Nature

Homer’s Hymn to the Sun

by Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792–1822

Translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley · From Complete Poetical Works, Oxford ed. Hutchinson (1914)

Nature

Offspring of Jove, Calliope, once more
To the bright Sun, thy hymn of music pour;
Whom to the child of star-clad Heaven and Earth
Euryphaessa, large-eyed nymph, brought forth;
Euryphaessa, the famed sister fair
Of great Hyperion, who to him did bear
A race of loveliest children; the young Morn,
Whose arms are like twin roses newly born,
The fair-haired Moon, and the immortal Sun,
Who borne by heavenly steeds his race doth run
Unconquerably, illuming the abodes
Of mortal Men and the eternal Gods.

Fiercely look forth his awe-inspiring eyes,
Beneath his golden helmet, whence arise
And are shot forth afar, clear beams of light;
His countenance, with radiant glory bright,
Beneath his graceful locks far shines around,
And the light vest with which his limbs are bound,
Of woof aethereal delicately twined,
Glows in the stream of the uplifting wind.
His rapid steeds soon bear him to the West;
Where their steep flight his hands divine arrest,
And the fleet car with yoke of gold, which he
Sends from bright Heaven beneath the shadowy sea.

✦ ✦ ✦

Translated by Shelley from the Greek of Homer.

MLA

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Homer’s Hymn to the Sun.” Translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shelley/218/.

Chicago

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Homer’s Hymn to the Sun.” Translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shelley/218/.

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