Lyric Poem · Dreams & Sleep

To

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1When passion's trance is overpast,

2If tenderness and truth could last,

3Or live, whilst all wild feelings keep

4Some mortal slumber, dark and deep,

5I should not weep, I should not weep!

6It were enough to feel, to see,

7Thy soft eyes gazing tenderly,

8And dream the rest — and burn and be

9The secret food of fires unseen,

10Couldst thou but be as thou hast been,

11After the slumber of the year

12The woodland violets reappear;

13All things revive in field or grove,

14And sky and sea, but two, which move

15And form all others, life and love.

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“To” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/to

Quick facts

Poem: To
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 15 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Dreams & Sleep, Nature, Sad

Craft notes

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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: 15 lines · 3 quintains
Line length: Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).

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Text, source & rights

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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBTo 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 ae3f875b4b7ef22e…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Dreams & Sleep Nature Sad

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