"Love's Philosophy"

Love's Philosophy
by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix forever
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?

~Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)

Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language. He received his early education at home, tutored by Reverend Evan Edwards of Warnham. He was the eldest of seven children. In 1815, Shelley produced the verse allegory "Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude". It attracted little attention at the time, but it has now come to be recognized as his first major poem.

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Love's Philosophy
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