The Flight of Love

Read 'The Flight of Love' by 'Percy Bysshe Shelley' and provide your summary and literary analysis in the comments section below.

The Flight of Love by Percy Bysshe Shelley

WHEN the lamp is shatter'd 
The light in the dust lies dead¡ª 
When the cloud is scatter'd  
The rainbow's glory is shed. 
When the lute is broken 5 
Sweet tones are remember'd not; 
When the lips have spoken  
Lov'd accents are soon forgot. 

As music and splendour 
Survive not the lamp and the lute 10 
The heart's echoes render 
No song when the spirit is mute¡ª 
No song but sad dirges  
Like the wind through a ruin'd cell  
Or the mournful surges 15 
That ring the dead seaman's knell. 

When hearts have once mingl'd  
Love first leaves the well-built nest; 
The weak one is singl'd 
To endure what it once possesst. 20 
O Love! who bewailest 
The frailty of all things here  
Why choose you the frailest 
For your cradle your home and your bier? 

Its passions will rock thee 25 
As the storms rock the ravens on high; 
Bright reason will mock thee 
Like the sun from a wintry sky. 
From thy nest every rafter 
Will rot and thine eagle home 30 
Leave thee naked to laughter  
When leaves fall and cold winds come. 

Form: Lyric

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