11. 3, 4. _Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng Whose sails
were never to the tempest given._ In saying that his spirit's bark is
driven far from the shore, Shelley apparently means that his mind, in
speculation and aspiration, ranges far beyond those mundane and material
interests with which the mass of men are ordinarily concerned. 'The
trembling throng' is, I think, a throng of men: though it might be a
throng of barks, contrasted with 'my spirit's bark.' Their sails 'were
never to the tempest given,' in the sense that they never set forth on a
bold ideal or spiritual adventure, abandoning themselves to the stress
and sway of a spiritual storm.
1. 5. _The massy earth_, &c. As the poet launches forth on his voyage
upon the ocean of mind, the earth behind him seems to gape, and the sky
above him to open: his course however is still held on in darkness--the
arcanum is hardly or not at all revealed.
1. 7. _Whilst burning through the inmost veil_, &c. A star pilots his
course: it is the soul of Adonais, which, being still 'a portion of the
Eternal' (st. 38), is in 'the abode where the Eternal are,' and
testifies to the eternity of mind.
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