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shelley-第6节

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weakly; stumblingly; but still strugglingtowards higher things。

His Pantheism is an indication of it。  Pantheism is a half…way

house; and marks ascent or descent according to the direction from

which it is approached。  Now Shelley came to it from absolute

Atheism; therefore in his case it meant rise。  Again; his poetry

alone would lead us to the same conclusion; for we do not believe

that a truly corrupted spirit can write consistently ethereal

poetry。  We should believe in nothing; if we believed that; for it

would be the consecration of a lie。  Poetry is a thermometer:  by

taking its average height you can estimate the normal temperature of

its writer's mind。  The devil can do many things。  But the devil

cannot write poetry。  He may mar a poet; but he cannot make a poet。

Among all the temptations wherewith he tempted St。 Anthony; though

we have often seen it stated that he howled; we have never seen it

stated that he sang。



Shelley's anarchic principles were as a rule held by him with some

misdirected view to truth。  He disbelieved in kings。  And is it not

a mere factregret it if you willthat in all European countries;

except two; monarchs are a mere survival; the obsolete buttons on

the coat…tails of rule; which serve no purpose but to be continually

coming off?  It is a miserable thing to note how every little Balkan

State; having obtained liberty (save the mark!) by Act of Congress;

straightway proceeds to secure the service of a professional king。

These gentlemen are plentiful in Europe。  They are the 〃noble

Chairmen〃 who lend their names for a consideration to any

enterprising company which may be speculating in Liberty。  When we

see these things; we revert to the old lines in which Persius tells

how you cannot turn Dama into a freeman by twirling him round your

finger and calling him Marcus Dama。



Again; Shelley desired a religion of humanity; and that meant; to

him; a religion for humanity; a religion which; unlike the spectral

Christianity about him; should permeate and regulate the whole

organisation of men。  And the feeling is one with which a Catholic

must sympathise; in an age whenif we may say so without

irreverencethe Almighty has been made a constitutional Deity; with

certain state…grants of worship; but no influence over political

affairs。  In these matters his aims were generous; if his methods

were perniciously mistaken。  In his theory of Free Love alone;

borrowed like the rest from the Revolution; his aim was as

mischievous as his method。  At the same time he was at least

logical。  His theory was repulsive; but comprehensible。  Whereas

from our present via mediafacilitation of divorcecan only result

the era when the young lady in reduced circumstances will no longer

turn governess but will be open to engagement as wife at a

reasonable stipend。



We spoke of the purity of Shelley's poetry。  We know of but three

passages to which exception can be taken。  One is happily hidden

under a heap of Shelleian rubbish。  Another is offensive; because it

presents his theory of Free Love in its most odious form。  The third

is very much a matter; we think; for the individual conscience。

Compare with this the genuinely corrupt Byron; through the cracks

and fissures of whose heaving versification steam up perpetually the

sulphurous vapours from his central iniquity。  We cannot credit that

any Christian ever had his faith shaken through reading Shelley;

unless his faith were shaken before he read Shelley。  Is any safely

havened bark likely to slip its cable; and make for a flag planted

on the very reef where the planter himself was wrecked?





Why indeed (one is tempted to ask in concluding) should it be that

the poets who have written for us the poetry richest in skiey grain;

most free from admixture with the duller things of earththe

Shelleys; the Coleridges; the Keatsare the very poets whose lives

are among the saddest records in literature?  Is it that (by some

subtile mystery of analogy) sorrow; passion; and fantasy are

indissolubly connected; like water; fire; and cloud; that as from

sun and dew are born the vapours; so from fire and tears ascend the

〃visions of aerial joy〃; that the harvest waves richest over the

battlefields of the soul; that the heart; like the earth; smells

sweetest after rain; that the spell on which depend such necromantic

castles is some spirit of pain charm…poisoned at their base? {10}

Such a poet; it may be; mists with sighs the window of his life

until the tears run down it; then some air of searching poetry; like

an air of searching frost; turns it to a crystal wonder。  The god of

golden song is the god; too; of the golden sun; so peradventure

song…light is like sunlight; and darkens the countenance of the

soul。  Perhaps the rays are to the stars what thorns are to the

flowers; and so the poet; after wandering over heaven; returns with

bleeding feet。  Less tragic in its merely temporal aspect than the

life of Keats or Coleridge; the life of Shelley in its moral aspect

is; perhaps; more tragical than that of either; his dying seems a

myth; a figure of his living; the material shipwreck a figure of the

immaterial。



Enchanted child; born into a world unchildlike; spoiled darling of

Nature; playmate of her elemental daughters; 〃pard…like spirit;

beautiful and swift;〃 laired amidst the burning fastnesses of his

own fervid mind; bold foot along the verges of precipitous dream;

light leaper from crag to crag of inaccessible fancies; towering

Genius; whose soul rose like a ladder between heaven and earth with

the angels of song ascending and descending it;he is shrunken into

the little vessel of death; and sealed with the unshatterable seal

of doom; and cast down deep below the rolling tides of Time。  Mighty

meat for little guests; when the heart of Shelley was laid in the

cemetery of Caius Cestius!  Beauty; music; sweetness; tearsthe

mouth of the worm has fed of them all。  Into that sacred bridal…

gloom of death where he holds his nuptials with eternity let not our

rash speculations follow him。  Let us hope rather that as; amidst

material nature; where our dull eyes see only ruin; the finer eye of

science has discovered life in putridity and vigour in decay;

seeing dissolution even and disintegration; which in the mouth of

man symbolise disorder; to be in the works of God undeviating order;

and the manner of our corruption to be no less wonderful than the

manner of our health;so; amidst the supernatural universe; some

tender undreamed surprise of life in doom awaited that wild nature;

which; worn by warfare with itself; its Maker; and all the world;

now





Sleeps; and never palates more the dug;

The beggar's nurse; and Caesar's。







Footnotes:



{1}  That is to say; taken as the general animating spirit of the

Fine Arts。



{2}  The Abbe Bareille was not; of course; responsible for

Savonarola's taste; only for thus endorsing it。



{3}  We mean; of course; the hymn; 〃I rise from dreams of time。〃



{4}  We are a little surprised at the fact; because so many

Victorian poets are; or have been; prose…writers as well。  Now;

according to our theory; the practice of prose should maintain fresh

and comprehensive a poet's diction; should save him from falling

into the hands of an exclusive coterie of poetic words。  It should

react upon his metrical vocabulary to its beneficial expansion; by

taking him outside his aristocratic circle of language; and keeping

him in touch with the great commonalty; the proletariat of speech。

For it is with words as with men:  constant intermarriage within the

limits of a patrician clan begets effete refinement; and to

reinvigorate the stock; its veins must be replenished from hardy

plebeian blood。



{5}  Wordsworth's adaptation of it; however; is true。  Men are not

〃children of a larger growth;〃 but the child IS father of the man;

since the parent is only partially reproduced in his offspring。



{6}  The Rhythm of Life; by Alice Meynell。



{7}  〃And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth; even as a fig…

tree casteth her untimely figs; when she is shaken of a mighty wind〃

(Rev。 vi; 13)。



{8}  Such analogies between master in sister…arts are often

interesting。  In some respects; is not Brahms the Browning of music?



{9}  Seek FIRST; not seek ONLY。



{10}  We hope that we need not refer the reader; for the methods of

magic architecture; to Ariosto and that Atlas among enchanters;

Beckford。









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