Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WITH A GUITAR, TO JANE, by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ariel to miranda - take Last Line: For our beloved jane alone. Variant Title(s): To A Lady, With A Guitar Subject(s): Guitars; Williams, Jane | ||||||||
ARIEL to Miranda:--Take This slave of Music, for the sake Of him who is the slave of thee, And teach it all the harmony In which thou canst, and only thou, Make the delighted spirit glow, Till joy denies itself again, And, too intense, is turned to pain; For by permission and command Of thine own Prince Ferdinand, Poor Ariel sends this silent token Of more than ever can be spoken; Your guardian spirit, Ariel, who From life to life, must still pursue Your happiness, for thus alone Can Ariel ever find his own. From Prospero's enchanted cell, As the mighty verses tell, To the throne of Naples, he Lit you o'er the trackless sea, Flitting on, your prow before, Like a living meteor. When you die, the silent Moon In her interlunar swoon, Is not sadder in her cell Than deserted Ariel. When you live again on earth, Like an unseen star of birth Ariel guides you o'er the sea Of life from your nativity. Many changes have been run Since Ferdinand and you begun Your course of love, and Ariel still Has tracked your steps and served your will; Now, in humbler, happier lot, 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, 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 The woods 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, And 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, To live in happier form again: From which, beneath Heaven's fairest star, The artist wrought this loved Guitar, And taught it justly to reply, To all who question skilfully, In language gentle as thine own; Whispering in enamoured tone Sweet oracles of woods and dells, And summer winds in sylvan cells; For it had learned all harmonies Of 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, The melodies of birds and bees, The murmuring of summer seas, And pattering rain, and breathing dew, And airs of evening; and it knew That seldom-heard mysterious sound, Which, driven on its diurnal round, As it floats through boundless day, Our world enkindles on its way.-- All this it knows, but will not tell To those who cannot question well The Spirit that inhabits it; It talks according to the wit Of its companions; and no more Is heard than has been felt before, By those who tempt it to betray These secrets of an elder day: But, sweetly as its answers will Flatter hands of perfect skill, It keeps its highest, holiest tone For our beloved Jane alone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO JANE: THE INVITATION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TO JANE: THE RECOLLECTION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE MAGNETIC LADY TO HER PATIENT by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY BUONA NOTTE by FRANCIS THOMPSON A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ADONAIS; AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF JOHN KEATS by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ALASTOR; OR, THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AUTUMN: A DIRGE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ENGLAND IN 1819 by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY EPIPSYCHIDION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY FEELINGS OF A REPUBLICAN ON THE FALL OF BONAPARTE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |
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