Second Year English Notes Sindh Board MUSIC WHEN SOFT VOICES DIE

MUSIC WHEN SOFT VOICES DIE

(P. B. Shelley)

Shelley believes in the Platonic love, which shuns fulfillment. It is a desire that always remains unsatisfied. In love, Shelley must find something ideal, something ever to aspire after, something ever to look forward to. It is in the expectation of fulfillment that his happiness lies. H has expressed the Platonic conception of love in this beautiful stanza.
The poet says that when rose petals wither away, they do not become useless. They retain their sweet smell even after withering away. That is why they are used for decorating the beloved’s bed. The poet’s beloved has been separated from him. She is not with him, but her thoughts are with him and his love will sleep on her thoughts.
In other words, the poet wants to say that it does not matter if the sweetheart is physically away from him because spiritually she is with him. He is not alone as in his imagination he finds his beloved very close to him. Separation has sharpened love but he is free from mental agony as her sweet thoughts always comfort and soothes him. His love is passionate and profound and it will not change with the passage of time. He cannot forget his beloved and will continue to love her in his imagination as true love does not die and transcends all barriers and surmount all obstacles. Absence sharpens love; distances intensify love but imagination brings the beloved so close to the lover that distances come to end and the two separated souls are united.

Q1- What example does the poet give for the everlastingness of the beauty?

Ans. In this short poem “Music when soft voices die” the poet very philosophically explains that beauty does not die. He proves it by giving examples. He gives the example of music that as music always lives in our memories similarly the beauty also never dies. By quoting another example he proves that after been fading the flowers we do not forget their smell similarly after the death we remember the beauty of a person. All these examples show that beauty is everlasting and never dies.

Q.2: What, according to the poet, vibrates in the memory, when soft voices die? What the flowers leave behind even after their death?

Ans: The music and the impact of the music, the ecstasy induced by the music, live for long, long after its real source the music is over.

The flowers even after their death leave the fragrance and the impact of the fragrance, the beautiful sense of fragrance. The flower is mortal but the fragrance of the flower is immortal.

Q.3: What will exist even after the beloved’s departure?

Ans: The physical existence of the beloved is less important as the flower is. But the time spent with the friend and the impact of that company is of real value. Thus the memories of the beloved, after the departure of beloved are sufficient enough to enliven the time.

Q.4: What do you think is the message of the poem?

Ans: The poet believes In the spiritual existence of the objects. The physical importance of the objects is secondary. The flower may die but the fragrance of the flower and the impact induced by that fragrance is of real value. The beloved may depart, similarly, but the memories associated with the friends are forever and of real value.