Sister Rosa: a Ballad by Percy Bysshe Shelley
In his lonely cell a dark Monk hears the death-bell for Rosa, weeps, and dashes his gold cross to the floor, crying that delight is in store for her but fate, horror, and fear for himself. He prays until the abbey bell strikes One and a hollow voice says his penance is done and he is free to die; in a midnight storm he searches the chapel for the new-made tomb and bursts Rosa's coffin asunder. The dead Nun's skeleton rears up with pale flames in her half-eaten eyeballs and lays her hand on his brain as a speech declares that death now ends anguished pain and the grave will reunite them, answered by a deep groan from hell.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Ballad, Gothic Poetry, Romantic Poetry · 1,174 words
First lines
1.
The death-bell beats! - / The mountain repeats / The echoing sound of the knell; / And the dark Monk now / Wraps the cowl round his brow, / As he sits in his lonely cell.
Genres
- Ballad — Titled 'a Ballad', the piece tells its story in eighteen short rhymed stanzas driven by refrains of the tolling death-bell and the Monk's actions in sequence.
- Gothic Poetry — The verse is built from a dark Monk in a lonely cell, a death-knell, a midnight storm, a chapel tomb, a burst coffin, and a dead Nun's skeleton with flaming eyeballs, with a groan answered from hell.
- Romantic Poetry — The stanzas dwell on the Monk's raging woe, bitter tears, and 'ice of despair' under night-stars and a pale moonbeam, pairing extreme feeling with supernatural terror.
Tags
ballad · gothic · romanticism · supernatural · death · skeleton · monk · horror
What this Textopian page supports
Sister Rosa: a Ballad 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: Ballad, Gothic Poetry, Romantic Poetry
- Length: 1,174 words
- Structure: 1 section, 36 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for Sister Rosa: a Ballad by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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