A NOTE ON SHELLEY'S "PROMETHEUS." in vas EDITOR or Taz
"BricuToa."1 Srit,—Not far from the beginning of Shelley's Prometheus Unbound occur the lines,—
" Speak, Spirit ! Prom thine inorganic voice I only know that thou art moving near, And love. How cursed I him ?"
On this passage Mr. Rossetti remarks," I understand it to mean, 'I only know that thou (the Spirit of Earth) art moving near me, and that Love is also moving near me." But he says very truly, "The idea that Love is near Prometheus in his agony seems to be very abruptly and startingly introduced." In fact, there appears to be no reason at all why Love should thus be near; and he, therefore, suggests two emendations, viz.,— (1), iov'st; which, however, as he proceeds to show, is quite inconsistent with what Prometheus had said before; and (2), Jove, so that the last line would run,— " And Jove—how cursed I him?"
But this, he confesses, is "much too audacious to be intruded into the text," although Mr. Swinburne has said that Mr.. Rossetti, "with the touch of true and keen criticism, has given us at least a reasonable reading, in place of one barely explic- able," admitting, however, that "the sentence preceding comes to an abrupt and feeble close." Yet surely the meaning of the passage as it stands in the original is perfectly plain. I under- stand it thus :— " I only know that thou art moving near, And [I] love [thee]."
" Love " is not the noun, but the first person singular of the verb; and that Prometheus should speak thus of the spirit which he evidently already surmises to be that of his mother Earth (whom he has just invoked), seems perfectly natural.
In connection with these words, "Speak, Spirit !" may I call attention to the concluding line of the magnificent opening- address ? In all the editions if stands thus,— " What was that curse ? for ye all heard me speak." This has always seemed to me a tame conclusion for such a glorious speech. I would suggest that the line ought to be- written,—
"What was that curse ? for ye all heard me. Speak !" Obedient to this invocation, the spirit-voices answer.—I Sir, &c.,
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