Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ST. IRVYNE'S TOWER, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY


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ST. IRVYNE'S TOWER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: How swiftly through heaven's wide expanse
Last Line: Sinks the wretch in death at last.'


I

How swiftly through heaven's wide expanse
Bright day's resplendent colors fade!
How sweetly does the moonbeam's glance
With silver tint St. Irvyne's glade!

II

No cloud along the spangled air,
Is borne upon the evening breeze;
How solemn is the scene! how fair
The moonbeams rest upon the trees!

III

Yon dark gray turret glimmers white,
Upon it sits the mournful owl;
Along the stillness of the night
Her melancholy shriekings roll.

IV

But not alone on Irvyne's tower
The silver moonbeam pours her rays;
It gleams upon the ivied bower,
It dances in the cascade's spray.

V

'Ah! why do darkening shades conceal
The hour when man must cease to be?
Why may not human minds unveil
The dim mists of futurity?

VI

'The keenness of the world hath torn
The heart which opens to its blast;
Despised, neglected, and forlorn,
Sinks the wretch in death at last.'





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