Proserpine and Midas (4 page)

Perhaps we have said too much to introduce these two little unpretending poetical dramas. They might indeed have been allowed to speak for themselves. A new frame often makes a new face; and some of the best known and most exquisite of Shelley's lyrics, when restored to the surroundings for which the poet intended them, needed no other set-off to appeal to the reader with a fresh charm of quiet classical grace and beauty. But the charm will operate all the more unfailingly, if we remember that this clear classical mood was by no means such a common element in the literary atmosphere of the times--not even a permanent element in the authors' lives. We have here none of the feverish ecstasy that lifts
Prometheus
and
Hellas
far above the ordinary range of philosophical or political poetry. But Shelley's encouragement, probably his guidance and supervision, have raised his wife's inspiration to a place considerably higher than that of
Frankenstein
or
Valperga
. With all their faults these pages reflect some of that irradiation which Shelley cast around his own life--the irradiation of a dream beauteous and generous, beauteous in its theology (or its substitute for theology) and generous even in its satire of human weaknesses.

MYTHOLOGICAL DRAMAS.

Unless otherwise pointed out--by brackets, or in the notes--the text, spelling, and punctuation of the MS. have been strictly adhered to.

PROSERPINE.

A DRAMA IN TWO ACTS.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

CERES. PROSERPINE. INO, EUNOE. Nymphs attendant upon Proserpine. IRIS. ARETHUSA, Naiad of a Spring.

Shades from Hell, among which Ascalaphus.

Scene; the plain of Enna, in Sicily.

PROSERPINE.

ACT I.

_Scene; a beautiful plain, shadowed on one side by an overhanging rock, on the other a chesnut wood. Etna at a distance._

Enter Ceres, Proserpine, Ino and Eunoe.

Pros.
Dear Mother, leave me not! I love to rest Under the shadow of that hanging cave And listen to your tales. Your Proserpine Entreats you stay; sit on this shady bank, And as I twine a wreathe tell once again The combat of the Titans and the Gods; Or how the Python fell beneath the dart Of dread Apollo; or of Daphne's change,-- That coyest Grecian maid, whose pointed leaves Now shade her lover's brow. And I the while Gathering the starry flowers of this fair plain Will weave a chaplet, Mother, for thy hair. But without thee, the plain I think is vacant, Its [Footnote: There is an apostrophe
on
the s.] blossoms fade,--its tall fresh grasses droop, Nodding their heads like dull things half asleep;-- Go not, dear Mother, from your Proserpine.

Cer.
My lovely child, it is high Jove's command:-- [2] The golden self-moved seats surround his throne, The nectar is poured out by Ganymede, And the ambrosia fills the golden baskets; They drink, for Bacchus is already there, But none will eat till I dispense the food. I must away--dear Proserpine, farewel!-- Eunoe can tell thee how the giants fell; Or dark-eyed Ino sing the saddest change Of Syrinx or of Daphne, or the doom Of impious Prometheus, and the boy Of fair Pandora, Mother of mankind. This only charge I leave thee and thy nymphs,-- Depart not from each other; be thou circled By that fair guard, and then no earth-born Power Would tempt my wrath, and steal thee from their sight[.] But wandering alone, by feint or force, You might be lost, and I might never know Thy hapless fate. Farewel, sweet daughter mine, Remember my commands.

Pros.
--Mother, farewel! Climb the bright sky with rapid wings; and swift As a beam shot from great Apollo's bow Rebounds from the calm mirror of the sea Back to his quiver in the Sun, do thou Return again to thy loved Proserpine.

(
Exit Ceres.
)

And now, dear Nymphs, while the hot sun is high [3] Darting his influence right upon the plain, Let us all sit beneath the narrow shade That noontide Etna casts.--And, Ino, sweet, Come hither; and while idling thus we rest, Repeat in verses sweet the tale which says How great Prometheus from Apollo's car Stole heaven's fire--a God-like gift for Man! Or the more pleasing tale of Aphrodite; How she arose from the salt Ocean's foam, And sailing in her pearly shell, arrived On Cyprus sunny shore, where myrtles [Footnote: MS.
mytles.
] bloomed And sweetest flowers, to welcome Beauty's Queen; And ready harnessed on the golden sands Stood milk-white doves linked to a sea-shell car, With which she scaled the heavens, and took her seat Among the admiring Gods.

Eun.
Proserpine's tale Is sweeter far than Ino's sweetest aong.

