Lyric Poem · Nature
Homer's Hymn to the Sun
1Offspring of Jove, Calliope, once more
2To the bright Sun, thy hymn of music pour;
3Whom to the child of star-clad Heaven and Earth
4Euryphaessa, large-eyed nymph, brought forth;
5Euryphaessa, the famed sister fair
6Of great Hyperion, who to him did bear
7A race of loveliest children; the young Morn,
8Whose arms are like twin roses newly born,
9The fair-haired Moon, and the immortal Sun,
10Who borne by heavenly steeds his race doth run
11Unconquerably, illuming the abodes
12Of mortal Men and the eternal Gods.
13Fiercely look forth his awe-inspiring eyes,
14Beneath his golden helmet, whence arise
15And are shot forth afar, clear beams of light;
16His countenance, with radiant glory bright,
17Beneath his graceful locks far shines around,
18And the light vest with which his limbs are bound,
19Of woof aethereal delicately twined,
20Glows in the stream of the uplifting wind.
21His rapid steeds soon bear him to the West;
22Where their steep flight his hands divine arrest,
23And the fleet car with yoke of gold, which he
24Sends from bright Heaven beneath the shadowy sea.
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“Homer's Hymn to the Sun” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/homers-hymn-to-the-sun
Quick facts
- Poem
- Homer's Hymn to the Sun
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 24 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Peace, Childhood
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
- 24 lines · 2 stanzas of 12 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 10-11 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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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
- PoetryDBHomer's Hymn to the Sun 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 beabad8bb1db77a9…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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