"'twas her lover's face-- / It might resemble her--it once had been / The mirror of her thoughts, and still the grace / Which her mind's shadow cast, left there a lingering trace"
— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. and J. Ollier
Date
1817, 1818
Metaphor
"'twas her lover's face-- / It might resemble her--it once had been / The mirror of her thoughts, and still the grace / Which her mind's shadow cast, left there a lingering trace"
Metaphor in Context
And though their lustre now was spent and faded,
Yet in my hollow looks and withered mien
The likeness of a shape for which was braided
The brightest woof of genius, still was seen--
One who, methought, had gone from the world's scene,
And left it vacant--'twas her lover's face--
It might resemble her--it once had been
The mirror of her thoughts, and still the grace
Which her mind's shadow cast, left there a lingering trace.
Yet in my hollow looks and withered mien
The likeness of a shape for which was braided
The brightest woof of genius, still was seen--
One who, methought, had gone from the world's scene,
And left it vacant--'twas her lover's face--
It might resemble her--it once had been
The mirror of her thoughts, and still the grace
Which her mind's shadow cast, left there a lingering trace.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "mirror" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
The Revolt of Islam. A Poem in Twelve Cantos. (London: C. and J. Ollier, 1817) <Link to 1829 edition in Google Books>.
Originally published as Laon and Cythna. Text from the University of Adelaide's "eBooks@Adelaide." http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/shelley/percy_bysshe/
Originally published as Laon and Cythna. Text from the University of Adelaide's "eBooks@Adelaide." http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/shelley/percy_bysshe/
Date of Entry
10/21/2005
