64); 'For why, ah overbold! didst thou
follow the chase, and, being so fair, why wert thou thus over-hardy to
fight with beasts?'
1. 4. _'Dare the unpastured dragon in his den.'_ This phrase must no
doubt be interpreted, not only in relation to the figurative Adonais.
but also to the actual Keats, Keats had dared the unpastured dragon in
his den, in the sense that he made a bold adventure into the poetical
field, under conditions certain to excite the ire of adherents of the
old school, whether in literature or in politics.
1. 6. _'Wisdom the mirrored shield, or scorn the spear.'_ Urania
arraigns Keats for having made his inroad upon the dragon, unguarded by
wisdom or by scorn. His want of wisdom was shown (we may assume) by the
grave blemishes and defects in his _Endymion_, the wilful faults and
perverse excesses and extravagances which mark its composition, and
wantonly invited attack. His want of scorn was (according to Shelley's
view of the facts), clear enough: he had not been equal to despising a
spiteful attack, but had fretted himself to death under it. In terming
these two defensive weapons, wisdom and scorn, a mirrored shield and a
spear, Shelley was, I apprehend, thinking of the Orlando Furioso of
Ariosto.
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