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Love's Philosophy (Percy Bysshe Shelley) key quotes: every quotation analysed
16 quotations from Love's Philosophy (Percy Bysshe Shelley), each with its place in the poem, what the words are doing, the techniques at work and how to use it in a AQA GCSE English Literature essay. By voice: The speaker (11), The beloved (5). Indexed by theme below.
A quotation is worth marks only when it is exact and doing work. Love's Philosophy is examined on 8702 Paper 2, Section B — Poetry: Love and Relationships (closed book; the named poem is printed, compared with one other cluster poem from memory; AO1, AO2 and AO3 context), and what scores is the analysis. Every entry here gives the analysis first: read the quotation, then the line on what it is doing, then close the page and say it back. The Grade 9 Notes carry the reading these quotations serve — voice, form, context, the comparison essay — and the gate where you teach it back.
By theme
Desire and longing (9) · Nature and the natural world (9) · Persuasion and rhetoric (5) · Rejection and silence (4)
The speaker — 11 quotations
The speaker: the reading in full, in the notes →
“The fountains mingle with the river”
Stanza 1, line 1
What it is doing. Small waters flow into larger ones; union presented as natural and gentle.
Techniques. personification · natural imagery
In an essay. Use as the first piece of the speaker's evidence.
“And the rivers with the Ocean”
Stanza 1
What it is doing. The chain continues: the small joins the vast.
Techniques. listing · progression
In an essay. Use to show the argument building through a list.
Themes: Nature and the natural world
“With a sweet emotion”
Stanza 1
What it is doing. The winds are given feeling; nature is emotional, not mechanical.
Techniques. personification
In an essay. Use to show nature made into a lover.
“Nothing in the world is single”
Stanza 1
What it is doing. The general law drawn from the examples.
Techniques. generalisation · absolute statement
In an essay. The thesis of the speaker's argument; key for any essay.
Themes: Nature and the natural world · Persuasion and rhetoric
“All things by a law divine”
Stanza 1
What it is doing. The speaker claims divine authority for his case.
Techniques. religious language
In an essay. Use to show the argument borrowing the weight of religion.
Themes: Persuasion and rhetoric · Nature and the natural world
“Why not I with thine?”
Stanza 1, last line
What it is doing. The first question turns the universal law on the beloved.
Techniques. rhetorical question
In an essay. Use for the shift from general to personal.
Themes: Desire and longing · Persuasion and rhetoric
“See the mountains kiss high Heaven”
Stanza 2, line 1
What it is doing. An imperative and a bold personification: even mountains are lovers.
Techniques. imperative · personification
In an essay. Use for the escalation to physical verbs.
“And the waves clasp one another”
Stanza 2
What it is doing. Waves embrace each other; joining becomes physical.
Techniques. personification · physical verb
In an essay. Pair with ‘mingle’ to show escalation.
“And the sunlight clasps the earth”
Stanza 2
What it is doing. Light holds the earth; the embrace is cosmic.
Techniques. personification
In an essay. Use to show the speaker enlisting the whole universe.
Themes: Nature and the natural world
“And the moonbeams kiss the sea”
Stanza 2
What it is doing. Night as well as day is full of kisses.
Techniques. personification · balance with sunlight
In an essay. Use with sunlight to show the argument covering every hour.
“What is all this sweet work worth”
Stanza 2
What it is doing. Nature's beauty is measured by the speaker's desire.
Techniques. rhetorical question · hyperbole
In an essay. Use to argue the poem's egotism or its intensity.
Themes: Desire and longing
The beloved — 5 quotations
The beloved: the reading in full, in the notes →
“Why not I with thine?”
Stanza 1
What it is doing. The beloved is asked to justify not joining him.
Techniques. rhetorical question · implied refusal
In an essay. Use to argue the beloved has hesitated or refused.
Themes: Persuasion and rhetoric · Rejection and silence
“No sister-flower would be forgiven”
Stanza 2
What it is doing. Rejection is made to sound like a fault needing forgiveness.
Techniques. moral language · personification
In an essay. Use to argue the argument pressures the beloved.
Themes: Persuasion and rhetoric · Rejection and silence
“If it disdained its brother”
Stanza 2
What it is doing. Disdain — scornful rejection — is what the speaker fears.
Techniques. implied accusation
In an essay. Use to show the speaker's fear of refusal.
Themes: Rejection and silence
“If thou kiss not me?”
Stanza 2, last line
What it is doing. The final question: the beloved's kiss is all that is wanted.
Techniques. rhetorical question · open ending
In an essay. Use for the unresolved ending and the beloved's silence.
Themes: Desire and longing · Rejection and silence
“thine”
Stanza 1
What it is doing. The beloved exists in pronouns only.
Techniques. intimate address
In an essay. Use to show the beloved is never described or heard.
Themes: Desire and longing
The quotations by theme
Desire and longing (9)
Desire and longing in Love's Philosophy, taught in full →
- “The fountains mingle with the river” — The speaker, Stanza 1, line 1
- “With a sweet emotion” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “Why not I with thine?” — The speaker, Stanza 1, last line
- “See the mountains kiss high Heaven” — The speaker, Stanza 2, line 1
- “And the waves clasp one another” — The speaker, Stanza 2
- “And the moonbeams kiss the sea” — The speaker, Stanza 2
- “What is all this sweet work worth” — The speaker, Stanza 2
- “If thou kiss not me?” — The beloved, Stanza 2, last line
- “thine” — The beloved, Stanza 1
Nature and the natural world (9)
Nature and the natural world in Love's Philosophy, taught in full →
- “The fountains mingle with the river” — The speaker, Stanza 1, line 1
- “And the rivers with the Ocean” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “With a sweet emotion” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “Nothing in the world is single” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “All things by a law divine” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “See the mountains kiss high Heaven” — The speaker, Stanza 2, line 1
- “And the waves clasp one another” — The speaker, Stanza 2
- “And the sunlight clasps the earth” — The speaker, Stanza 2
- “And the moonbeams kiss the sea” — The speaker, Stanza 2
Persuasion and rhetoric (5)
Persuasion and rhetoric in Love's Philosophy, taught in full →
- “Nothing in the world is single” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “All things by a law divine” — The speaker, Stanza 1
- “Why not I with thine?” — The speaker, Stanza 1, last line
- “Why not I with thine?” — The beloved, Stanza 1
- “No sister-flower would be forgiven” — The beloved, Stanza 2
Rejection and silence (4)
Rejection and silence in Love's Philosophy, taught in full →
- “Why not I with thine?” — The beloved, Stanza 1
- “No sister-flower would be forgiven” — The beloved, Stanza 2
- “If it disdained its brother” — The beloved, Stanza 2
- “If thou kiss not me?” — The beloved, Stanza 2, last line
Think you know them?
Knowing a quotation is the start. On Incandio a poem counts as mastered only once you have taught it back and defended your reading of it against Percy Bysshe Shelley — the two things a quotation list cannot ask of you.
- Teach your reading of Love's Philosophy · defend it against Shelley
- Grade 9 Notes: Love's Philosophy · Love's Philosophy on Incandio · Every set text
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