Pros.
Ino, you knew erewhile a River-God, Who loved you well and did you oft entice To his transparent waves and flower-strewn banks. He loved high poesy and wove sweet sounds, And would sing to you as you sat reclined On the fresh grass beside his shady cave, From which clear waters bubbled, dancing forth, And spreading freshness in the noontide air. [4] When you returned you would enchant our ears With tales and songs which did entice the fauns, [Footnote: MS.
fawns
] With Pan their King from their green haunts, to hear. Tell me one now, for like the God himself, Tender they were and fanciful, and wrapt The hearer in sweet dreams of shady groves, Blue skies, and clearest, pebble-paved streams.

Ino.
I will repeat the tale which most I loved; Which tells how lily-crowned Arethusa, Your favourite Nymph, quitted her native Greece, Flying the liquid God Alpheus, who followed, Cleaving the desarts of the pathless deep, And rose in Sicily, where now she flows The clearest spring of Enna's gifted plain.

[Sidenote: By Shelley [Footnote: Inserted in a later hand, here as p. 18.] ] Arethusa arose From her couch of snows, In the Acroceraunian mountains,-- From cloud, and from crag, With many a jag, Shepherding her bright fountains. She leapt down the rocks With her rainbow locks, Streaming among the streams,-- Her steps paved with green [5] The downward ravine, Which slopes to the Western gleams:-- And gliding and springing, She went, ever singing In murmurs as soft as sleep; The Earth seemed to love her And Heaven smiled above her, As she lingered towards the deep.

Then Alpheus bold On his glacier cold, With his trident the mountains strook; And opened a chasm In the rocks;--with the spasm All Erymanthus shook. And the black south wind It unsealed behind The urns of the silent snow, And earthquake and thunder Did rend in sunder The bars of the springs below:-- And the beard and the hair Of the river God were Seen through the torrent's sweep As he followed the light [6] Of the fleet nymph's flight To the brink of the Dorian deep.

Oh, save me! oh, guide me! And bid the deep hide me, For he grasps me now by the hair! The loud ocean heard, To its blue depth stirred, And divided at her prayer[,] And under the water The Earth's white daughter Fled like a sunny beam, Behind her descended Her billows unblended With the brackish Dorian stream:-- Like a gloomy stain On the Emerald main Alpheus rushed behind, As an eagle pursueing A dove to its ruin, Down the streams of the cloudy wind.

Under the bowers [7] Where the Ocean Powers Sit on their pearled thrones, Through the coral woods Of the weltering floods, Over heaps of unvalued stones; Through the dim beams, Which amid the streams Weave a network of coloured light, And under the caves, Where the shadowy waves Are as green as the forest's [Footnote: The intended place of the apostrophe is not clear.] night:-- Outspeeding the shark, And the sword fish dark, Under the Ocean foam, [Footnote: MS.
Ocean' foam
as if a genitive was meant; but cf.
Ocean foam
in the Song of Apollo (
Midas
).] And up through the rifts Of the mountain clifts, They passed to their Dorian Home.

And now from their fountains In Enna's mountains, Down one vale where the morning basks, Like friends once parted, Grown single hearted They ply their watery tasks. At sunrise they leap [8] From their cradles steep In the cave of the shelving hill[,--] At noontide they flow Through the woods below And the meadows of asphodel,-- And at night they sleep In the rocking deep Beneath the Ortygian shore;-- Like spirits that lie In the azure sky, When they love, but live no more.

Pros.
Thanks, Ino dear, you have beguiled an hour With poesy that might make pause to list The nightingale in her sweet evening song. But now no more of ease and idleness, The sun stoops to the west, and Enna's plain Is overshadowed by the growing form Of giant Etna:--Nymphs, let us arise, And cull the sweetest flowers of the field, And with swift fingers twine a blooming wreathe For my dear Mother's rich and waving hair.

Eunoe.
Violets blue and white anemonies Bloom on the plain,--but I will climb the brow [9] Of that o'erhanging hill, to gather thence That loveliest rose, it will adorn thy crown; Ino, guard Proserpine till my return.

(
Exit.
)

Ino.
How lovely is this plain!--Nor Grecian vale, Nor bright Ausonia's ilex bearing shores, The myrtle bowers of Aphrodite's sweet isle, Or Naxos burthened with the luscious vine, Can boast such fertile or such verdant fields As these, which young Spring sprinkles with her stars;-- Nor Crete which boasts fair Amalthea's horn Can be compared with the bright golden [Footnote: MS.
the bright gold fields.
] fields Of Ceres, Queen of plenteous Sicily.

