Lyric Poem · Nature
The Solitary
Dar'st thou amid the varied multitude
To live alone, an isolated thing?
To see the busy beings round thee spring,
And care for none; in thy calm solitude,
A flower that scarce breathes in the desert rude
To Zephyr's passing wing?
Not the swart Pariah in some Indian grove,
Lone, lean, and hunted by his brother's hate,
Hath drunk so deep the cup of bitter fate
As that poor wretch who cannot, cannot love:
He bears a load which nothing can remove,
A killing, withering weight.
He smiles — 'tis sorrow's deadliest mockery;
He speaks — the cold words flow not from his soul;
He acts like others, drains the genial bowl, —
Yet, yet he longs — although he fears — to die;
He pants to reach what yet he seems to fly,
Dull life's extremest goal.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Solitary” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/the-solitary
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Solitary
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 18 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Spring, 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
- 18 lines · 3 sestets
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
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
- PoetryDBThe Solitary 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 99ae91c04456a83b…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
Bright Star
John Keats · 1819
14 lines · sonnet
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Christopher Marlowe · 1599
24 lines · lyric
The Old Pond (haiku)
Matsuo Bashō · 1686
3 lines · haiku