A Bridal Song by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The speaker invokes night and darkness over a faithful pair and urges the hour to hasten and return. With mingled joy and fear, the speaker asks fairies, sprites, angels, and stars to protect a sleeping woman, calling on dawn to wake her soon.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry · 197 words
First lines
1.
The golden gates of Sleep unbar / Where Strength and Beauty, met together, / Kindle their image like a star / In a sea of glassy weather! / Night, with all thy stars look down,- / Darkness, weep thy holiest dew,- / Never smiled the inconstant moon / On a pair so true. / Let eyes not see their own delight; - / Haste, swift Hour, and thy flight / Oft renew.
2.
Fairies, sprites, and angels, keep her! / Holy stars, permit no wrong! / And return to wake the sleeper, / Dawn,-ere it be long! / O joy! O fear! what will be done / In the absence of the sun! / Come along!
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Two brief rhymed stanzas address night, darkness, the hour, and dawn through urgent appeals and exclamations.
- Love Poetry — The speaker celebrates the pair's faithfulness and asks for protection of the sleeping woman.
Tags
bridal song · devotion · sleep · night · dawn · protection
What this Textopian page supports
A Bridal Song is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Love Poetry
- Length: 197 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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