The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 205

The punctuation of "Prince Athanase" is that of "Poetical Works", 1839, save in the places specified in the notes above, and in line 60--where there is a full stop, instead of the comma demanded by the sense, at the close of the line.

ROSALIND AND HELEN.

1.

A sound from there, etc. (line 63.) Rossetti's cj., there for thee, is adopted by all modern editors.

2.

And down my cheeks the quick tears fell, etc. (line 366.) The word fell is Rossetti's cj. (to rhyme with tell, line 369) for ran 1819, 1839).

3.

Lines 405-409. The syntax here does not hang together, and Sh.e.l.ley may have been thinking of this pa.s.sage amongst others when, on September 6, 1819, he wrote to Ollier:--'In the "Rosalind and Helen" I see there are some few errors, which are so much the worse because they are errors in the sense.' The obscurity, however, may have been, in part at least, designed: Rosalind grows incoherent before breaking off abruptly. No satisfactory emendation has been proposed.

4.

Where weary meteor lamps repose, etc. (line 551.) With Woodberry I regard Where, his cj. for When (1819, 1839), as necessary for the sense.

5.

With which they drag from mines of gore, etc. (line 711.) Rossetti proposes yore for gore here, or, as an alternative, rivers of gore, etc. If yore be right, Sh.e.l.ley's meaning is: 'With which from of old they drag,' etc. But cf. Note (3) above.

6.

Where, like twin vultures, etc. (line 932.) Where is Woodberry's reading for When (1819, 1839). Forman suggests Where but does not print it.

7.

Lines 1093-1096. The editio princeps (1819) punctuates:-- Hung in dense flocks beneath the dome, That ivory dome, whose azure night With golden stars, like heaven, was bright O'er the split cedar's pointed flame;

8.

Lines 1168-1170. Sunk (line 1170) must be taken as a transitive in this pa.s.sage, the grammar of which is defended by Mr. Swinburne.

9.

Whilst animal life many long years Had rescue from a chasm of tears; (lines 1208-9.) Forman subst.i.tutes rescue for rescued (1819, 1839)--a highly probable cj. adopted by Dowden, but rejected by Woodberry. The sense is: 'Whilst my life, surviving by the physical functions merely, thus escaped during many years from hopeless weeping.'

10.

PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS.

The following is a list of punctual variations, giving in each case the pointing of the editio princeps (1819):--heart 257; weak 425; Aye 492; There--now 545; immortally 864; not, 894; bleeding, 933; Fidelity 1055; dome, 1093; bright 1095; tremble, 1150; life-dissolving 1166; words, 1176; omit parentheses lines 1188-9; bereft, 1230.

JULIAN AND MADDALO.

1.

Line 158. Salutations past; (1824); Salutations pa.s.sed; (1839). Our text follows Woodberry.

2.

--we might be all We dream of happy, high, majestical. (lines 172-3.) So the Hunt ma.n.u.script, edition 1824, has a comma after of (line 173), which is retained by Rossetti and Dowden.

3.

--his melody Is interrupted--now we hear the din, etc. (lines 265-6.) So the Hunt ma.n.u.script; his melody Is interrupted now: we hear the din, etc., 1824, 1829.

4.

Lines 282-284. The editio princeps (1824) runs:-- Smiled in their motions as they lay apart, As one who wrought from his own fervid heart The eloquence of pa.s.sion: soon he raised, etc.

5.

Line 414. The editio princeps (1824) has a colon at the end of this line, and a semicolon at the close of line 415.

6.

The 'three-dots' point, which appears several times in these pages, is taken from the Hunt ma.n.u.script and serves to mark a pause longer than that of a full stop.

7.

He ceased, and overcome leant back awhile, etc. (line 511.) The form leant is retained here, as the stem-vowel, though unaltered in spelling, is shortened in p.r.o.nunciation. Thus leant (p.r.o.nounced 'lent') from lean comes under the same category as crept from creep, lept from leap, cleft from cleave, etc.--perfectly normal forms, all of them. In the case of weak preterites formed without any vowel-change, the more regular formation with ed is that which has been adopted in this volume.

See Editor's "Preface".

8.

CANCELLED FRAGMENTS OF JULIAN AND MADDALO. These were first printed by Dr. Garnett, "Relics of Sh.e.l.ley", 1862.

9.

PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS.

Sh.e.l.ley's final transcript of "Julian and Maddalo", though written with great care and neatness, is yet very imperfectly punctuated. He would seem to have relied on the vigilance of Leigh Hunt--or, failing Hunt, of Peac.o.c.k--to make good all omissions while seeing the poem through the press. Even Mr. Buxton Forman, careful as he is to uphold ma.n.u.script authority in general, finds it necessary to supplement the pointing of the Hunt ma.n.u.script in no fewer than ninety-four places. The following table gives a list of the pointings adopted in our text, over and above those found in the Hunt ma.n.u.script. In all but four or five instances, the supplementary points are derived from Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley's text of 1824.

1. Comma added at end of line: 40, 54, 60, 77, 78, 85, 90, 94, 107, 110, 116, 120, 123, 134, 144, 145, 154, 157, 168, 179, 183, 191, 196, 202, 203, 215, 217, 221, 224, 225, 238, 253, 254, 262, 287, 305, 307, 331, 338, 360, 375, 384, 385, 396, 432, 436, 447, 450, 451, 473, 475, 476, 511, 520, 526, 541, 582, 590, 591, 592, 593, 595, 603, 612.

2. Comma added elsewhere: seas, 58; vineyards, 58; dismounted, 61; evening, 65; companion, 86; isles, 90; meant, 94; Look, Julian, 96; maniacs, 110; maker, 113; past, 114; churches, 136; rainy, 141; blithe, 167; beauty, 174; Maddalo, 192; others, 205; this, 232; respects, 241; shriek, 267; wrote, 286; month, 300; cried, 300; O, 304; and, 306; misery, disappointment, 314; soon, 369; stay, 392; mad, 394; Nay, 398; serpent, 399; said, 403; cruel, 439; hate, 461; hearts, 483; he, 529; seemed, 529; Unseen, 554; morning, 582; aspect, 585; And, 593; remember, 604; parted, 610.

3. Semicolon added at end of line: 101, 103, 167, 181, 279, 496.

4. Colon added at end of line: 164, 178, 606, 610.

5. Full stop added at end of line: 95, 201, 299, 319, 407, 481, 599, 601, 617.

6. Full stop added elsewhere: transparent. 85; trials. 472; Venice, 583.

7. Admiration--note added at end of line: 392, 492; elsewhere: 310, 323,

8. Dash added at end of line: 158, 379.

9. Full stop for comma (ma.n.u.script): eye. 119.

10. Full stop for dash (ma.n.u.script): entered. 158.

11. Colon for full stop (ma.n.u.script): tale: 596.

12. Dash for colon (ma.n.u.script): this-- 207; prepared-- 379.

13. Comma and dash for semicolon (ma.n.u.script): expressionless,-- 292.

14. Comma and dash for comma (ma.n.u.script): not,-- 127.

PROMETHEUS UNBOUND.

The variants of B. (Sh.e.l.ley's 'intermediate draft' of "Prometheus Unbound", now in the Bodleian Library), here recorded, are taken from Mr. C.D. Loc.o.c.k's "Examination", etc., Clarendon Press, 1903. See Editor's Prefatory Note, above.

1.