Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

To Mary Who Died in This Opinion

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1Maiden, quench the glare of sorrow

2Struggling in thine haggard eye:

3Firmness dare to borrow

4From the wreck of destiny;

5For the ray morn's bloom revealing

6Can never boast so bright an hue

7As that which mocks concealing,

8And sheds its loveliest light on you.

9Yet is the tie departed

10Which bound thy lovely soul to bliss?

11Has it left thee broken-hearted

12In a world so cold as this?

13Yet, though, fainting fair one,

14Sorrow's self thy cup has given,

15Dream thou'lt meet thy dear one,

16Never more to part, in Heaven.

17Existence would I barter

18For a dream so dear as thine,

19And smile to die a martyr

20On affection's bloodless shrine.

21Nor would I change for pleasure

22That withered hand and ashy cheek,

23If my heart enshrined a treasure

24Such as forces thine to break.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“To Mary Who Died in This Opinion” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/to-mary-who-died-in-this-opinion

Quick facts

Poem: To Mary Who Died in This Opinion
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 24 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, Sad, Dreams & Sleep

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: 24 lines · 3 octaves
Line length: Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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: PoetryDBTo Mary Who Died in This Opinion 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 994b245c1c689f86…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Death & Loss Sad Dreams & Sleep

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More poems about death →