Here, my dear friend, is a new book for you; I have already dedicated two To other friends, one female and one male,– What you are, is a thing that I must veil; What can this be to those who praise or rail? I never was attached to that great sect Whose doctrine is that […]

AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS, AUTHOR OF ENDYMION, HYPERION, ETC. Aster prin men elampes eni zooisin Eoos nun de thanon lampeis Esperos en phthimenois.–PLATO. [“Adonais” was composed at Pisa during the early days of June, 1821, and printed, with the author’s name, at Pisa, ‘with the types of Didot,’ by July 13, […]

[Published by Dr. Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.] PASSAGES OF THE PREFACE. …the expression of my indignation and sympathy. I will allow myself a first and last word on the subject of calumny as it relates to me. As an author I have dared and invited censure. If I understand myself, I have written neither […]

MANTIS EIM EZTHLON AGONUN.–OEDIP. COLON. “Hellas” was composed at Pisa in the autumn of 1821, and dispatched to London, November 11. It was published, with the author’s name, by C. & J. Ollier in the spring of 1822. A transcript of the poem by Edward Williams is in the Rowfant Library. Ollier availed himself of […]

1. Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light Speed thee in thy fiery flight, In what cavern of the night Will thy pinions close now? 2. Tell me, Moon, thou pale and gray Pilgrim of Heaven’s homeless way, In what depth of night or day Seekest thou repose now? 3. Weary Wind, who wanderest […]

1. A portal as of shadowy adamant Stands yawning on the highway of the life Which we all tread, a cavern huge and gaunt; Around it rages an unceasing strife Of shadows, like the restless clouds that haunt The gap of some cleft mountain, lifted high Into the whirlwinds of the upper sky. 2. And […]

Ye hasten to the grave! What seek ye there, Ye restless thoughts and busy purposes Of the idle brain, which the world’s livery wear? O thou quick heart, which pantest to possess All that pale Expectation feigneth fair! Thou vainly curious mind which wouldest guess Whence thou didst come, and whither thou must go, And […]

If gibbets, axes, confiscations, chains, And racks of subtle torture, if the pains Of shame, of fiery Hell’s tempestuous wave, Seen through the caverns of the shadowy grave, Hurling the damned into the murky air While the meek blest sit smiling; if Despair And Hate, the rapid bloodhounds with which Terror Hunts through the world […]

Alas, good friend, what profit can you see In hating such a hateless thing as me? There is no sport in hate where all the rage Is on one side: in vain would you assuage Your frowns upon an unresisting smile, In which not even contempt lurks to beguile Your heart, by some faint sympathy […]

A: Not far from hence. From yonder pointed hill, Crowned with a ring of oaks, you may behold A dark and barren field, through which there flows, Sluggish and black, a deep but narrow stream, Which the wind ripples not, and the fair moon Gazes in vain, and finds no mirror there. Follow the herbless […]

1. 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. 2. 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. 3. To hearts […]

1. ‘Buona notte, buona notte!’–Come mai La notte sara buona senza te? Non dirmi buona notte,–che tu sai, La notte sa star buona da per se. 2. Solinga, scura, cupa, senza speme, La notte quando Lilla m’abbandona; Pei cuori chi si batton insieme Ogni notte, senza dirla, sara buona. 3. Come male buona notte ci […]

Such hope, as is the sick despair of good, Such fear, as is the certainty of ill, Such doubt, as is pale Expectation’s food Turned while she tastes to poison, when the will Is powerless, and the spirit…

The season was the childhood of sweet June, Whose sunny hours from morning until noon Went creeping through the day with silent feet, Each with its load of pleasure; slow yet sweet; Like the long years of blest Eternity Never to be developed. Joy to thee, Fiordispina and thy Cosimo, For thou the wonders of […]

I went into the deserts of dim sleep– That world which, like an unknown wilderness, Bounds this with its recesses wide and deep–

The viewless and invisible Consequence Watches thy goings-out, and comings-in, And…hovers o’er thy guilty sleep, Unveiling every new-born deed, and thoughts More ghastly than those deeds–

Thou living light that in thy rainbow hues Clothest this naked world; and over Sea And Earth and air, and all the shapes that be In peopled darkness of this wondrous world The Spirit of thy glory dost diffuse … truth … thou Vital Flame Mysterious thought that in this mortal frame Of things, with […]

1. Like the ghost of a dear friend dead Is Time long past. A tone which is now forever fled, A hope which is now forever past, A love so sweet it could not last, Was Time long past. 2. There were sweet dreams in the night Of Time long past: And, was it sadness […]

Serene in his unconquerable might Endued[,] the Almighty King, his steadfast throne Encompassed unapproachably with power And darkness and deep solitude an awe Stood like a black cloud on some aery cliff Embosoming its lightning–in his sight Unnumbered glorious spirits trembling stood Like slaves before their Lord–prostrate around Heaven’s multitudes hymned everlasting praise.

Unrisen splendour of the brightest sun, To rise upon our darkness, if the star Now beckoning thee out of thy misty throne Could thaw the clouds which wage an obscure war With thy young brightness!