Ossian Collection > Aspects of poetry

24^ SHELLEY AS A LYRIC POET. [VIII.
Prometheus, the representative of suffering and strug-
gling humanity, is to be redeemed and perfected by
union with Asia, who is the ideal of beauty, the light
of life, the spirit of love. To this spirit Shelley looked
to rid the world of all that is evil, and to bring in the
diviner day. The lyric poetry, which is exquisite
throughout, perhaps culminates in the song in which
Panthea, one of the nymphs, hails her sister Asia, as
' Life of Life ! thy lips enkindle
With their love the breath between them ;
And thy smiles, before they dwindle.
Make the cold air fire ; then screen them
In those looks, where whoso gazes
Faints, entangled in their mazes.
Child of Light ! thy limbs are burning
Through the vest which seems to hide them ;
As the radiant lines of morning
Through the clouds, ere they divide them ;
And this atmosphere divinest
Shrouds thee wheresoe'er thou shinest.
Lamp of Earth ! where'er thou movest,
The dim shapes are clad with brightness.
And the souls of whom thou lovest
Walk upon the winds with lightness,
Till they fail, as I am failing,
Dizzy, lost, yet unbewailing.'
The reply of Asia to this song is hardly less exquisite.
Every one will remember it : —
'My soul is an enchanted boat,
Which, like a sleeping swan, doth float