The assumption that
'the damp death' stands as a synonym for the 'Splendour' obtains some
confirmation from the succeeding phrase about the '_dying_ meteor'--for
this certainly seems used as a simile for the 'Splendour.'
1. 7. _'And, as a dying meteor,'_ &c. The dying meteor, in this simile,
must represent the Splendour; the wreath of moonlight vapour stands for
the pale limbs of Adonais; the cold night may in a general way symbolize
the night of death.
1. 9. _It flushed through his pale limbs, and passed to its eclipse._
The Splendour flushed through the limbs of Adonais, and so became
eclipsed,--faded into nothingness. This terminates the episode of the
'quick Dreams,' beginning with stanza 9.
+Stanza 13,+ 1. 1. _And others came,--Desires and Adorations,_ &c. This
passage is the first in which Shelley has direct recourse, no longer to
the Elegy of Bion for Adonis, but to the Elegy of Moschus for Bion. As
he had spiritualized the impersonations of Bion, so he now spiritualizes
those of Moschus. The Sicilian lyrist gives us (see p. 65) Apollo,
Satyrs, Priapi, Panes, and Fountain-fairies.
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