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Lyric Poem · Nature

Love's Rose

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

1Hopes, that swell in youthful breasts,

2Live not through the waste of time!

3Love's rose a host of thorns invests;

4Cold, ungenial is the clime,

5Where its honours blow.

6Youth says, 'The purple flowers are mine,'

7Which die the while they glow.

8Dear the boon to Fancy given,

9Retracted whilst it's granted:

10Sweet the rose which lives in Heaven,

11Although on earth 'tis planted,

12Where its honours blow,

13While by earth's slaves the leaves are riven

14Which die the while they glow.

15Age cannot Love destroy,

16But perfidy can blast the flower,

17Even when in most unwary hour

18It blooms in Fancy's bower.

19Age cannot Love destroy,

20But perfidy can rend the shrine

21In which its vermeil splendours shine.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
Love's Rose
Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length
21 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Love, Death & Loss

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
21 lines · 3 septets
Line length
Lines run 6-9 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Refrains
Where its honours blow.Which die the while they glow.Where its honours blow,Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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
PoetryDBLove's Rose 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 bd519b4081bf2414
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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