The superb power of will which he displayed is a lesson as valuable
as the noble poems which it illustrates and enforces."
Marsh Song -- At Sunset
Over the monstrous shambling sea, [1]
Over the Caliban sea,
Bright Ariel-cloud, thou lingerest:
Oh wait, oh wait, in the warm red West, --
Thy Prospero I'll be.
Over the humped and fishy sea,
Over the Caliban sea,
O cloud in the West, like a thought in the heart
Of pardon, loose thy wing, and start,
And do a grace for me.
Over the huge and huddling sea, [11]
Over the Caliban sea,
Bring hither my brother Antonio, -- Man, --
My injurer: night breaks the ban;
Brother, I pardon thee.
____
Baltimore, 1879-80.
Notes: Marsh Song -- At Sunset
At the first reading, no doubt, this song appears indistinct, though poetical.
On a second reading, however, with Shakespeare's `Tempest' fresh in mind,
it seems, as it is, highly artistic; and we wonder at the happy use
made of the Shakespearean characters: the gracious, forgiving Prospero,
the rightful Duke of Milan; Antonio, his usurping brother,
forgiven notwithstanding; Caliban, the savage, deformed, fish-like slave;
and Ariel, the ministering spirit of the air.
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