The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/Lines written during the Castlereagh Administration

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

POEMS WRITTEN IN 1819

LINES WRITTEN DURING THE CASTLEREAGH ADMINISTRATION

[Published by Med win, The Athenæum, Dec. 8, 1832; reprinted, P. W., 1839. There is a transcript amongst the Harvard MSS., and another in the possession of Mr. C. W. Frederickson of Brooklyn. Variants from these two sources are given by Professor Woodberry, Complete P. W. of P. B. S., Centenary Edition, 1893, vol. iii, pp. 225, 226. The transcripts are referred to in our footnotes as Harvard and Fred, respectively.]

I
Corpses are cold in the tomb;
Stones on the pavement are dumb;
Abortions are dead in the womb,
And their mothers look pale—like the death-white^[1] shore
Of Albion, free no more. 5

II
Her sons are as stones in the way—
They are masses of senseless clay—
They are trodden, and move not away,—
The abortion with which she travaileth
Is Liberty, smitten to death. 10

III
Then trample and dance. thou Oppressor!
For thy victim is no redresser;
Thou art sole lord and possessor
Of her corpses, and clods, and abortions—they pave
Thy path to the grave. 15

IV
Hearest thou the festival^[2] din
Of Death, and Destruction, and Sin,
And Wealth crying Havoc! within?
'Tis the bacchanal triumph that^[3] makes Truth dumb,
Thine Epithalamium. 20

V
Ay, marry thy ghastly wife!
Let Fear and Disquiet^[4] and Strife
Spread thy couch in the chamber of Life!
Marry Ruin, thou Tyrant! and Hell^[5] be thy guide
To the bed of the bride!^[6] 25

 

1. 4 death-white Harvard, Fred.; white 1832, 1839.
2. 16 festival Harvard, Fred., 1839; festal 1832.
3. 19 that Fred.; which Harvard, 1832.
4. 22 Disquiet Harvard, Fred., 1839; Disgust 1832.
5. 24 Hell Fred.; God Harvard, 1832, 1839.
6. 25 the bride Harvard, Fred., 1839; thy bride 1832.