The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley (ed. Hutchinson, 1914)/With a Guitar, to Jane

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

WITH A GUITAR, TO JANE

[Published by Medwin, The Athenæum, Oct. 20, 1832; Frazer's Magazine, Jan. 1833. There is a copy amongst the Trelawny MSS.]

Ariel to Miranda:—TakeThis slave of Music, for the sakeOf him who is the slave of thee,And teach it all the harmonyIn which thou canst, and only thou,Make the delighted spirit glow, 6Till joy denies itself again,And, too intense, is turned to pain;For by permission and commandOf thine own Prince Ferdinand, 10Poor Ariel sends this silent tokenOf more than ever^[1] can be spoken;Your guardian spirit, Ariel, who,From life to life, must still pursueYour happiness;—for thus alone 15Can Ariel ever find his own.From Prospero's enchanted cell,As the mighty verses tell,To the throne of Naples, heLit you o'er the trackless sea, 20Flitting on, your prow before,Like a living meteor.When you die, the silent Moon,In her interlunar swoon,Is not sadder in her cell 25Than deserted Ariel.When you live again on earth,Like an unseen star of birth,Ariel guides you o'er the seaOf life from your nativity. 30Many changes have been runSince Ferdinand and you begun Your course of love, and Ariel still Has tracked your steps, and served your will; Now, in humbler, happier lot, 35 This is all remembered not; And now, alas! the poor sprite is Imprisoned, for some fault of his, In a body like a grave;— From you he only dares to crave, 40 For his service and his sorrow, A smile to-day, a song to-morrow.

The artist who this idol wrought, To echo all harmonious thought, Felled a tree, while on the steep 45 The woods^[2] were in their winter sleep, Rocked in that repose divine On the wind-swept Apennine; And dreaming, some of Autumn past, And some of Spring approaching fast, 50And some of April buds and showers, And some of songs in July bowers, And all of love; and so this tree,— O that such our death may be!— Died in sleep, and felt no pain, 55To live in happier form again: From which, beneath Heaven's fairest star, The artist wrought this^[3] loved Guitar, And taught it justly to reply,To all who question skilfully, 60In language gentle as thine own;^[4]Whispering in enamoured toneSweet oracles of woods and dells.And summer winds in sylvan cells;For it had learned all harmonies 65Of the plains and of the skies,Of the forests and the mountains,And the many-voiced fountains;The clearest echoes of the hills,The softest notes of falling rills, 70The melodies of birds and bees,The murmuring of summer seas,And pattering rain, and breathing dew,And airs of evening; and it knewThat seldom-heard mysterious sound,Which, driven on^[5] its diurnal round,As it floats through boundless day,Our world enkindles on its way.—All this it knows, but will not tellTo those who cannot question wellThe Spirit that inhabits it; 81It talks according to the witOf its companions; and no moreIs heard than has been felt before,By those who tempt it to betray 85These secrets of an elder day:But, sweetly as its answers willFlatter hands of perfect skill,It keeps its highest, holiest toneFor our beloved Jane^[6] alone. 90

 

1. 12 Of more than ever] Of love that never 1833.
2. 46 woods Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed.; winds 1832, 1833, 1839, 1st ed.
3. 58 this Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed.; that 1832, 1833, 1839, lst ed.
4. 61 thine own Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed.; its own 1832. 1833, 1839, 1st ed.
5. 76 on Trelawny MS., 1839, 2nd ed.; in 1832, 1833, 1839, 1st ed.
6. 90 Jane Trelawny MS.; friend 1832, 1833, edd. 1839.