The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley V O L U M E O N E E D I T E D B Y Donald H. Reiman and Neil Fraistat This book has been brought to publication with the generous assistance of The Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation and the Office of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Maryland. © 2000 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2000 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 www.press.jhu.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data will be found at the end of this book. A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0-8018-6119-5 Endpapers: Left to right: Song. Sorrow from Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire (1810); Fragment from Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson (1810); epigraph to Chapter 8, St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian (1811). With kind permission of The Huntington Library. Frontispiece: “A Cat in distress.” Transcript by Elizabeth Shelley, watercolor illustration. With kind permission of The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. For Shawn and Ann Cleveland Fraistat ”. . . wonder[s] of this earth, Where there is little of transcendent worth . . .” Julian and Maddalo For Laurel E. Reiman Henneman and Charles C. Henneman ”. . . Wit and sense, Virtue and human knowledge, all that might Make this dull world a business of delight . . .” Letter to Maria Gisborne This page intentionally left blank Contents of Volume One List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Editorial Overview xix Abbreviations xli TEXTS Original Poetry: by Victor and Cazire 3 Letter [1] (“Here I sit with my paper, my pen and my ink”) 7 Letter [2] (To Miss —— —— From Miss —— ——) 9 Song. (“Cold, cold is the blast when December is howling”) 11 Song. (“Come ——! sweet is the hour”) 13 Song. Despair. 14 Song. Sorrow. 15 Song. Hope. 16 Song. Translated from the Italian. 17 Song. Translated from the German. 18 The Irishman’s Song. 18 Song. (“Fierce roars the midnight storm”) 19 Song. To ————— (“Ah! sweet is the moonbeam that sleeps on yon fountain”) 20 Song. To ————— (“Stern, stern is the voice of fate’s fearfull command”) 21 Saint Edmond’s Eve. 22 Revenge. 28 Ghasta; or, The Avenging Demon!!! 30 Fragment, or The Triumph of Conscience. 37 The Wandering Jew; or, The Victim of the Eternal Avenger 39 Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson; Being Poems Found Amongst the Papers of that Noted Female who Attempted the Life of the King in 1786. Edited by John Fitzvictor 89 Advertisement. 92 “Ambition, power, and avarice, now have hurl’d” 93 vii Fragment. Supposed to be an Epithalamium of Francis Ravaillac and Charlotte Cordé. 95 Despair. 99 Fragment. (“Yes! all is past—swift time has fled away”) 100 The Spectral Horseman. 101 Melody to a Scene of Former Times. 102 Poems from St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance 105 “T was dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling” 109 “Ghosts of the dead! have I not heard your yelling” 110 Ballad. (“The death-bell beats!——”) 111 Song. (“How swiftly through heaven’s wide expanse”) 114 Song. (“How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner”) 115 Song. (“Ah! faint are her limbs, and her footstep is weary”) 116 The Devil’s Walk 119 The Devil’s Walk, a Ballad. 123 Supplement: Letter Version of The Devil’s Walk 128 Ten Early Poems (1809–1814) 131 “A Cat in distress” 135 “How swiftly through Heaven’s wide expanse” 136 “Oh wretched mortal, hard thy fate!” 138 To Mary who died in this opinion 138 “Why is it said thou canst but live” 139 “As you will see I wrote to you” [1st letter to E. F. Graham] 140 “Dear dear dear dear dear dear Græme!” [2nd letter to E. F. Graham] 142 “Sweet star! which gleaming oer the darksome scene” 144 “Bear witness Erin! when thine injured isle” 145 “Thy dewy looks sink in my breast” 145 COMMENTARIES Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire 149 The Wandering Jew; or, The Victim of the Eternal Avenger 189 Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson 235 Poems from St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian 261 The Devil’s Walk 281 Ten Early Poems (1809–1814) 295 viii Contents of Volume One HISTORICAL COLLATIONS Introduction 333 Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire 335 The Wandering Jew; or, The Victim of the Eternal Avenger 355 Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson 375 Poems from St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian 387 The Devil’s Walk 403 The Early Poems (1809–1814) 411 APPENDIXES Introduction 433 A. Latin School Exercises 435 Epitaphium 435 In Horologium 437 B. Prose Treated as Poems 438 “The Ocean rolls between us” 438 “Oh Ireland!” 441 C. Lost Works 442 Satirical Poem on “L’infame” 443 Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things 444 On a Fête at Carlton House 448 Essay on War 451 God Save the King 452 D. Dubia 453 Poems in the Oxford University and City Herald Ode, to the Breath of Summer. 453 The Grape. From the Greek Anthologia 455 Epigram, from the Greek Anthologia. (“We that were wont”) 456 Translation of an Epigram of Vincent Bourne’s. 457 On Old Age, from the Greek Anthology 458 Venus and the Muses, from the Same 458 Unattributed Epigraphs to St. Irvyne 458 Sadak the Wanderer. A Fragment 460 Contents of Volume One ix