The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 208

To Mr. Rossetti we owe the reconstruction of this fragmentary drama out of materials partly published by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley in 1824, partly recovered from ma.n.u.script by himself. The bracketed words are, presumably, supplied by Mr. Rossetti to fill actual lacunae in the ma.n.u.script; those queried represent indistinct writing. Mr. Rossetti's additions to the text are indicated in the footnotes. In one or two instances Mr. Forman and Dr. Garnett have restored the true reading. The list of Dramatis Personae is Mr. Forman's.

THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE.

1.

Lines 131-135. This grammatically incoherent pa.s.sage is thus conjecturally emended by Rossetti:-- Fled back like eagles to their native noon; For those who put aside the diadem Of earthly thrones or gems..., Whether of Athens or Jerusalem, Were neither mid the mighty captives seen, etc.

In the case of an incomplete poem lacking the author's final corrections, however, restoration by conjecture is, to say the least of it, gratuitous.

2.

Line 282. The words, 'Even as the deeds of others, not as theirs.' And then--are wanting in editions 1824, 1839, and were recovered by Dr.

Garnett from the Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.script. Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's note here runs:--'There is a chasm here in the ma.n.u.script which it is impossible to fill. It appears from the context that other shapes pa.s.s and that Rousseau still stood beside the dreamer.' Mr. Forman thinks that the 'chasm' is filled up by the words restored from the ma.n.u.script by Dr.

Garnett. Mr. A.C. Bradley writes: 'It seems likely that, after writing "I have suffered...pain", Sh.e.l.ley meant to strike out the words between "known" [276] and "I" [278], and to fill up the gap in such a way that "I" would be the last word of the line beginning "May well be known".'

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

1.

TO --. Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley tentatively a.s.signed this fragment to 1817. 'It seems not improbable that it was addressed at this time [June, 1814] to Mary G.o.dwin.' Dowden, "Life", 1 422, Woodberry suggests that 'Harriet answers as well, or better, to the situation described.'

2.

ON DEATH. These stanzas occur in the Esdaile ma.n.u.script along with others which Sh.e.l.ley intended to print with "Queen Mab" in 1813; but the text was revised before publication in 1816.

3.

TO --. 'The poem beginning "Oh, there are spirits in the air," was addressed in idea to Coleridge, whom he never knew'--writes Mrs.

Sh.e.l.ley. Mr. Bertram Dobell, Mr. Rossetti and Professor Dowden, however, incline to think that we have here an address by Sh.e.l.ley in a despondent mood to his own spirit.

4.

LINES. These appear to be antedated by a year, as they evidently allude to the death of Harriet Sh.e.l.ley in November, 1816.

5.

ANOTHER FRAGMENT TO MUSIC. To Mr. Forman we owe the restoration of the true text here--'food of Love.' Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley printed 'G.o.d of Love.'

6.

MARENGHI, lines 92, 93. The 1870 (Rossetti) version of these lines is:-- White bones, and locks of dun and yellow hair, And ringed horns which buffaloes did wear-- The words locks of dun (line 92) are cancelled in the ma.n.u.script.

Sh.e.l.ley's failure to cancel the whole line was due, Mr. Loc.o.c.k rightly argues, to inadvertence merely; instead of buffaloes the ma.n.u.script gives the buffalo, and it supplies the 'wonderful line' (Loc.o.c.k) which closes the stanza in our text, and with which Mr. Loc.o.c.k aptly compares "Mont Blanc", line 69:-- Save when the eagle brings some hunter's bone, And the wolf tracks her there.

7.

ODE TO LIBERTY, lines 1, 2. On the suggestion of his brother, Mr. Alfred Forman, the editor of the Library Edition of Sh.e.l.ley's Poems (1876), Mr.

Buxton Forman, printed these lines as follows:-- A glorious people vibrated again: The lightning of the nations, Liberty, From heart to heart, etc.

The testimony of Sh.e.l.ley's autograph in the Harvard College ma.n.u.script, however, is final against such a punctuation.

8.

Lines 41, 42. We follow Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's punctuation (1839). In Sh.e.l.ley's edition (1820) there is no stop at the end of line 41, and a semicolon closes line 42.

9.

ODE TO NAPLES. In Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's editions the various sections of this Ode are severally headed as follows:--'Epode 1 alpha, Epode 2 alpha, Strophe alpha 1, Strophe beta 2, Antistrophe alpha gamma, Antistrophe beta gamma, Antistrophe beta gamma, Antistrophe alpha gamma, Epode 1 gamma, Epode 2 gamma. In the ma.n.u.script, Mr. Loc.o.c.k tells us, the headings are 'very doubtful, many of them being vaguely altered with pen and pencil.' Sh.e.l.ley evidently hesitated between two or three alternative ways of indicating the structure and corresponding parts of his elaborate song; hence the chaotic jumble of headings printed in editions 1824, 1839. So far as the "Epodes" are concerned, the headings in this edition are those of editions 1824, 1839, which may be taken as supported by the ma.n.u.script (Loc.o.c.k). As to the remaining sections, Mr.

Loc.o.c.k's examination of the ma.n.u.script leads him to conclude that Sh.e.l.ley's final choice was:--'Strophe 1, Strophe 2, Antistrophe 1, Antistrophe 2, Antistrophe 1 alpha, Antistrophe 2 alpha.' This in itself would be perfectly appropriate, but it would be inconsistent with the method employed in designating the "Epodes". I have therefore adopted in preference a scheme which, if it lacks ma.n.u.script authority in some particulars, has at least the merit of being absolutely logical and consistent throughout.

