My Dearest Mary, Wherefore Hast Thou Gone
The speaker asks why Mary has gone, although her form remains present, and pictures her in sorrow and despair. For Mary's sake, the speaker cannot follow her.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry · 86 words
First lines
My dearest Mary, wherefore hast thou gone, / And left me in this dreary world alone? / Thy form is here indeed-a lovely one- / But thou art fled, gone down the dreary road, / That leads to Sorrow's most obscure abode; / Thou sittest on the hearth of pale despair, / Where / For thine own sake I cannot follow thee.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The brief verse addresses Mary directly through the speaker's questions and expressions of loneliness.
- Melancholic Poetry — The speaker describes a dreary world and imagines Mary on a road into sorrow, seated at the hearth of despair.
Tags
emotional separation · despair · sorrow · loneliness · love
What this Textopian page supports
My Dearest Mary, Wherefore Hast Thou Gone 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, Melancholic Poetry
- Length: 86 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
Good citation fit
- Work identity for My Dearest Mary, Wherefore Hast Thou Gone by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph