historicall.y

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...

I came across this poem whilst studying it in the GCSE cluster- Love and Relationships earlier this week. I fell in love with it partly due to the rhythm and language but also to do with the mystery behind it.  When we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this. The dew of the morning Sunk chill on my brow-- It felt like the warning Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame; I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame. They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o’er me-- Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well-- Long, long shall I rue thee, Too deeply to tell. In secret we met-- In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee?-- With...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often in his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair declined, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy internal summer shall not fade, Or loose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes to see, So long lives this and gives life to thee.