Lyric Poem · Nature

Hymn of Pan

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

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1From the forests and highlands

2We come, we come;

3From the river-girt islands,

4Where loud waves are dumb

5Listening to my sweet pipings.

6The wind in the reeds and the rushes,

7The bees on the bells of thyme,

8The birds on the myrtle bushes,

9The cicale above in the lime,

10And the lizards below in the grass,

11Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was,

12Listening to my sweet pipings.

13Liquid Peneus was flowing,

14And all dark Tempe lay

15In Pelion's shadow, outgrowing

16The light of the dying day,

17Speeded by my sweet pipings.

18The Sileni, and Sylvans, and Fauns,

19And the Nymphs of the woods and the waves,

20To the edge of the moist river-lawns,

21And the brink of the dewy caves,

22And all that did then attend and follow,

23Were silent with love, as you now, Apollo,

24With envy of my sweet pipings.

25I sang of the dancing stars,

26I sang of the daedal Earth,

27And of Heaven — and the giant wars,

28And Love, and Death, and Birth, —

29And then I changed my pipings, —

30Singing how down the vale of Maenalus

31I pursued a maiden and clasped a reed.

32Gods and men, we are all deluded thus!

33It breaks in our bosom and then we bleed:

34All wept, as I think both ye now would,

35If envy or age had not frozen your blood,

36At the sorrow of my sweet pipings.

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“Hymn of Pan” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/hymn-of-pan

Quick facts

Poem: Hymn of Pan
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 36 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Love, Death & Loss

Craft notes

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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: 36 lines · 3 stanzas of 12 lines
Refrain: “Listening to my sweet pipings.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.

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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBHymn of Pan 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 1942f57552b27d7d…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Nature Love Death & Loss

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