The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,285 pages of information about The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete.

The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,285 pages of information about The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete.
94 at the utmost point 1870; cancelled for when (where?) B. 95 reed B.; weed 1870. 99 after B.; upon 1870. 100 burned within Marenghi’s breast B.;
     lived within Marenghi’s heart 1870.
101 and B.; or 1870. 103 free B.; the 1870. 109 freshes B.; omitted, 1870. 118 by 1870; with B. 119 dew-globes B.; dewdrops 1870. 120 languished B.; vanished 1870. 121 path, as on [bare] B.; footprints, as on 1870. 122 silver B.; silence 1870. 130 And in the moonless nights 1870; cancelled, B. dun B.;
     dim 1870.
131 Heaved 1870; cancelled, B. wide B.;
     the 1870. star-impearled B.; omitted, 1870.
132 Starting from dreams 1870; cancelled for He B. 137 autumn B.; autumnal 1870. 138 or B.; and 1870. 155 pennon B.; pennons 1870. 158 athwart B.; across 1870.

***

SONNET.

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, “Posthumous Poems”, 1824.  Our text is that of the “Poetical Works”, 1839.]

Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life:  though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,—­behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave 5
Their shadows, o’er the chasm, sightless and drear. 
I knew one who had lifted it—­he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
10
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.

NOTES: 
6 Their...drear 1839;
   The shadows, which the world calls substance, there 1824.
7 who had lifted 1839; who lifted 1824.

***

FRAGMENT:  TO BYRON.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.]

O mighty mind, in whose deep stream this age
Shakes like a reed in the unheeding storm,
Why dost thou curb not thine own sacred rage?

***

FRAGMENT:  APOSTROPHE TO SILENCE.

[Published by Dr. Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.  A transcript by Mrs. Shelley, given to Charles Cowden Clarke, presents one or two variants.]

Silence!  Oh, well are Death and Sleep and Thou
Three brethren named, the guardians gloomy-winged
Of one abyss, where life, and truth, and joy
Are swallowed up—­yet spare me, Spirit, pity me,
Until the sounds I hear become my soul, 5
And it has left these faint and weary limbs,
To track along the lapses of the air
This wandering melody until it rests
Among lone mountains in some...

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The Complete Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Complete from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.