Music
when Soft Voices Die
Introduction
The poem entitled Music when Soft
Voices Die is a short one, yet the theme that it contains is very deep and
profound. In this poem, we are told that we cannot forget our loved ones even
though they are no longer with us.
Summary
The poem tells us that even after we
stop listening to good music, this soft music lingers on in our memories for a
long time to come. Another example that he gives is of flowers like violets,
telling us that even after flowers die away, their sweet scent lingers with us
for a long time to come.
Giving yet another example, the poet
tells us that even after a rose withers away its petals, are scattered on the
bed of loved ones in order to make the room sweet scented. In the last, he
empresses the central idea asserting that everything and every one that we love
can never be forgotten by us even though they are not with us any longer.
Therefore, the poet declares that even though his beloved is no longer with him,
yet her loving though shall live in his memory and even though the poet will
not be able to actively show the love for her, yet in a silent, quite manner,
he shall continue to love her as long as he lives.
Conclusion
The conclusion then to draw from these
lines is that the poet feels very rightly so that our loved ones are so
precious and dear to us that no matter what happens we cannot forget them.
Reference to
the Context
Reference
This stanza has been extracted from
the poem entitled Music when Soft Voices Die, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
About the Poet
P.B Shelley is one of the most famous
poets of English Literature. He is an idealist and a dreamer. He exists in the
world of ideas and visions which seem to him more practicable and real than the
so called realities of this world.
About the Poem
In this short lyric, Shelley
expresses his views about beauty, love and separation. He says that beauty is
immortal and love is unchangeable. It does not change with the passage of time
and with the change of circumstances. It does not die. Separation does not kill
true love.
Lines
Music, when soft voices die————-Live within the sense they quicken.
Explanation
The poet says that when sweet voices
fade away, they echo in our memory. Beautiful and mellifluous songs are
unforgettable and immortal. Similarly when the sweet-smelling lovely flowers of
violets wither away, their pleasant smell can still be enjoyed in the memory.
Our minds are refreshed when we remember the sweet fragrance of violets.
In other words, the poet wants to say
that if a thing loses its physical beauty, it can be revived in the
imagination. Thus this short lyric reflects the fundamental importance of
imagination in human life.
“A thing of beauty is joy for ever.”
Shelley emphasizes the same idea in
these lines containing the depth of meaning and philosophical approach to love,
beauty, separation and imagination. The poet by giving the example of
enchanting music fragrant violets expresses this idea that a beautiful thing
never dies. It has everlasting effect on the mind of a man.
Lines
Rose leaves, when the rose is dead————Love itself shall slumber on.
Explanation
Shelley believes in the Platonic
love, which shuns fulfillment. It is a desire that always remains unsatisfied.
In love Shelley must find something ideal, something ever to aspire after,
something ever to look forward to. It is in the expectation of fulfillment that
his happiness lies. H has expressed the Platonic conception of love in this
beautiful stanza.
The poet says that when rose petals
wither away, they do not become useless. They retain their sweet smell even
after withering away. That is why they are used for decorating the beloved’s
bed. The poets’s beloved has been separated from him. She is not with him, but
her thoughts are with him and his love will sleep on her thoughts.
In other words the poet wants to say
that it does not matter if the sweet heart is physically away from him because
spiritually she is with him. He is not alone as in his imagination he finds his
beloved very close to him. Separation has sharpened love but he is free from
mental agony as her sweet thoughts always comfort and soothes him. His love is
passionate and profound and it will not change with the passage of time. He
cannot forget his beloved and will continue to love her in his imagination as
true love does not die and transcends all barriers and surmount all obstacles.
Absence sharpens love; distances intensifies love but imagination brings the
beloved so close to the lover that distances come to end and the two separated
souls are united.
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