Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
English poet · 1792–1822
OzymandiasLove's Philosophy
Percy Bysshe Shelley was the Romantic movement's radical: expelled from Oxford for atheism, a vegetarian and political idealist who believed poetry could remake the world. He drowned in a storm off the Italian coast at 29.
His range runs from the crushing irony of "Ozymandias" — empire reduced to a broken statue in the sand — to the playful seduction logic of "Love's Philosophy."
He was married to Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein at 18 while the couple summered with Lord Byron.
86 poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.
Ode to the West Wind
Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1820
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves deadAre driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
70 lines · ode
Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1818
I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
14 lines · sonnet
- Love's PhilosophyThe fountains mingle with the river…16 lines
- Music, When Soft Voices DieMusic, when soft voices die,…8 lines
- A Bridal SongThe golden gates of Sleep unbar…18 lines
- A DirgeRough wind, that moanest loud…8 lines
- A Hate-SongA hater he came and sat by a ditch,…4 lines
- A LamentO world! O life! O time!…10 lines
- An AllegoryA portal as of shadowy adamant…15 lines
- Autumn: A DirgeThe warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing,…22 lines
- BereavementHow stern are the woes of the desolate mourner,…16 lines
- Buona Notte'Buona notte, buona notte!' — Come mai…12 lines
- Cancelled Passage of Mont BlancThere is a voice, not understood by all,…5 lines
- Cancelled Passage of the Ode to LibertyWithin a cavern of man's trackless spirit…7 lines
- Cancelled StanzaGather, O gather,…7 lines
- DeathDeath is here and death is there,…16 lines
- Farewell to North DevonWhere man's profane and tainting hand…6 lines
- Feelings of a Republican on the Fall of BonaparteI hated thee, fallen tyrant! I did groan…14 lines
- From the Arabic: An ImitationMy faint spirit was sitting in the light…16 lines
- From the Greek of MoschusTan ala tan glaukan otan onemos atrema Balle — k.t.l.…15 lines
- From the Original Draft of the Poem to William ShelleyThe world is now our dwelling-place;…15 lines
- From Vergil's Fourth Georgic[VERSES 360 ET SEQ.]…22 lines
- Good-NightGood-night? ah! no; the hour is ill…12 lines
- Homer's Hymn to Castor and PolluxYe wild-eyed Muses, sing the Twins of Jove,…22 lines
- Homer's Hymn to MinervaI sing the glorious Power with azure eyes,…20 lines
- In HorologiumInter marmoreas Leonorae pendula colles…4 lines
- Kissing HelenaFROM THE GREEK OF PLATO.…7 lines
- LibertyThe fiery mountains answer each other;…21 lines
- LinesThat time is dead for ever, child!…14 lines
- Lines to a CriticHoney from silkworms who can gather,…16 lines
- Lines to a ReviewerAlas, good friend, what profit can you see…13 lines
- Love's RoseHopes, that swell in youthful breasts,…21 lines
- 'Mighty Eagle'SUPPOSED TO BE ADDRESSED TO WILLIAM GODWIN.…7 lines
- MusicI pant for the music which is divine,…22 lines
- MutabilityThe flower that smiles to-day…21 lines
- Ode to the West WindO wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,…70 lines
- On a Faded VioletThe odour from the flower is gone…12 lines
- On Fanny GodwinHer voice did quiver as we parted,…6 lines
- On Robert Emmet's Grave...…9 lines
- On the Dark Height of JuraGhosts of the dead! have I not heard your yelling…16 lines
- OthoThou wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be,…16 lines
- OzymandiasI met a traveller from an antique land…14 lines
- Pan, Echo, and the SatyrFROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS.…13 lines
- Passage of the ApenninesListen, listen, Mary mine,…13 lines
- Similes for Two Political Characters of 1819As from an ancestral oak…21 lines
- Song From the Wandering JewSee yon opening flower…8 lines
- Song of Proserpine While Gathering Flowers on the Plain of EnnaSacred Goddess, Mother Earth,…12 lines
- Song. Translated From the GermanAh! grasp the dire dagger and couch the fell spear,…16 lines
- Song. Translated From the ItalianOh! what is the gain of restless care,…12 lines
- SonnetFROM THE ITALIAN OF CAVALCANTI.…16 lines
- Sonnet: England in 1819An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king, —…14 lines
- Sonnet. on Launching Some Bottles Filled With Knowledge into the Bristol ChannelVessels of heavenly medicine! may the breeze…14 lines
- Sonnet: Political GreatnessNor happiness, nor majesty, nor fame,…14 lines
- Sonnet. to a Balloon Laden With KnowledgeBright ball of flame that through the gloom of even…14 lines
- Sonnet to ByronIf I esteemed you less, Envy would kill…14 lines
- Spirit of PlatoFROM THE GREEK.…7 lines
- StanzaIf I walk in Autumn's even…6 lines
- Stanza From a Translation of the Marseillaise HymnTremble, Kings despised of man!…9 lines
- Stanzas From Calderon's Cisma De InglaterraTRANSLATED BY MEDWIN AND CORRECTED BY SHELLEY.…17 lines
- Summer and WinterIt was a bright and cheerful afternoon,…18 lines
- The Aziola'Do you not hear the Aziola cry?…21 lines
- The Birth of PleasureAt the creation of the Earth…14 lines
- The CloudI bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,…84 lines
- The Irishman's SongThe stars may dissolve, and the fountain of light…16 lines
- The IsleThere was a little lawny islet…11 lines
- The PastWilt thou forget the happy hours…12 lines
- The SolitaryDar'st thou amid the varied multitude…18 lines
- The Waning MoonAnd like a dying lady, lean and pale,…6 lines
- The World's WanderersTell me, thou Star, whose wings of light…12 lines
- TimeUnfathomable Sea! whose waves are years,…10 lines
- Time Long PastLike the ghost of a dear friend dead…18 lines
- ToWhen passion's trance is overpast,…15 lines
- To a SkylarkHail to thee, blithe Spirit!…105 lines
- To a StarSweet star, which gleaming o'er the darksome scene…15 lines
- To ConstantiaThe rose that drinks the fountain dew…12 lines
- To Constantia: Stanzas 1 and 2As restored by Mr. C.D. Locock.…16 lines
- To Emilia VivianiMadonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me…14 lines
- To HarrietEver as now with Love and Virtue's glow…4 lines
- To IantheI love thee, Baby! for thine own sweet sake;…14 lines
- To MaryO Mary dear, that you were here…16 lines
- To Mary ShelleyMy dearest Mary, wherefore hast thou gone,…8 lines
- To-MorrowWhere art thou, beloved To-morrow?…6 lines
- To the MoonArt thou pale for weariness…8 lines
- To the NileMonth after month the gathered rains descend…14 lines
- To William Shelley(With what truth may I say —…21 lines
- To WordsworthPoet of Nature, thou hast wept to know…14 lines
- Variation of the Song of the Moon("PROMETHEUS UNBOUND", ACT 4.)…15 lines
- Victoria'Twas dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling;…19 lines