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Bereavement by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Analysis

"Bereavement" is a poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Bereavement means to be deprived of something. In this poem, the narrator describes the bereavement of a man who is mourning the death of someone. Shelley goes into detail about the man's emotions. He's crying and remembering his loved one. When the man finally laughs, he starts to cry again when he starts to remember his love. Shelley attempts to calm the man by telling him that his loved one is now in heaven and soon they will see each other gain.

"Bereavement" is a sixteen line poem that is rhymed as ABABCCCBDEDEFFFE. The poem is written in trochee-hexameter. Trochee is "DUM-Da" as opposed to "Da-DUM" in iambic.

Poem

Bereavement
By 

How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner
As he bends in still grief o'er the hallowed bier,
As enanguished he turns from the laugh of the scorner,
And drops to perfection's remembrance a tear;
When floods of despair down his pale cheeks are streaming,
When no blissful hope on his bosom is beaming,
Or, if lulled for a while, soon he starts from his dreaming,
And finds torn the soft ties to affection so dear.
Ah, when shall day dawn on the night of the grave,
Or summer succeed to the winter of death?
Rest awhle, hapless victim! and Heaven will save
The spirit that hath faded away with the breath.
Eternity points, in its amaranth bower
Where no clouds of fate o'er the sweet prospect lour,
Unspeakable pleasure, of goodness the dower,
When woe fades away like the mist of the heath.

Next: The Indian Serenade

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Nationality
English

Literary Movement
Romanticism, 18th Century

Subjects
Death, Memory, Love, Spirituality