To Constantia, Singing by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Constantia's voice and instrumental playing overwhelm the speaker with tears, awe, and physical excitement. The speaker imagines being carried beyond the world's bounds and compares her changing song to a tempest and the breath of a summer night.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Musical Poetry · 492 words
First lines
Thus to be lost and thus to sink and die, / Perchance were death indeed! -Constantia, turn! / In thy dark eyes a power like light doth lie, / Even though the sounds which were thy voice, which burn / Between thy lips, are laid to sleep; / Within thy breath, and on thy hair, like odour, it is yet, / And from thy touch like fire doth leap. / Even while I write, my burning cheeks are wet. / Alas, that the torn heart can bleed, but not forget!
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Four stanzas express the speaker's immediate sensations and emotions while addressing Constantia and responding to her song.
- Musical Poetry — Constantia's voice and her fingers on instrumental strings provoke quickened breath, a quivering heart, and imagined flight.
Tags
singing · instrumental music · ecstasy · devotion · imagined flight
What this Textopian page supports
To Constantia, Singing 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, Musical Poetry
- Length: 492 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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