No More Learning

The artist who this idol wrought,
To echo all harmonious thought,
Felled a tree, while on the steep _45
The woods were in their winter sleep,
Rocked in that repose divine
On the wind-swept Apennine;
And dreaming, some of Autumn past,
And some of Spring approaching fast, _50
And some of April buds and showers,
And some of songs in July bowers,
And all of love; and so this tree,--
O that such our death may be! --
Died in sleep, and felt no pain, _55
To live in happier form again:
From which, beneath Heaven's fairest star,
The artist wrought this loved Guitar,
And taught it justly to reply,
To all who question skilfully, _60
In language gentle as thine own;
Whispering in enamoured tone
Sweet oracles of woods and dells,
And summer winds in sylvan cells;
For it had learned all harmonies _65
Of the plains and of the skies,
Of the forests and the mountains,
And the many-voiced fountains;
The clearest echoes of the hills,
The softest notes of falling rills, _70
The melodies of birds and bees,
The murmuring of summer seas,
And pattering rain, and breathing dew,
And airs of evening; and it knew
That seldom-heard mysterious sound, _75
Which, driven on its diurnal round,
As it floats through boundless day,
Our world enkindles on its way. --
All this it knows, but will not tell
To those who cannot question well _80
The Spirit that inhabits it;
It talks according to the wit
Of its companions; and no more
Is heard than has been felt before,
By those who tempt it to betray _85
These secrets of an elder day:
But, sweetly as its answers will
Flatter hands of perfect skill,
It keeps its highest, holiest tone
For our beloved Jane alone. _90

NOTES:
_12 Of more than ever]Of love that never 1833.
_46 woods Trelawny manuscript, 1839, 2nd edition;
winds 1832, 1833, 1839, 1st edition.
_58 this Trelawny manuscript, 1839, 2nd edition;
that 1832, 1833, 1839, 1st edition.
_61 thine own Trelawny manuscript, 1839, 2nd edition;
its own 1832, 1833, 1839, 1st edition.
_76 on Trelawny manuscript, 1839, 2nd edition;
in 1832, 1833, 1839, 1st edition.
_90 Jane Trelawny manuscript; friend 1832, 1833, editions 1839.

***


TO JANE: 'THE KEEN STARS WERE TWINKLING'.

[Published in part (lines 7-24) by Medwin (under the title, "An Ariette
for Music. To a Lady singing to her Accompaniment on the Guitar"), "The
Athenaeum", November 17, 1832; reprinted by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical
Works", 1839, 1st edition. Republished in full (under the title, To
--. ), "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition.
The Trelawny manuscript is
headed "To Jane". Mr. C. W. Frederickson of Brooklyn possesses a
transcript in an unknown hand. ]

1.
The keen stars were twinkling,
And the fair moon was rising among them,
Dear Jane!
The guitar was tinkling,
But the notes were not sweet till you sung them _5
Again.

2.
As the moon's soft splendour
O'er the faint cold starlight of Heaven
Is thrown,
So your voice most tender _10
To the strings without soul had then given
Its own.

3.
The stars will awaken,
Though the moon sleep a full hour later,
To-night; _15
No leaf will be shaken
Whilst the dews of your melody scatter
Delight.

4.
Though the sound overpowers,
Sing again, with your dear voice revealing _20
A tone
Of some world far from ours,
Where music and moonlight and feeling
Are one.

NOTES:
_3 Dear *** 1839, 2nd edition.
_7 soft]pale Fred.