Skip to content
QuillOak

Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Song

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Fierce roars the midnight storm

O'er the wild mountain,

Dark clouds the night deform,

Swift rolls the fountain —

See! o'er yon rocky height,

Dim mists are flying —

See by the moon's pale light,

Poor Laura's dying!

Shame and remorse shall howl,

By her false pillow —

Fiercer than storms that roll,

O'er the white billow;

No hand her eyes to close,

When life is flying,

But she will find repose,

For Laura's dying!

Then will I seek my love,

Then will I cheer her,

Then my esteem will prove,

When no friend is near her.

On her grave I will lie,

When life is parted,

On her grave I will die,

For the false hearted.

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

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.

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
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.
Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policyReport a text or rights issue

Keep reading

More poems about death