195 For know there are two worlds of life and death: One that which thou beholdest, but the other Is underneath the grave, where do inhabit The shadows of all forms that think and live Till death unite them, and they part no more;
200 Dreams and the light imaginings of men And all that faith creates, or love desires, Terrible, strange, sublime and beauteous shapes. There thou art, and dost hang, a writhing shade 'Mid whirlwind-peopled mountains; all the Gods
205 Are there, and all the Powers of nameless worlds, Vast, sceptred Phantoms; heroes, men, and beasts; And Demogorgon,4 a tremendous Gloom; And he, the Supreme Tyrant,5 on his throne Of burning Gold. Son, one of these shall utter
210 The curse which all remember. Call at will Thine own ghost, or the ghost of Jupiter, Hades or Typhon,6 or what mightier Gods From all-prolific Evil, since thy ruin Have sprung, and trampled on my prostrate sons.?
215 Ask and they must reply?so the revenge Of the Supreme may sweep through vacant shades As rainy wind through the abandoned gate Of a fallen palace.
PROMETHEUS
Mother, let not aught Of that which may be evil, pass again 220 My lips, or those of aught resembling me.? Phantasm of Jupiter, arise, appear!
IONE
My wings are folded o'er mine ears, My wings are crossed over mine eyes,
3. Zoroaster founded in ancient Persia a dualistic otic elements, and surrounded the earth with the religion that worshiped fire and light in opposition heavens. In addition to Pan and the Fates, his chilto the evil principle of darkness. Priests of the reli-dren were Uranus, Titaea, Pytho, Eris, and Eregion were called Magi (singular: Magus). bus.' Thus, in Peacock's account, Demogorgon is 4. In a note to the name in a poem published in the father of the Sky, the Earth, and the Under1817, Thomas Love Peacock alludes to Milton's world, as well as the Fates. mention of Demogorgon (Paradise Lost, 2.965) and 5. The shade or simulacrum of Jupiter. explains: 'He was the Genius of the Earth, and the 6. Hades (Pluto), king of the underworld; Typhon, Sovereign Power of the Terrestrial Daemons. He a hundred-headed giant, imprisoned beneath voldwelt originally with Eternity and Chaos, till, canic Mount Aetna. becoming weary of inaction, he organised the cha
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PROMETHEUS UNBOUND, ACT 1 / 78 5
Yet through their silver shade appears And through their lulling plumes arise A Shape, a throng of sounds: May it be, no ill to thee7
O thou of many wounds! Near whom for our sweet sister's sake Ever thus we watch and wake.
PANTHEA
The sound is of whirlwind underground, Earthquake and fire, and mountains cloven,? The Shape is awful like the sound, Clothed in dark purple, star-inwoven.
A sceptre of pale gold To stay steps proud, o'er the slow cloud His veined hand doth hold.
Cruel he looks but calm and strong Like one who does, not suffers wrong.
PHANTASM OF JUPITER
Why have the secret powers of this strange world Driven me, a frail and empty phantom, hither On direst storms? What unaccustomed sounds Are hovering on my lips, unlike the voice With which our pallid race hold ghastly talk In darkness? And, proud Sufferer, who art thou?
PROMETHEUS
Tremendous Image! as thou art must be He whom thou shadowest forth. I am his foe The Titan. Speak the words which I would hear, Although no thought inform thine empty voice.
THE EARTH
Listen! and though your echoes must be mute, Grey mountains and old woods and haunted springs, Prophetic caves and isle-surrounding streams Rejoice to hear what yet ye cannot speak.
PHANTASM
A spirit seizes me, and speaks within: It tears me as fire tears a thunder-cloud!
PANTHEA
See how he lifts his mighty looks, the Heaven Darkens above.
IONE
He speaks! O shelter me?
7. Shelley uses the comma in the middle of lines like these to emphasize the internal rhymes.
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78 6 / PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
PROMETHEUS I see the curse on gestures proud and cold, And looks of firm defiance, and calm hate, 260 And such despair as mocks itself with smiles, Written as on a scroll. . . yet speak?O speak! PHANTASM Fiend, I defy thee! with a calm, fixed mind, All that thou canst inflict I bid thee do; Foul Tyrant both of Gods and Humankind, 265 One only being shalt thou not subdue. Rain then thy plagues upon me here, Ghastly disease and frenzying fear; And let alternate frost and fire Eat into me, and be thine ire 270 Lightning and cutting hail and legioned forms Of furies, driving by upon the wounding storms. Aye, do thy worst. Thou art Omnipotent. O'er all things but thyself I gave thee power, And my own will. Be thy swift mischiefs sent 275 To blast mankind, from yon etherial tower. Let thy malignant spirit move Its darkness over those I love: On me and mine I imprecate' call down The utmost torture of thy hate 280 And thus devote to sleepless agony This undeclining head while thou must reign on high. But thou
