ABSTRACT
Ode to Heaven was published as one of the Miscellaneous Poems in 1820. S.’s holograph fair copy is in Nbk 9 where it is written on the recto pages only of ff. 17r–20r, his fair copy of PU III ii 18–iii 34 occupying the verso pages. Mary's transcription in Harvard Nbk 1, which appears to be based on S.’s holograph, concludes with a place and date, ‘Florence—December 1819’; and she included the Ode among the poems written in that year in 1839. This notation may only record the date of her transcription, however, and MS evidence suggests a period of composition that began somewhat earlier. The poem was drafted in the reverse direction of Nbk 10, the entries written in that direction dating from about summer 1819 to spring 1820. The draft of the Ode occupies seven pages (ff. 42r rev.– 45r rev.) of the nbk which are entirely devoted to it and free of extraneous matter. The draft is immediately preceded by a series of excerpts in Gk from the Agamemnon of Aeschylus, interspersed with S.’s commentary, and followed by the draft of My lost William, thou in whom [To William Shelley] (no. 254). Aeschylus was a favourite author with whom S. was intimately engaged during the composition of PU (no. 195) from September 1818 to December 1819. In a letter to Hogg of 25 July 1819 (L ii 105) he mentions having read Aeschylus that Spring, and tells Peacock on 24 August that he is considering translating some Gk plays (L ii 115); while on 20 April 1820 (L ii 186) he says that he is reading the Agamemnon with Lady Mountcashell (Mrs. Mason). Within those limits a more precise date for the notes is difficult to fix with certainty, though a hypothesis can be advanced fairly confidently. In the reverse direction of Nbk 10 the draft for the Preface to The Cenci (no. 209) (mid-August) on ff. 7r rev.–18v rev. and a stanza of MA (no. 231) (mid-September) on f 21r rev. are followed by the satirical fragments A daughter, mother and a grandmother (no. 242) and Proteus Wordsworth, who shall bind thee? (no. 243) which were probably drafted after 15 October (see headnotes to these poems). To —— [Lines to a Reviewer] (no. 305), part of which is drafted on f. 28v rev., also appears to date from after 15 October, perhaps from as late as Spring 1820. The position of the notes to Agamemnon (ff. 38r rev.–41v rev.) would therefore seem to place their composition in October–November 1819. The draft of My lost William, thou in whom [To William Shelley] (ff. 45v rev.–46v rev.), which immediately follows that of the Ode to Heaven, seems to have been written about mid-November 1819: see headnote to no. 254. The Ode was therefore probably drafted before mid-November, because it is unlikely that the draft would fit more or less exactly (as it does) into a space left by S. for the purpose of continuing his notes on Agamemnon when he began the draft of My lost William. 176It is none the less possible that S. did not transcribe his fair copy in Nbk 9 until December, so that Mary's date in Harvard Nbk 1 could register the month of his transcription as well as hers.
