Lyric Poem · Nature
To a Star
1Sweet star, which gleaming o'er the darksome scene
2Through fleecy clouds of silvery radiance fliest,
3Spanglet of light on evening's shadowy veil,
4Which shrouds the day-beam from the waveless lake,
5Lighting the hour of sacred love; more sweet
6Than the expiring morn-star's paly fires: —
7Sweet star! When wearied Nature sinks to sleep,
8And all is hushed, — all, save the voice of Love,
9Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast
10Of soft Favonius, which at intervals
11Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but
12Lulling the slaves of interest to repose
13With that mild, pitying gaze? Oh, I would look
14In thy dear beam till every bond of sense
15Became enamoured —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“To a Star” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/to-a-star
Quick facts
- Poem
- To a Star
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 15 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Love, Sad
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
- 15 lines · one 15-line stanza
- Line length
- Lines run 10-11 syllables (median 11). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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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
- PoetryDBTo a Star 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 2b6eacd2572ec7d5…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.