Robert Bridges, ed. (1844–1930). The Spirit of Man: An Anthology. 1916. | | | | Prometheus, iv. 400 |
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) |
| | | .. MAN, 1 one harmonious soul of many a soul, | |
| Whose nature is its own divine control, | |
| Where all things flow to all, as rivers to the sea; | |
| Familiar acts are beautiful through love; | |
| Labour, and pain, and grief, in life’s green grove | 5 |
| Sport like tame beasts, none knew how gentle they could be! | |
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| His will, with all mean passions, bad delights, | |
| And selfish cares, its trembling satellites, | |
| A spirit ill to guide, but mighty to obey, | |
| Is as a tempest-wingèd ship, whose helm | 10 |
| Love rules, through waves which dare not overwhelm, | |
| Forcing life’s wildest shores to own its sovereign sway. | |
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| All things confess his strength. Through the cold mass | |
| Of marble and of colour his dreams pass; | |
| Bright threads whence mothers weave the robes their children wear; | 15 |
| Language is a perpetual Orphic song, | |
| Which rules with Dædal harmony a throng | |
| Of thoughts and forms, which else senseless and shapeless were … | |
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