+Stanza 55,+ 1. 1. _The breath whose might I have invoked in song._ The
breath or afflatus of the Universal Mind. It has been 'invoked in song'
throughout the whole later section of this Elegy, from stanza 38
onwards.
1. 2. _My spirits bark is driven_, &c. As was observed with reference to
the preceding stanza, line 9, this phrase does not forecast the author's
death: it only re-emphasises the abnormal illumination of his mind by
the Universal Mind--as if his spirit (like that of Keats) 'had flowed
back to the burning fountain whence it came, a portion of the Eternal'
(stanza 38). Nevertheless, it is very remarkable that this image of 'the
spirit's _bark_,' beaconed by 'the soul of Adonais,' should have been
written so soon before Shelley's death by drowning, which occurred on 8
July, 1822,--but little more than a year after he had completed this
Elegy. Besides this passage, there are in Shelley's writings, both verse
and prose, several other passages noticeable on the same
account--relating to drowning, and sometimes with a strong personal
application; and in various instances he was in imminent danger of this
mode of death before the end came.
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