Lyric Poem · Love
Music, When Soft Voices Die
by Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1821
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory—
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.
Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Music, When Soft Voices Die” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/music-when-soft-voices-die
Quick facts
- Poem
- Music, When Soft Voices Die
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Published
- 1821
- Length
- 8 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Love, Death & Loss, Short
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
- 8 lines · 2 quatrains
- Line length
- Mostly 7-syllable lines.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on a United States term-expiry review; status can differ elsewhere.
- Author record
- Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
- Source record
- QuillOak curated editionMusic, When Soft Voices Die (1821) by percy-bysshe-shelley
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1821
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 53759201bbbc2f0c…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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