Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Sonnet. to a Balloon Laden With Knowledge

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1Bright ball of flame that through the gloom of even

2Silently takest thine aethereal way,

3And with surpassing glory dimm'st each ray

4Twinkling amid the dark blue depths of Heaven, —

5Unlike the fire thou bearest, soon shalt thou

6Fade like a meteor in surrounding gloom,

7Whilst that, unquenchable, is doomed to glow

8A watch-light by the patriot's lonely tomb;

9A ray of courage to the oppressed and poor;

10A spark, though gleaming on the hovel's hearth,

11Which through the tyrant's gilded domes shall roar;

12A beacon in the darkness of the Earth;

13A sun which, o'er the renovated scene,

14Shall dart like Truth where Falsehood yet has been.

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“Sonnet. to a Balloon Laden With Knowledge” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-to-a-balloon-laden-with-knowledge

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet. to a Balloon Laden With Knowledge
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Peace

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Shape: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBSonnet. to a Balloon Laden With Knowledge 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 69bf9126583f593e…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Death & Loss Peace

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