Lyric Poem · Nature
Variation of the Song of the Moon
("PROMETHEUS UNBOUND", ACT 4.)
As a violet's gentle eye
Gazes on the azure sky
Until its hue grows like what it beholds;
As a gray and empty mist
Lies like solid amethyst
Over the western mountain it enfolds,
When the sunset sleeps
Upon its snow;
As a strain of sweetest sound
Wraps itself the wind around
Until the voiceless wind be music too;
As aught dark, vain, and dull,
Basking in what is beautiful,
Is full of light and love —
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“Variation of the Song of the Moon” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/variation-of-the-song-of-the-moon
Quick facts
- Poem
- Variation of the Song of the Moon
- Poet
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Length
- 15 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Winter, 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
- 15 lines · 2 stanzas of 1–14 lines
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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
- PoetryDBVariation of the Song of the Moon 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 b6c9d847dff254b9…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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