Melancholic strain. Shelley was profoundly melancholy. His poems are permeated by “the still sad music of humanity.” This melancholic strain is present everywhere in Shelley’s poetry. He says in To a Skylark. Our sincerest laughterWith some pain is fraught;Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddestthoughtAgain he says:Most wretched souls—Are cradled into poetry by wrongThey learn in suffering what … Continue reading Melancholic strain