Lyric Poem · Love

To Ianthe

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1I love thee, Baby! for thine own sweet sake;

2Those azure eyes, that faintly dimpled cheek,

3Thy tender frame, so eloquently weak,

4Love in the sternest heart of hate might wake;

5But more when o'er thy fitful slumber bending

6Thy mother folds thee to her wakeful heart,

7Whilst love and pity, in her glances blending,

8All that thy passive eyes can feel impart:

9More, when some feeble lineaments of her,

10Who bore thy weight beneath her spotless bosom,

11As with deep love I read thy face, recur, —

12More dear art thou, O fair and fragile blossom;

13Dearest when most thy tender traits express

14The image of thy mother's loveliness.

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

Quick facts

Poem: To Ianthe
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Nature, Childhood

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: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Lines run 10-11 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

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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 Ianthe 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 233958cd732f5ae1…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Nature Childhood

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