"Mutability" is English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley's reflection on the power of change. Change is the only thing in the world that doesn't change, the poem suggests, and people get thrown around by their ever-changing feelings like ships on a stormy sea. Shelley first published this poem in his 1816 collection Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude.
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The Full Text of “Mutability”
1We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;
2 How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
3Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon
4Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:
5Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings
6 Give various response to each varying blast,
7To whose frail frame no second motion brings
8 One mood or modulation like the last.
9We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep;
10 We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day;
11We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep,
12Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:
13It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow,
14 The path of its departure still is free;
15Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
16 Nought may endure but Mutability.
The Full Text of “Mutability”
1We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;
2 How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
3Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon
4Night closes round, and they are lost for ever:
5Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings
6 Give various response to each varying blast,
7To whose frail frame no second motion brings
8 One mood or modulation like the last.
9We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep;
10 We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day;
11We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep,
12Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:
13It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow,
14 The path of its departure still is free;
15Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
16 Nought may endure but Mutability.
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“Mutability” Summary
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“Mutability” Themes
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Change and Emotion
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mutability”
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Lines 1-4
We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;
How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,
Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon
Night closes round, and they are lost for ever: -
Lines 5-8
Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings
Give various response to each varying blast,
To whose frail frame no second motion brings
One mood or modulation like the last. -
Lines 9-10
We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep;
We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day; -
Lines 11-14
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep,
Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:
It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow,
The path of its departure still is free; -
Lines 15-16
Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;
Nought may endure but Mutability.
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“Mutability” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Simile
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Metaphor
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Imagery
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Caesura
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Repetition
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Paradox
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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“Mutability” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Radiantly
- Lyres
- Dissonant
- Blast
- Frail
- Modulation
- Conceive
- Fond
- Woe
- Ne'er
- Morrow
- Nought
- Mutability
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mutability”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Mutability” Speaker
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“Mutability” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Mutability”
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More “Mutability” Resources
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External Resources
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A Short Biography — Visit the British Library's website to learn more about Shelley's turbulent life.
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The Poem's Composition — Learn more about the circumstances in which Shelley wrote this poem (and his collaboration with his wife Mary, herself an important writer).
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The Keats-Shelley Museum — Visit the website of the Keats-Shelley Museum to learn more about Shelley's life and times (and how he fits into the wider Romantic movement).
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Shelley's Legend — Take a look at an 1889 painting of Shelley's cremation—a dramatic image that reflects Shelley's role as a quintessential Romantic poet.
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Shelley's Influence — Read biographer Richard Holmes's essay on Shelley's literary legacy.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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