Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
Lines
That time is dead for ever, child!
Drowned, frozen, dead for ever!
We look on the past
And stare aghast
At the spectres wailing, pale and ghast,
Of hopes which thou and I beguiled
To death on life's dark river.
The stream we gazed on then rolled by;
Its waves are unreturning;
But we yet stand
In a lone land,
Like tombs to mark the memory
Of hopes and fears, which fade and flee
In the light of life's dim morning.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Lines” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/lines
Quick facts
- Poem
- Lines
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Hope, 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
- 14 lines · 2 septets
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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
- PoetryDBLines 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 04121fed1d5ee123…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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