' See the remarks as
to 'reptiles,' St. 29.
11. 5, 6. _The magic tone Whose prelude,_ &c. Shelley, it will be
perceived, here figures Keats as a minstrel striking the lyre, and
preparing to sing. He strikes the lyre in a 'magic tone'; the very
'prelude' of this was enough to command silent expectation. This prelude
is the poem of _Endymion_, to which the _Quarterly_ reviewer alone
(according to Shelley) was insensitive, owing to feelings of 'envy,
hate, and wrong.' The prelude was only an induction to the
'song,'--which was eventually poured forth in the _Lamia_ volume, and
especially (as our poet opined) in _Hyperion_. But now Keats's hand is
cold in death, and his lyre unstrung. As I have already observed--see p.
35, &c.--Shelley was mistaken in supposing that the _Quarterly Review_
had held a monopoly of 'envy, hate, and wrong'--or, as one might now
term them, detraction, spite, and unfairness--in reference to Keats.
+Stanza 37,+ 1. 4. _But be thyself, and know thyself to be!_ The precise
import of this line is not, I think, entirely plain at first sight. I
conceive that we should take the line as immediately consequent upon the
preceding words--'Live thou, live!' Premising this, one might amplify
the idea as follows; 'While Keats is dead, be it thy doom, thou his deaf
and viperous murderer, to live! But thou shalt live in thine own
degraded identity, and shalt thyself be conscious how degraded thou
art.
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