Lyric Poem · Peace

Perplexed Music

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Reading room

1EXPERIENCE, like a pale musician, holds

2A dulcimer of patience in his hand,

3Whence harmonies, we cannot understand,

4Of God; will in his worlds, the strain unfolds

5In sad-perplexed minors: deathly colds

6Fall on us while we hear, and countermand

7Our sanguine heart back from the fancyland

8With nightingales in visionary wolds.

9We murmur ' Where is any certain tune

10Or measured music in such notes as these ? '

11But angels, leaning from the golden seat,

12Are not so minded their fine ear hath won

13The issue of completed cadences,

14And, smiling down the stars, they whisper —

15SWEET.

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“Perplexed Music” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning — quilloak.com/poems/perplexed-music

Quick facts

Poem: Perplexed Music
Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Length: 15 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace, Love, Nature

Craft notes

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Author record: Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861
Source record: PoetryDBPerplexed Music by elizabeth-barrett-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
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Lyric Poem Peace Love Nature

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