Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Song

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1Fierce roars the midnight storm

2O'er the wild mountain,

3Dark clouds the night deform,

4Swift rolls the fountain —

5See! o'er yon rocky height,

6Dim mists are flying —

7See by the moon's pale light,

8Poor Laura's dying!

9Shame and remorse shall howl,

10By her false pillow —

11Fiercer than storms that roll,

12O'er the white billow;

13No hand her eyes to close,

14When life is flying,

15But she will find repose,

16For Laura's dying!

17Then will I seek my love,

18Then will I cheer her,

19Then my esteem will prove,

20When no friend is near her.

21On her grave I will lie,

22When life is parted,

23On her grave I will die,

24For the false hearted.

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“Song” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/song

Quick facts

Poem: Song
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Nature, Love

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: 24 lines · 6 quatrains
Line length: Lines run 5-6 syllables (median 6), consistent with trimeter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBSong 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 fe09bf4ab5db9f9f…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Death & Loss Nature Love

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