5 lyric poems
There be none of Beauty’s daughters
With a magic like thee;
And like music on the waters
Is thy sweet voice to me:
When, as if its sound were causing
The charmed ocean’s pausing,
The waves lie still and gleaming,
And the lull’d winds seem dreaming:
And the midnight moon is weaving
Her bright chain o’er the deep;
Whose breast is gently heaving,
As an infant’s asleep:
So the spirit bows before thee,
To listen and adore thee;
With a full but soft emotion,
Like the swell of Summer’s ocean.
Listen to the lull of his words that rock back and forth like waves swelling and crashing on the shore. Byron accomplishes the sweet and sleepy melody of the poem by using a rhyme scheme and formal meter. He also personifies nature and uses alliteration to create a romantic mood.
“Stanzas for Music” was inspired by Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley’s stepsister. According to Byron’s Poetry and Prose, Claire had a beautiful singing voice, and this poem is an homage to her.
