Which yet joined not scent to hue, Crown the pale year weak and new; When the night is left behind In the deep east, dun and blind, And the blue noon is over us, And the multitudinous Billows murmur at our feet, Where the earth and ocean meet, And all things seem only one In the universal sun.
Shelley nests a simple argument in cascading images: rivers join oceans, winds mingle, crescendos and emotions merge—so why should lovers stay apart? The poem is brief, yet its logic is cosmic, as if the speaker borrows the universe’s habits to justify an embrace. Whether that persuasion succeeds is never shown, leaving us to decide if the natural order truly blesses the union he imagines. Interpretation written with assistance from ChatGPT.
Interpretation generated with assistance from Claude.