Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
To William Shelley
(With what truth may I say —
Roma! Roma! Roma!
Non e piu come era prima!)
My lost William, thou in whom
Some bright spirit lived, and did
That decaying robe consume
Which its lustre faintly hid, —
Here its ashes find a tomb,
But beneath this pyramid
Thou art not — if a thing divine
Like thee can die, thy funeral shrine
Is thy mother's grief and mine.
Where art thou, my gentle child?
Let me think thy spirit feeds,
With its life intense and mild,
The love of living leaves and weeds
Among these tombs and ruins wild; —
Let me think that through low seeds
Of sweet flowers and sunny grass
Into their hues and scents may pass
A portion —
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“To William Shelley” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/to-william-shelley
Quick facts
- Poem
- To William Shelley
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 21 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Nature, 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
- 21 lines · 3 stanzas of 3–9 lines
- Line length
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). 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 William Shelley 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 78756b687b526354…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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