To a Star by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The speaker hails a sweet star gleaming through fleecy clouds over a darksome scene and a waveless lake, lighting the hour of sacred love and surpassing the paling morning star. When wearied Nature sinks to sleep and only the voice of Love murmurs on the breeze of Favonius, he asks whether the star is anything but a lulling of the slaves of interest to repose with its mild, pitying gaze, and wishes to look in its beam until every bond of sense became enamoured.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Romantic Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry · 173 words
First lines
Sweet star, which gleaming o'er the darksome scene / Through fleecy clouds of silvery radiance fliest, / Spanglet of light on evening's shadowy veil, / Which shrouds the day-beam from the waveless lake, / Lighting the hour of sacred love; more sweet / Than the expiring morn-star's paly fires: - / Sweet star! When wearied Nature sinks to sleep, / And all is hushed,-all, save the voice of Love, / Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast / Of soft Favonius, which at intervals / Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but / Lulling the slaves of interest to repose / With that mild, pitying gaze? Oh, I would look / In thy dear beam till every bond of sense / Became enamoured-
Genres
- Romantic Poetry — The text employs characteristic Romantic imagery such as 'Nature sinks to sleep' and 'voice of Love,' focusing on intense emotion, the sublime power of the star, and a lyrical address to a celestial object.
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, musical poem expressing personal emotion through direct address ('Sweet star!') and sensory details like 'silvery radiance' and 'balmy blast,' typical of the lyric form.
- Nature Poetry — The poem centers on the interaction between a celestial body ('star') and the natural world ('evening's shadowy veil', 'waveless lake', 'wearied Nature'), using the landscape to frame emotional states.
Tags
romanticism · lyric · nature · star · love · night
What this Textopian page supports
To a Star 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: Romantic Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 173 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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