John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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and stupidity. Lord Byron, one of his greatest contemporaries as well as one ot his greatest friends, called him the most gentle, the most amiable, least worldly person l ever met. The lovely epic, Alastor, tells of a young poet caught in the throes of the pitiless world. ln many ways this great work is a mirror of Shel- ley's own aspiring and melancholy spirit. ln his longest poem, The Revolt of lslam, he pictures the lib- eration of the world from tyranny through the love and martyrdom of a high souled young man and woman. In America he sees a hope that the People mighty in its youth will come and release her mother country, England, from the despots who now oppress her. There are lit- erally dozens ot poems like these, notably The Triumph ot Love, Swellfoot the Tyrant, Hellas, The Cinci, and The Witch of Atlas, all of them demanding and tighting for the downfall of tyranny. But it is his greatest work Prome- thius Unbound, which portrays the victory of Shelley's ideals more vivid- ly than any other. lt shows how the forces of good linked with intelligence and brute force, will one day over- throw all the terrible forces of tyranny. This work is without a doubt his most elaborate and pictorial composition. 'tBut see, where through the azure chasm Of yon forked and snowy hill, Trampling the slant and winds on high With golden-sandalled feet, that glow Under plumes ot purple dyes, Like Rose-ensannguined ivory, A shape comes now Stretching on high from his right hand A serpent-cinctured wand. These lines Cspoken by lonel de- scribe the coming of Mercury, and is but one of many of the dazzling descriptions which pack this over- powering work. ln Promethius Un- bound Shelley's heart spoke, as it had never spoken before. Shelley's shorter poems are much too popular to be overlooked here. ln them is found proof of his great love for the beauty of the earth about him. Excellent examples and among the most popular are The Cloud, Ode to a Skylark, Euganean Hills, To Night, and Indian Serenade. The story of Shelley's death has now become a legend. On Iuly 18, 1822, his body was found on the shores of the beach of Lerici, ltaly, his last home. He had drowned while engaging in his favorite pastime, boating. His body was placed on a funeral pyre, built on the beach, and there cremated. In the midst of the flames his heart was snatched from his body. The scene was viewed by the poets, Lord Byron and Liegh Hunt, and a sailor friend named Tre- lawney, from whom the true descrip- tion ot Shelley's end comes. Hunt describes the day as being bright and lovely and the sea placidly beautiful. And thus ended the life of this great poet, dead at only thirty years old. Adonais, an elegy on the death of Iohn Keats, another of his great contemporaries, ends with this strange prophecy of his own fate a year later: My spirit's bark is driven Far from A the shore, far from the trembling throng Whose sails were never to the tempest given . . . l am borne darkly, fearfully, afar: Whilst burning through the inmost veil of heaven, The soul of Adonais, like a star, Beacons from the avode where the Eternal are. 24

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Shrine of the dawning speech and thought Of Shelley, sacred To all who bow where time has brought Gifts to Eternity. THIS INSCRIPTION stands over the fireplace in a small southwestern room of an old-fashioned country house called Field Place, in Sussex, England. Here Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on Ailgust 4, 1782, the eldest of six children of Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley. This family bred for genera- tions in propertied conservatism, and rejoicing in a baronetcy, was the last from which such a poet was to be expected. But from it he did come, and by his genius, a name that would have undoubtedly passed into ob- livion, has lived for over a hundred years in highest esteem. Yes, this man Shelley was a genius! A genius gifted in the art of combining beau- tiful words with beautiful thoughts, so gifted that his name will invariably live for as long as man has the ability to read and understand, and love his work. A genius because he climbed the arduous steps of the Tower of Immortality in the brief space of thirty years, and reached the very zenith of poetic achievement. At least two false conceptions of Shelley's character have survived him. According to one, now happily out- lived, he was a dangerous enemy of all religion, order and morals, and the other, in the words of the famed poet-critic Matthew Arnold, a beau- tiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain. The real Shelley does not come close to either of these conceptions-he was a man with a tender and open heart, generous to all who he believed de- served generosity, quick in his actions. He was of incorruptible morals, and was greatly agitated at man's greed 23 SHWIHD SHWYI I-ll

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7ewuumameumZ Murfb um mud uf .rlae could be Aizd .fbe buffed und puffed with rage. W' bile Moy jllfl' .rbook ber finger Arid mid. Now ur! your age. For April wily ez problem cbild U7bo jiouled uud ucted uuiu Arid zwbeir tbey uuuzted .rumzy Jkiex, Sbe'd .Hurt right itz to ruin. Gentle julie um quite dirturbed - Arid elucked ber tongue uizd Jigbed july und Auguxt looked fzerturbed, Still, April cried und fried. Tlren quickly und ufitbout u 'word Sbe .rr11iled, uud tbe .ruu .fbozze bright, Atzd Ibeiz ,rbe .flgllfflb u gentle breeze And euerylbiug -wuy rigbu PATRICIA LYNCH 25 Wmdm Look utntbe world about youg Tuke itz ull ibut you .reef Leuru to appreciate tbe beuuty of life Muruel ut tbe deep blue .fed Gaze ull you want ut tbe uzouutuiizsg Tuke more tbuu u glurzce ut tbe brook Arid dou't let urzyoue fool you, Not euerytbiug'5 leurrzed in u book. Doift let tbe izigbt be friglaterzirzg: juJt tbiuk of tbe .vturf us your frieudf, Arid you'll get ulorzg, fwitbout need of iz song To ebeer you up irz tbe end. NEIL DOYLE I