"To cheer thy state / I bid ascend those subtle and fair spirits, / Whose homes are the dim caves of human thought, / And who inhabit, as birds wing the wind, / Its world-surrounding aether."
— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
C. and J. Ollier
Date
1820
Metaphor
"To cheer thy state / I bid ascend those subtle and fair spirits, / Whose homes are the dim caves of human thought, / And who inhabit, as birds wing the wind, / Its world-surrounding aether."
Metaphor in Context
THE EARTH
I felt thy torture, son; with such mixed joy
As pain and virtue give. To cheer thy state
I bid ascend those subtle and fair spirits,
Whose homes are the dim caves of human thought,
And who inhabit, as birds wing the wind,
Its world-surrounding aether: they behold
Beyond that twilight realm, as in a glass,
The future: may they speak comfort to thee!
(I, ll. 656-63)
I felt thy torture, son; with such mixed joy
As pain and virtue give. To cheer thy state
I bid ascend those subtle and fair spirits,
Whose homes are the dim caves of human thought,
And who inhabit, as birds wing the wind,
Its world-surrounding aether: they behold
Beyond that twilight realm, as in a glass,
The future: may they speak comfort to thee!
(I, ll. 656-63)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound (London: C. and J. Ollier, 1820). <Link to Google Books> <Reading Text Prepared by Jack Lynch>
Date of Entry
10/25/2011
