Which poet wrote the line 'Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts'?

• A. John Keats
• B. William Wordsworth
• C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• D. Percy Bysshe Shelley

Answer: (D)

Recognizing who wrote a line often hinges on the poet’s distinctive way of turning emotion into song. This line presents a paradox: sweetness comes from expressing sadness, a Romantic idea that deep feeling gives rise to beautiful art. It aligns with Percy Bysshe Shelley’s voice, which frequently fuses musical imagery with intense emotion and shows sorrow transformed into something lyrical and enduring. The other poets have strong, recognizable styles—Wordsworth often grounds poetry in nature and memory, Keats luxuriates in sensuous imagery, and Coleridge explores imagination and the supernatural—but this exact phrasing is most closely associated with Shelley’s melodic, emotionally charged approach.