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by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822)

Thou art fair, and few are fairer
Language: English 
Thou art fair, and few are fairer
Of the Nymphs of earth or ocean;
They are robes that fit the wearer --
Those soft limbs of thine, whose motion
Ever falls and shifts and glances 
As the life within them dances.

Thy deep eyes, a double Planet,
Gaze the wisest into madness
With soft clear fire, -- the winds that fan it
Are those thoughts of tender gladness
Which, like zephyrs on the billow,
Make thy gentle soul their pillow.

If, whatever face thou paintest
In those eyes, grows pale with pleasure,
If the fainting soul is faintest
When it hears thy harp's wild measure,
Wonder not that when thou speakest
Of the weak my heart is weakest.

As dew beneath the wind of morning,
As the sea which whirlwinds waken, 
As the birds at thunder's warning,
As aught mute yet deeply shaken,
As one who feels an unseen spirit
Is my heart when thine is near it.

Available sung texts:   ← What is this?

•   E. Rushton 

E. Rushton sets stanzas 1, 4

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 - 1822), "To Sophia" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Albert Boubée (1850 - 1909), "Thou art fair (To Sophia)", published 1893 [ voice, piano, violoncello obbligato ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Edward Rushton , "To Sophia (from To Sophia (Miss Stacey), 1819)", 2000, stanzas 1,4 [ baritone and piano ], from Three Fragments of Shelley, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Sloky psané Miss Sophii Stacey-ové", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1901


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2005-01-24
Line count: 24
Word count: 156

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