quote · Legacy record
Ye seek for happiness—alas the day! Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold, Not in the fame nor in the envied sway, For which O willing slaves to custom old, Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts have sold. Ye seek for peace, and, when ye die, to dream No evil dreams; all mortal things are cold And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem It must be love and joy, for they immortal seem.
Ye seek for happiness—alas the day! Ye find it not in luxury nor in gold, Not in the fame nor in the envied sway, For which O willing slaves to custom old, Severe taskmistress, ye your hearts have sold. Ye seek for peace, and, when ye die, to dream No evil dreams; all mortal things are cold And senseless then; if aught survive, I deem It must be love and joy, for they immortal seem.
Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1807 AD · industrial
author lifetime midpoint (1792–1822)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- The Optimist’s Good Morning (1911) (1911 AD)
Complete signed selection 113; printed byline: Shelley; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.