Lyric Poem · Nature

Pain In Pleasure

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Reading room

1A THOUGHT ay like a flower upon mine heart,

2And drew around it other thoughts like bees

3For multitude and thirst of sweetnesses;

4Whereat rejoicing, I desired the art

5Of the Greek whistler, who to wharf and mart

6Could lure those insect swarms from orange-trees

7That I might hive with me such thoughts and please

8My soul so, always. foolish counterpart

9Of a weak man's vain wishes ! While I spoke,

10The thought I called a flower grew nettle-rough

11The thoughts, called bees, stung me to festering:

12Oh, entertain (cried Reason as she woke)

13Your best and gladdest thoughts but long enough,

14And they will all prove sad enough to sting !

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

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“Pain In Pleasure” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning — quilloak.com/poems/pain-in-pleasure

Quick facts

Poem: Pain In Pleasure
Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Nature, Love, Peace

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 · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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: Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861
Source record: PoetryDBPain In Pleasure by elizabeth-barrett-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 245d7fde84e113ef…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Nature Love Peace

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More nature poems →