Shelley: A Critical BiographyD. Douglas, 1877 - 249 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
admiration Alastor ancient appears atheist beauty believe breath Cenci character cloth clouds crown 8vo dark death Deity delight divine drama earth Edinburgh edition endeavour eternal evil existence expression eyes fact Fcap feeling genius Harriet Westbrook heart heaven highest hope human ideal imagination immortal influence Johnny Gibb Leigh Hunt letter light live Lord Byron lyric mankind Mary Godwin Masque of Anarchy memory mind moral nature never noble opinions P. G. TAIT passages passed passion perceived philosophy poem poet poet's poetic poetry political Prometheus prose Queen Mab reason regard religious remarkable Revolt of Islam Scotland sense sentiment shadow Shakspeare Shelley Shelley's sleep society soul spirit stanzas strong sublime suffering sweet sympathy things thou thought tion Trelawny truth universe utterance Via Reggio views virtue vision voice volume WILLIAM STIRLING MAXWELL Williams Wordsworth writer wrote
Popular passages
Page 216 - He is made one with Nature : there is heard His voice in all her music, from the moan Of thunder, to the song of night's sweet bird ; He is a presence to be felt and known In darkness and in light, from herb and stone, Spreading itself where'er that Power may move Which has withdrawn his being to its own ; Which wields the world with never wearied love, Sustains it from beneath, and kindles it above.
Page 246 - Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is : What if my leaves are falling like its own ! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, spirit fierce, My spirit ! Be thou me, impetuous one ! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth...
Page 230 - Yet if we could scorn Hate and pride and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near. Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground ! Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow, The world should listen then — as I am listening now.
Page 238 - The breath of the moist earth is light, Around its unexpanded buds ; Like many a voice of one delight, The winds, the birds, the ocean floods, The City's voice itself, is soft like Solitude's.
Page 93 - A power from the unknown God, A Promethean conqueror came ; Like a triumphal path he trod The thorns of death and shame. A mortal shape to him Was like the vapour dim Which the orient planet animates with light...
Page 239 - Over the lakes and the plains, Wherever he dream , under mountain or stream, The Spirit he loves remains; And I all the while bask in heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains. The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor eyes, And his burning plumes outspread, Leaps on the back of my sailing rack, When the morning star shines dead.
Page 213 - Worlds on worlds are rolling ever From creation to decay, Like the bubbles on a river, Sparkling, bursting, borne away. But they are still immortal , • Who, through birth's orient portal And death's dark chasm hurrying to and fro, Clothe their unceasing flight In the brief dust and light Gathered around their chariots as they go...
Page 234 - Mont Blanc yet gleams on high :—the power is there, The still and solemn power of many sights And many sounds, and much of life and death.
Page 242 - THE warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing, The bare boughs are sighing, the pale flowers are dying, And the year On the earth, her death-bed, in a shroud of leaves dead, Is lying.
Page 178 - Look on yonder earth : The golden harvests spring : the unfailing sun Sheds light and life ; the fruits, the flowers, the trees, Arise in due succession ; all things speak Peace, harmony, and love. The universe, In nature's silent eloquence, declares That all fulfil the works of love and joy, — . . All but the outcast Man.