Lyric Poem · Love

St. Irvyne's Tower

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1How swiftly through Heaven's wide expanse

2Bright day's resplendent colours fade!

3How sweetly does the moonbeam's glance

4With silver tint St. Irvyne's glade!

5No cloud along the spangled air,

6Is borne upon the evening breeze;

7How solemn is the scene! how fair

8The moonbeams rest upon the trees!

9Yon dark gray turret glimmers white,

10Upon it sits the mournful owl;

11Along the stillness of the night,

12Her melancholy shriekings roll.

13But not alone on Irvyne's tower,

14The silver moonbeam pours her ray;

15It gleams upon the ivied bower,

16It dances in the cascade's spray.

17'Ah! why do dark'ning shades conceal

18The hour, when man must cease to be?

19Why may not human minds unveil

20The dim mists of futurity? —

21'The keenness of the world hath torn

22The heart which opens to its blast;

23Despised, neglected, and forlorn,

24Sinks the wretch in death at last.'

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“St. Irvyne's Tower” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/st-irvynes-tower

Quick facts

Poem: St. Irvyne's Tower
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Death & Loss, Nature

Craft notes

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Shape: 24 lines · 6 quatrains
Line length: Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).

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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBSt. Irvyne's Tower 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 5499e2c5f8b1ad73…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Death & Loss Nature

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