‘When the lamp is shattered’ [Lines]

Composed probably in late March or early April 1822. S.’s rough draft of When the lamp is shattered is in Nbk 18, pp. 159–157 reverso and 155–154 reverso (for a facsimile and transcription, see BSM xix 290–293 and 296–301), where it is interleaved with drafts for Fragments of an Unfinished Drama (Longman vi, no. 436) for which it was probably intended. There are two holograph fair copies, one in the University of Glasgow Library (MS. Gen. 505/34; G) and one in the British Library (Add MS 37232, f. 75; BL), both of which are reproduced in facsimile with transcriptions alongside in MYRS viii 417–432. There is also a transcription in Mary Copybk 1 pp. 1 and 3–4. A version of the poem, in rearranged order and with some lines omitted, was published in Medwin’s Ahasuerus the Wanderer (1823) pp. 96–97 (A; see headnote to To Jane. The invitation).