PAGE mantic poets are in these lines, Blake, Wordsworth, 217 480-481. Cf. Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of Immortality, stanzas 5 and 9; cf. also Shelley's Essay, On a Future State. 218 Lines ("When the lamp is shattered "). Cf. To ("When passion's trance is overpast "). 219 25. The poet is still addressing Love, who should not choose for his cradle a weak human heart. 220 To Jane - The Invitation. This and the following two poems were written and addressed to Jane Williams, wife of Lieutenant Edward Elliker Williams. See Introduction, pp. xlv and xlviii. Parts of this and the succeeding poem were originally published by Mrs. Shelley as a unit of poetry, entitled The Pine Forest of the Cascine near Pisa. 221 29 sq. Cf. Emerson's April. 223 9. The student will note that the metre of the introductory section is modified in the succeeding sections, to give unity of movement to the "recollection" proper. Note also the finely vagrant effect of the alliterative first foot in l. 9, and of the change from iambus to trochee in "forest." 24. "serpents interlaced." Shelley, and Browning as stimulated by Shelley, were imaginatively much interested in snakes. Byron, indeed, called Shelley "the Snake," on account of his "bright eyes, slim figure, and noiseless movements." Cf. Alastor, 11. 228, 325, 438; The Revolt of Islam, Canto I, stanzas 8-33; To Edward Williams, stanza 1; Adonais, 1. 197; Mont Blanc, 1. 101; Ode to Liberty, 11. 119, 210; song of Beatrice in The Cenci; Prometheus Unbound, Í, 633; II, 4, 402; III, 2, 72; ÍII, 4, 427; IV, 305, 567; The Assassins, chapter iv. 35. Note the realistic effect of the conjunction of the iambus, "sy wood" with the trochee, "pecker." 42. The Trelawny MS. has "white." "Wide" is preferable as deepening the antithesis between the remote distance and "the soft flower beneath our feet." 224 55 sq. Cf. The Cloud, 11. 56-58. 225 With a Guitar, to Jane. Trelawny thus describes his discovery of Shelley in the pine forest, where he sat composing the present poem: "The strong light streamed through the opening of the trees. One of the pines, undermined by the water, had fallen into it. Under its lee, and nearly hidden, sat the Poet, gazing on the dark mirror beneath, so lost in his bardish reverie that he did not hear my approach. There the trees were stunted and bent, and their crowns were shorn like friars by the sea breezes, excepting a cluster of three, under which Shelley's traps were lying; these PAGE 228 overtopped the rest. To avoid startling the Poet out of his dream, I squatted under the lofty trees, and opened his books. One was a volume of his favourite Greek dramatist, Sophocles . . and the other was a volume of Shakespeare. I then hailed him, and, turning his head, he answered faintly: 666 'Hollo, come in.' "Is this your study?' I asked. 666 'Yes,' he answered, 'and these trees are my books they tell no lies. You are sitting on the stool of inspiration,' he exclaimed. . . . 'Listen to the solemn music in the pine-tops don't you hear the mournful murmurings of the sea?"" ... Jane, with her grace, and suavity, and bland motions, and soothing words, was conceived by him as the dispenser of an exquisite felicity, to which her husband had a first claim, but the overflow of which might be Shelley's own. How could he adequately express his pleasure in her gentleness, her penetrating charity, her ineffable tenderness? She should be the Queen of Amity and halcyon hours, with Edward Williams for a fortunate Prince Consort, and he should be her humble troubadour; or call the pair Ferdinand and Miranda, with Shelley for their faithful Ariel." - Dowden's Life, II, 474. See Introduction, p. xii, for a comparison of Shelley with Ariel, the sprite of Shakespeare's Tempest. See also note on Ode to the West Wind. 90. For "Friend" several editions have "Jane." The former word is not incongruous with the Ariel-Miranda fancy. |