A Fragment: To Music
Silver key of the fountain of tears, Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild; Softest grave of a thousand fears, Where their mother, Care, like a drowsy child, Is laid asleep in flowers.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Silver key of the fountain of tears, Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild; Softest grave of a thousand fears, Where their mother, Care, like a drowsy child, Is laid asleep in flowers.
Shelley speaks straight to music, calling it a silver key that opens a fountain of tears. It’s an image of deep, almost intoxicating release — the spirit drinks there until the brain goes wild. There’s no holding back; the music unlocks something buried. But then the poem shifts.
Read the full summary