Themes

Like many romantic poets, Shelley uses personification and pathetic fallacy. In this poem, Shelley uses the two devices to stress the narrator's desire for a physical relationship. Shelley also highlights this using repetition.

The narrator uses religious imagery to try and elevate (raise) his earthly love and to present his intentions as pure. He also draws on the idea of sin to aid his persuasion.

Shelley creates a vast sense of scale as he tries to express the sheer magnitude (size) of what he claims is love's influence over the universe.