"Dust to the dust! but the pure spirit shall flow / Back to the burning fountain whence it came."
— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)
Place of Publication
Pisa
Date
1821
Metaphor
"Dust to the dust! but the pure spirit shall flow / Back to the burning fountain whence it came."
Metaphor in Context
Nor let us weep that our delight is fled
Far from these carrion kites that scream below;
He wakes or sleeps with the enduring dead;
Thou canst not soar where he is sitting now.
Dust to the dust! but the pure spirit shall flow
Back to the burning fountain whence it came,
A portion of the Eternal, which must glow
Through time and change, unquenchably the same,
Whilst thy cold embers choke the sordid hearth of shame.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Shelley's Poetry and Prose. Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Donald H. Reiman and Sharon B. Powers. New York: Norton, 1977.
Date of Entry
12/23/2007
