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Stanza 32
Lines 280-288
A pard-like Spirit beautiful and swift—A love in desolation masked;—a PowerGirt round with weakness;—it can scarce uplift The weight of the superincumbent hour.He was a beautiful, tameless spirit, powerful but destined to frustration, pressed down by the ills of life, ready to break into pieces, though full of an external glow of life.
Summary
He was a beautiful, tameless spirit, powerful but destined to frustration, pressed down by the ills of life, ready to break into pieces, though full of an external glow of life.
Explanation
L. 280, Pardlike—leopard-like, Shelley here speaks of his spirit which was graceful and tameless and swift like the leopard. Cf. "Tameless, and 'wift' and proud"—Wind. L. 281, Love....masked—his was a spirit full of love, but the love of his heart was obscured by the loneliness of his life.
LI. 281-282. A power....weakness—a vigorous, tameless soul but overpowered by the ills of life which surrounded him. L. 282. It can...uplift—the spirit of Shelley finds it very hard to overcome. L. 283. The weight...hour—the pressure exerted by the mass of miseries upon him, accumulated during the years of his life. He imagined himself very miserable: Cf. "I fall upon the thorns of life...and proud". LI. 54-56. in his Ode to the Wet Wind.
LI. 284-285. Shelley speaks of the weariness of his soul in various metaphors. Dying lamp—lamp that is about to be extinguished for lack of oil. Falling shower—rain that exhausts itself by a downpour. A breaking billow—a wave that breaks against the shore and loses itself. LI. 285-286. Even whilst...broken—i.e., the wave breaks itself and is lost in a trice.
LI. 286-287. On the withering....brightly—the sun which shines warm and bright on a flower seeming to delight it causes it to dry up; so also, if Shelley is full of a glow of life and power, his very energy is destructive to his weary spirit. L. 288. The life can...break—even when the heart of a (consumptive) patient is about to stop by spilling blood, his cheeks may wear an apparent glow; as if indicating a healthful life, so also Shelley's flushing energy is only a sign of his sick heart within. Shelley probably derives the imagery from the hectic glow of Keats's face when. he suffered from consumption.