORY OF THE DAY WAS IN HER FACE by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON LOVE COME AND GONE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE CHAMBER MUSIC: 33 by JAMES JOYCE A SCOTCH SONG by JOANNA BAILLIE A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |
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