Pros.
Sweet Ino, well I know the love you bear My dearest Mother prompts your partial voice, And that love makes you doubly dear to me. But you are idling,--look[,] my lap is full Of sweetest flowers;--haste to gather more, That before sunset we may make our crown. Last night as we strayed through that glade, methought The wind that swept my cheek bore on its wings The scent of fragrant violets, hid Beneath the straggling underwood; Haste, sweet, To gather them; fear not--I will not stray.

Ino.
Nor fear that I shall loiter in my task.

(
Exit.
)

[Sidenote: (By Shelley.)]
Pros.
(
sings as she gathers her flowers.
) [10] Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth, Thou from whose immortal bosom Gods, and men, and beasts have birth, Leaf, and blade, and bud, and blossom, Breathe thine influence most divine On thine own child Proserpine.

If with mists of evening dew Thou dost nourish these young flowers Till they grow in scent and hue Fairest children of the hours[,] Breathe thine influence most divine On thine own child Proserpine.

(
she looks around.
)

My nymphs have left me, neglecting the commands Of my dear Mother. Where can they have strayed? Her caution makes me fear to be alone;-- I'll pass that yawning cave and seek the spring Of Arethuse, where water-lilies bloom Perhaps the nymph now wakes tending her waves, She loves me well and oft desires my stay,-- The lilies shall adorn my mother's crown. [11]

(
Exit.
)

(
After a pause enter Eunoe.
)

Eun.
I've won my prize! look at this fragrant rose! But where is Proserpine? Ino has strayed Too far I fear, and she will be fatigued, As I am now, by my long toilsome search.

Enter Ino.

Oh! you here, Wanderer! Where is Proserpine?

Ino.
My lap's heaped up with sweets; dear Proserpine, You will not chide me now for idleness;-- Look here are all the treasures of the field,-- First these fresh violets, which crouched beneath A mossy rock, playing at hide and seek With both the sight and sense through the high fern; Star-eyed narcissi & the drooping bells Of hyacinths; and purple polianthus, Delightful flowers are these; but where is she, The loveliest of them all, our Mistress dear?

Eun.
I know not, even now I left her here, Guarded by you, oh Ino, while I climbed Up yonder steep for this most worthless rose:-- Know you not where she is? Did you forget Ceres' behest, and thus forsake her child?

Ino.
Chide not, unkind Eunoe, I but went Down that dark glade, where underneath the shade [12] [Footnote: MS. pages numbered 11, 12, &c., to the end instead of 12, 13, &c.] Of those high trees the sweetest violets grow,-- I went at her command. Alas! Alas! My heart sinks down; I dread she may be lost;-- Eunoe, climb the hill, search that ravine, Whose close, dark sides may hide her from our view:-- Oh, dearest, haste! Is that her snow-white robe?

Eun.
No;--'tis a faun [Footnote: MS.
fawn.
] beside its sleeping Mother, Browsing the grass;--what will thy Mother say, Dear Proserpine, what will bright Ceres feel, If her return be welcomed not by thee?

Ino.
These are wild thoughts,--& we are wrong to fear That any ill can touch the child of heaven; She is not lost,--trust me, she has but strayed Up some steep mountain path, or in yon dell, Or to the rock where yellow wall-flowers grow, Scaling with venturous step the narrow path Which the goats fear to tread;--she will return And mock our fears.

Eun.
The sun now dips his beams In the bright sea; Ceres descends at eve From Jove's high conclave; if her much-loved child Should meet her not in yonder golden field, Where to the evening wind the ripe grain waves Its yellow head, how will her heart misgive. [13] Let us adjure the Naiad of yon brook[,] She may perchance have seen our Proserpine, And tell us to what distant field she's strayed:-- Wait thou, dear Ino, here, while I repair To the tree-shaded source of her swift stream.

(
Exit Eunoe.
)

Ino.
Why does my heart misgive? & scalding tears, That should but mourn, now prophecy her loss? Oh, Proserpine! Where'er your luckless fate Has hurried you,--to wastes of desart sand, Or black Cymmerian cave, or dread Hell, Yet Ino still will follow! Look where Eunoe Comes, with down cast eyes and faltering steps, I fear the worst;--

Re-enter Eunoe.

Has she not then been seen?

Eun.
Alas, all hope is vanished! Hymera says She slept the livelong day while the hot beams Of Phoebus drank her waves;--nor did she wake Until her reed-crowned head was wet with dew;-- If she had passed her grot she slept the while.

Ino.
Alas! Alas! I see the golden car, And hear the flapping of the dragons wings, Ceres descends to Earth. I dare not stay, I dare not meet the sorrow of her look[,] The angry glance of her severest eyes. [14]