Mr. Loc.o.c.k has some interesting remarks on the metrical features of this complex ode. On the 10th line of Antistrophe 1a (line 86 of the ode)--Aghast she pa.s.s from the Earth's disk--which exceeds by one foot the 10th lines of the two corresponding divisions, Strophe 1 and Antistrophe 1b, he observes happily enough that 'Aghast may well have been intended to disappear.' Mr. Loc.o.c.k does not seem to notice that the closing lines of these three answering sections--(1) hail, hail, all hail!--(2) Thou shalt be great--All hail!--(3) Art Thou of all these hopes.--O hail! increase by regular lengths--two, three, four iambi. Nor does he seem quite to grasp Sh.e.l.ley's intention with regard to the rhyme scheme of the other triple group, Strophe 2, Antistrophe 2a, Antistrophe 2b. That of Strophe 2 may be thus expressed:--a-a-bc; d-d-bc; a-c-d; b-c. Between this and Antistrophe 2a (the second member of the group) there is a general correspondence with, in one particular, a subtle modification. The scheme now becomes a-a-bc; d-d-bc; a-c-b; d-c: i.e.

the rhymes of lines 9 and 10 are transposed--G.o.d (line 9) answering to the halfway rhymes of lines 3 and 6, gawd and unawed, instead of (as in Strophe 2) to the rhyme-endings of lines 4 and 5; and, vice versa, fate (line 10) answering to desolate and state (lines 4 and 5), instead of to the halfway rhymes aforesaid. As to Antistrophe 2b, that follows Antistrophe 2a, so far as it goes; but after line 9 it breaks off suddenly, and closes with two lines corresponding in length and rhyme to the closing couplet of Antistrophe 1b, the section immediately preceding, which, however, belongs not to this group, but to the other.

Mr. Loc.o.c.k speaks of line 124 as 'a rhymeless line.' Rhymeless it is not, for sh.o.r.e, its rhyme-termination, answers to bower and power, the halfway rhymes of lines 118 and 121 respectively. Why Mr. Loc.o.c.k should call line 12 an 'unmetrical line,' I cannot see. It is a decasyllabic line, with a trochee subst.i.tuted for an iambus in the third foot--Around : me gleamed : many a : bright se : pulchre.

10.

THE TOWER OF FAMINE.--It is doubtful whether the following note is Sh.e.l.ley's or Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's: 'At Pisa there still exists the prison of Ugolino, which goes by the name of "La Torre della Fame"; in the adjoining building the galley-slaves are confined. It is situated on the Ponte al Mare on the Arno.'

11.

GINEVRA, line 129: Through seas and winds, cities and wildernesses. The footnote omits Professor Dowden's conjectural emendation--woods--for winds, the reading of edition 1824 here.

12.

THE LADY OF THE SOUTH. Our text adopts Mr. Forman's correction--drouth for drought--in line 3. This should have been recorded in a footnote.

13.

HYMN TO MERCURY, line 609. The period at now is supported by the Harvard ma.n.u.script.

JUVENILIA.

QUEEN MAB.

1.

Throughout this varied and eternal world Soul is the only element: the block That for uncounted ages has remained The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight Is active, living spirit. (4, lines 139-143.) This punctuation was proposed in 1888 by Mr. J. R. Tutin (see "Notebook of the Sh.e.l.ley Society", Part 1, page 21), and adopted by Dowden, "Poetical Works of Sh.e.l.ley", Macmillan, 1890. The editio princeps (1813), which is followed by Forman (1892) and Woodberry (1893), has a comma after element and a full stop at remained.

2.

Guards...from a nation's rage Secure the crown, etc. (4, lines 173-176.) So Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley ("Poetical Works", 1839, both editions), Rossetti, Forman, Dowden. The editio princeps reads Secures, which Woodberry defends and retains.

3.

4, lines 203-220: omitted by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley from the text of "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition, but restored in the 2nd edition of 1839. See above, "Note on Queen Mab, by Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley".

4.

All germs of promise, yet when the tall trees, etc. (5, line 9.) So Rossetti, Dowden, Woodberry. In editions 1813 (editio princeps) and 1839 ("Poetical Works", both editions) there is a full stop at promise which Forman retains.

5.

Who ever hears his famished offspring's scream, etc. (5, line 116.) The editio princeps has offsprings--an evident misprint.

6.

6, lines 54-57, line 275: struck out of the text of "Poetical Works", 1839 (1st edition), but restored in the 2nd edition of that year. See Note 3 above.

7.

The exterminable spirit it contains, etc. (7, line 23.) Exterminable seems to be used here in the sense of 'illimitable' (N. E.

D.). Rossetti proposes interminable, or inexterminable.

8.

A smile of G.o.dlike malice reillumed, etc. (7, line 180.) The editio princeps and the first edition of "Poetical Works", 1839, read reillumined here, which is retained by Forman, Dowden, Woodberry.

With Rossetti, I follow Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's reading in "Poetical Works", 1839 (2nd edition).

9.

One curse alone was spared--the name of G.o.d. (8, line 165.) Removed from the text, "Poetical Works", 1839 (1st edition); restored, "Poetical Works", 1839 (2nd edition). See Notes 3 and 6 above.

10.

Which from the exhaustless lore of human weal Dawns on the virtuous mind, etc. (8, lines 204-205.) With some hesitation as to lore, I reprint these lines as they are given by Sh.e.l.ley himself in the note on this pa.s.sage (supra). The text of 1813 runs:-- Which from the exhaustless store of human weal Draws on the virtuous mind, etc.

This is retained by Woodberry, while Rossetti, Forman, and Dowden adopt eclectic texts, Forman and Dowden reading lore and Draws, while Rossetti, again, reads store and Dawns. Our text is supported by the authority of Dr. Richard Garnett. The comma after infiniteness (line 206) has a metrical, not a logical, value.