'
But the first question is--Does this cancelled stanza relate to a
Mountain Shepherd at all? To speak of a Mountain Shepherd as
a 'mighty Phantasm,' having an 'awful presence unrevealed,'
seems to be taking a considerable liberty with language. To me
it appears more likely that the stanza relates to some abstract
impersonation--perhaps Death, or else Eternity. It is true that
Death figures elsewhere in _Adonais_ (stanzas 7, 8, 25) under an
aspect with which the present phrases are hardly consistent: but,
in the case of a cancelled stanza, that counts for very little. In
_Prometheus Unbound_ (Act ii, sc. 4) Eternity, symbolised in
Demo-gorgon, is described in terms not wholly unlike those which we
are now debating:--
'I see a mighty Darkness
Filling the seat of power, and rays of gloom
Dart round, as light from the meridian sun,
Ungazed upon and shapeless. Neither limb,
Nor form, nor outline; yet we feel it is
A living Spirit.'
As to the phrase in the cancelled stanza, 'In darkness of his own
exceeding light,' it need hardly be observed that this is modified
from the expression in Paradise Lost (Book 3):--
'Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear.
Pages:
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247