Prince Athanase
Lines 28-30. The punctuation here (“Poetical Works”, 1839) is supported
by the Bodleian manuscript, which has a full stop at relief (line 28),
and a comma at chief (line 30). The text of the “Posthumous Poems”,
1824, has a semicolon at relief and a full stop at chief. The original
draft of lines 29, 30, in the Bodleian manuscript, runs:—
He was the child of fortune and of power,
And, though of a high race the orphan Chief, etc.
—which is decisive in favour of our punctuation (1839). See Locock,
“Examination”, etc., page 51.
2.
Which wake and feed an ever-living woe,— (line 74.)
All the editions have on for an, the reading of the Bodleian manuscript,
where it appears as a substitute for his, the word originally written.
The first draft of the line runs: Which nursed and fed his everliving
woe. Wake, accordingly, is to be construed as a transitive (Locock).
3.
Lines 130-169. This entire passage is distinctly cancelled in the
Bodleian manuscript, where the following revised version of lines
125-129 and 168-181 is found some way later on:—
Prince Athanase had one beloved friend,
An old, old man, with hair of silver white,
And lips where heavenly smiles would hang and blend
With his wise words; and eyes whose arrowy light
Was the reflex of many minds; he filled
From fountains pure, nigh overgrown and [lost],
The spirit of Prince Athanase, a child;
And soul-sustaining songs of ancient lore
And philosophic wisdom, clear and mild.
And sweet and subtle talk they evermore
The pupil and the master [share], until
Sharing that undiminishable store,
The youth, as clouds athwart a grassy hill
Outrun the winds that chase them, soon outran
His teacher, and did teach with native skill
Strange truths and new to that experienced man;
So [?] they were friends, as few have ever been
Who mark the extremes of life’s discordant span.
The words bracketed above, and in Fragment 5 of our text, are cancelled
in the manuscript (Locock).
4.
And blighting hope, etc. (line 152.)
The word blighting here, noted as unsuitable by Rossetti, is cancelled
in the Bodleian manuscript (Locock).
5.
She saw between the chestnuts, far beneath, etc. (line 154.)
The reading of editions 1824, 1839 (beneath the chestnuts) is a palpable
misprint.
6.
And sweet and subtle talk they evermore,
The pupil and the master, shared; (lines 173, 174.)
So edition 1824, which is supported by the Bodleian manuscript,—both
the cancelled draft and the revised version: cf. note above. “Poetical
Works”, 1839, has now for they—a reading retained by Rossetti alone of
modern editors.
7.
Line 193. The ‘three-dots’ point at storm is in the Bodleian manuscript.
8.
Lines 202-207. The Bodleian manuscript, which has a comma and dash after
nightingale, bears out James Thomson’s (‘B. V.’s’) view, approved by
Rossetti, that these lines form one sentence. The manuscript has a dash
after here (line 207), which must be regarded as ‘equivalent to a full
stop or note of exclamation’ (Locock). Editions 1824, 1839 have a note
of exclamation after nightingale (line 204) and a comma after here (line
207).
9.
Fragment 3 (lines 230-239). First printed from the Bodleian manuscript
by Mr. C.D. Locock. In the space here left blank, line 231, the
manuscript has manhood, which is cancelled for some monosyllable
unknown—query, spring?
10.
And sea-buds burst under the waves serene:— (line 250.)
For under edition 1839 has beneath, which, however, is cancelled for
under in the Bodleian manuscript (Locock).
11.
Lines 251-254. This, with many other places from line 222 onwards,
evidently lacks Shelley’s final corrections.
12.
Line 259. According to Mr. Locock, the final text of this line in the
Bodleian manuscript runs:—
Exulting, while the wide world shrinks below, etc.
13.
Fragment 5 (lines 261-278). The text here is much tortured in the
Bodleian manuscript. What the editions give us is clearly but a rough
and tentative draft. ‘The language contains no third rhyme to mountains
(line 262) and fountains (line 264).’ Locock. Lines 270-278 were first
printed by Mr. Locock.
14.
Line 289. For light (Bodleian manuscript) here the editions read bright.
But light is undoubtedly the right word: cf. line 287. Investeth (line
285), Rossetti’s cj. for Investeth (1824, 1839) is found in the Bodleian
manuscript.
15.
Lines 297-302 (the darts...ungarmented). First printed by Mr. Locock
from the Bodleian manuscript.
16.
Another Fragment (A). Lines 1-3 of this Fragment reappear in a modified
shape in the Bodleian manuscript of “Prometheus Unbound”, 2 4 28-30:—
Or looks which tell that while the lips are calm
And the eyes cold, the spirit weeps within
Tears like the sanguine sweat of agony;
Here the lines are cancelled—only, however, to reappear in a heightened
shape in “The Cenci”, 1 1 111-113:—
The dry, fixed eyeball; the pale quivering lip,
Which tells me that the spirit weeps within
Tears bitterer than the bloody sweat of Christ.
(Garnett, Locock.)