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Storgy

The Annotated Edition

1, 2:— by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

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Shelley writes only two lines of his own before stepping back to let the Book of Ecclesiastes take over.

Poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Themes
death, mortality, nature
The PoemFull text

1, 2:—

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Thus do the generations of the earth Go to the grave, and issue from the womb. ‘One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.’—Ecclesiastes, chapter 1 verses 4-7.

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

Shelley writes only two lines of his own before stepping back to let the Book of Ecclesiastes take over. The poem reflects on how human generations come and go in an endless cycle, while the earth, sun, wind, and rivers continue their paths without concern. It serves as a gentle reminder that nature endures long after we’re gone.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. Thus do the generations of the earth / Go to the grave, and issue from the womb.

    Editor's note

    Shelley's two lines encapsulate the entire argument succinctly. Humans are born, they die, and then new humans come into being — a cycle without a clear start or finish. The word *thus* leads into the Ecclesiastes passage that follows, suggesting: here is the evidence. By pairing *grave* and *womb* in one sentence, birth and death merge into a single, ongoing motion instead of remaining distinct events.

  2. 'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever…'

    Editor's note

    The long quotation from Ecclesiastes (1:4–7) serves as the core of the poem and its main argument. Each image — the sun rising and setting, the wind circling, the rivers flowing into a sea that never fills — illustrates a natural cycle that continuously renews itself. In contrast, humans simply *pass away*. The rhythmic, almost hypnotic repetition of the King James text ("goeth," "returneth," "whirleth") evokes a sense of relentless, indifferent motion. By quoting instead of paraphrasing, Shelley emphasizes that no modern poet can express this better than it was articulated thousands of years ago.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone is calm and resigned—neither despairing nor wavering. There’s no protest or comfort provided. Shelley’s two lines feel almost straightforward, while the Ecclesiastes passage shares a similar detached, observational tone: the world is presented as it truly is, not as we might hope it to be. The overall impression conveys a sense of immense, impersonal tranquility.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

The sun rising and setting
The sun's daily cycle represents natural time — dependable, self-renewing, and entirely indifferent to human existence. It was here long before we arrived and will continue on after we’re gone.
The rivers running into the sea
The sea that never fills, even with all the rivers flowing into it, symbolizes nature's endless, unfulfilled cycle. It also reflects our human efforts: we invest ourselves in the world, yet the world remains unchanged.
The womb and the grave
Shelley juxtaposes these two endpoints to illustrate that birth and death aren't opposites; rather, they are partners in the same cycle. The grave of one generation, in a way, creates the conditions for the womb of the next generation.
The circling wind
The wind that shifts between north and south, looping back on itself, symbolizes perpetual motion without progress in the poem. It’s always in motion but never reaches a new destination — a quiet reflection on both the cyclical patterns of human history and the weather.

§06Historical context

Historical context

Shelley wrote this brief piece during the Romantic period, a time when poets were intensely focused on nature, the passage of time, and humanity’s smallness in the face of the infinite. He himself died young at 29, drowning in a storm off the Italian coast — which adds an unintended personal significance to this reflection on mortality. The poem's unique structure features two original lines followed by a block quotation from the King James Bible, showcasing the Romantic tendency to view ancient texts as vital sources of poetic authority. Ecclesiastes, one of the most philosophically skeptical books in the Hebrew Bible, had long appealed to writers interested in its candid exploration of futility and impermanence. By presenting the biblical passage as support for his own opening statement, Shelley positions himself as a poet engaging with thousands of years of human contemplation on these enduring, unanswerable questions.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

Shelley is making a conscious artistic choice. By picking these two lines from his own work and linking them to this particular passage from Ecclesiastes, he’s crafting an argument with a distinct shape and perspective. The process of choosing, framing, and juxtaposing is an essential part of the poetry itself. It resembles a collage—it's not just about what he invents from scratch, but also how he selects and arranges these elements.

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Poems about deathPoems about mortalityPoems about naturePoems about time