Quotes from work
Prometheus Unbound

Prometheus Unbound

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Prometheus Unbound is a four-act lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley, first published in 1820. It is concerned with the torments of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, who defies the gods and gives fire to humanity, for which he is subjected to eternal punishment and suffering at the hands of Zeus. It is inspired by the classical Prometheia, a trilogy of plays attributed to Aeschylus. Shelley's play concerns Prometheus' release from captivity, but unlike Aeschylus' version, there is no reconciliation between Prometheus and Jupiter . Instead, Jupiter is abandoned by his supportive elements and falls from power, which allows Prometheus to be released.

“No change, no pause, no hope! Yet I endure.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Prometheus Unbound

“Soul meets soul on lovers' lips.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

The Moon, Act IV, l. 451
Variant: Soul meets soul on lovers' lips.
Source: Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“Death is the veil which those who live call life;
They sleep, and it is lifted.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Earth, Act III, sc. iii, l. 113
Variant: Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life.
Source: Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“Familiar acts are beautiful through love.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

The Earth, Act IV, l. 403
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“On a poet's lips I slept
Dreaming like a love-adept
In the sound his breathing kept.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Fourth Spirit, Act I, l. 737
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than Death or Night;
To defy Power, which seems Omnipotent;
To love, and bear; to hope, till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change nor falter nor repent;
This, like thy glory, Titan! is to be
Good, great and joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life; Joy, Empire, and Victory!”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Demogorgon, Act IV, closing lines
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“He gave man speech, and speech created thought,
Which is the measure of the universe.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Asia, Act II, sc. iv, l. 72
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“The pale stars are gone!
For the sun, their swift shepherd,
To their folds them compelling,
In the depths of the dawn,
Hastes, in meteor-eclipsing array, and the flee
Beyond his blue dwelling,
As fawns flee the leopard.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Voice of Unseen Spirits, Act IV, l. 1
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“To know nor faith, nor love, nor law, to be
Omnipotent but friendless, is to reign.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Asia, Act II, sc. iv, l. 47
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“It doth repent me; words are quick and vain;
Grief for awhile is blind, and so was mine.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Prometheus, Act I, l. 304
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“Gentleness, Virtue, Wisdom, and Endurance,
These are the seals of that most firm assurance
Which bars the pit over Destruction’s strength;
And if, with infirm hand, Eternity,
Mother of many acts and hours, should free
The serpent that would clasp her with his length;
These are the spells by which to reassume
An empire o’er the disentangled doom.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Demogorgon, Act IV, l. 562–569
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“Thy words are like a cloud of winged snakes;
And yet I pity those they torture not.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Prometheus, Act I, l. 632
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“All spirits are enslaved which serve things evil.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Demogorgon, Act II, sc. iv, l. 110
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“Nor yet exempt, though ruling them like slaves,
From chance, and death, and mutability,
The clogs of that which else might oversoar
The loftiest star of unascended heaven,
Pinnacled dim in the intense inane.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Spirit of the Hour, Act III, sc. iv, l. 200
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“Peace is in the grave.
The grave hides all things beautiful and good.
I am a God and cannot find it there,
Nor would I seek it; for, though dread revenge,
This is defeat, fierce king, not victory.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Prometheus, Act I, l. 638
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“He will watch from dawn to gloom
The lake-reflected sun illume
The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom,
Nor heed nor see, what things they be;
But from these create he can
Forms more real than living man,
Nurslings of immortality!”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Fourth Spirit, Act I, l. 742
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“The dust of creeds outworn.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

First Spirit, Act I, l. 697
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“This is the day, which down the void abysm
At the Earth-born’s spell yawns for Heaven’s despotism
And Conquest is dragged captive through the deep:
Love, from its awful throne of patient power
In the wise heart, from the last giddy hour
Of dread endurance, from the slippery, steep,
And narrow verge of crag-like agony, springs
And folds over the world its healing wings.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Demogorgon, Act IV, l. 554–561
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“All love is sweet,
Given or returned. Common as light is love,
And its familiar voice wearies not ever.
Like the wide heaven, the all-sustaining air,
It makes the reptile equal to the God;
They who inspire it most are fortunate,
As I am now; but those who feel it most
Are happier still.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Asia, Act II, sc. v, l. 39
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

“The good want power, but to weep barren tears.
The powerful goodness want: worse need for them.
The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom;
And all best things are thus confused to ill.
Many are strong and rich, and would be just,
But live among their suffering fellow-men
As if none felt: they know not what they do.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound

Fury, Act I, l. 625–631
Prometheus Unbound (1818–1819; publ. 1820)

Similar authors

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

Percy Bysshe Shelley246

English Romantic poet 1792–1822

William Blake photo

William Blake249

English Romantic poet and artist None

George Gordon Byron photo

George Gordon Byron227

English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement None

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

Samuel Taylor Coleridge220

English poet, literary critic and philosopher None

Robert Southey photo

Robert Southey51

British poet None

Emily Brontë photo

Emily Brontë151

English novelist and poet None

Mikhail Lermontov photo

Mikhail Lermontov34

Russian writer, poet and painter None

Hector Berlioz photo

Hector Berlioz9

French Romantic composer None

Elizabeth Barrett Browning photo

Elizabeth Barrett Browning88

English poet, author None

Thomas Hardy photo

Thomas Hardy171

English novelist and poet None

Similar authors

Percy Bysshe Shelley photo

Percy Bysshe Shelley246

English Romantic poet 1792–1822

William Blake photo

William Blake249

English Romantic poet and artist None

George Gordon Byron photo

George Gordon Byron227

English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement None

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

Samuel Taylor Coleridge220

English poet, literary critic and philosopher None

Robert Southey photo

Robert Southey51

British poet None