Lyric Poem · Sad
Bereavement
1How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner,
2As he bends in still grief o'er the hallowed bier,
3As enanguished he turns from the laugh of the scorner,
4And drops, to Perfection's remembrance, a tear;
5When floods of despair down his pale cheek are streaming,
6When no blissful hope on his bosom is beaming,
7Or, if lulled for awhile, soon he starts from his dreaming,
8And finds torn the soft ties to affection so dear.
9Ah! when shall day dawn on the night of the grave,
10Or summer succeed to the winter of death?
11Rest awhile, hapless victim, and Heaven will save
12The spirit, that faded away with the breath.
13Eternity points in its amaranth bower,
14Where no clouds of fate o'er the sweet prospect lower,
15Unspeakable pleasure, of goodness the dower,
16When woe fades away like the mist of the heath.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Bereavement” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/bereavement
Quick facts
- Poem
- Bereavement
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Sad, Death & Loss, Nature
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 16 lines · 2 octaves
- Line length
- Lines run 11-13 syllables (median 12), consistent with hexameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
- Source record
- PoetryDBBereavement by percy-bysshe-shelley, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 40dd01fb5a720253…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.