'Love's Philosophy' by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Yet another poem that we are studying in the GCSE cluster of Love and Relationships. I really like this one because of the rhythm. Shelley used a literary technique called the iambic pentameter in 'Love's Philosophy'. Iambic pentameter is made up of five stresses and ten syllables and it replicates a heartbeat, as a result most sonnets have it. The fountains mingle with the river And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things by a law divine In one spirit meet and mingle. Why not I with thine?— See the mountains kiss high heaven And the waves clasp one another; No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother; And the sunlight clasps the earth And the moonbeams kiss the sea: What is all this sweet work worth If thou kiss not me? This poem was published in 1819 by the romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelle