Thy Look of Love has Power to Calm
A speaker tells Harriet that her loving gaze and gentle words soothe his passions. Describing a man's trembling anguish, he begs her to put aside malice, revenge, and pride and offer pity if she cannot love.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 302 words
First lines
Thy look of love has power to calm / The stormiest passion of my soul; / Thy gentle words are drops of balm / In life's too bitter bowl; / No grief is mine, but that alone / These choicest blessings I have known.
Harriet! if all who long to live / In the warm sunshine of thine eye, / That price beyond all pain must give,- / Beneath thy scorn to die; / Then hear thy chosen own too late / His heart most worthy of thy hate.
Genres
- Love Poetry — The speaker addresses Harriet's loving gaze and pleads for pity if love cannot be returned.
- Lyric Poetry — Five rhymed stanzas move from a personal declaration of comfort to an urgent appeal against scorn.
Tags
love · pity · anguish · scorn · compassion
What this Textopian page supports
Thy Look of Love has Power to Calm 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: Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 302 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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