musicalchemy432.wordpress.com article
I found Percy Bysshe Shelley's epic "Poem of Mab, Queen of the Faeries" on a scribd site for editors, a translation. Along with the poem I found the associated commentary. The poem is lengthy and I am practicing the phrasing in order to recite it in an audio/video recording I plan to upload on my youtube channel. I printed out the text of the poem double columns per page single space. It came out to 22 pages. As I have been making my way through it, I have had to stop at least once per page and using my French-English and old Webster's Dictionaries, try to figure out what these ancient usages originally meant. Basically, I'm on page 5 and have been working on it for at least 3 weeks! This is definitely taking longer than I anticipated. I am learning a lot, however, and the things I am learning are so profound, who woulda thought? I certainly didn't know I would discover what a human soul is, what wealth is, what a monarch really is, where penury aka destitution comes from and so on. The names that have emerged as well, they are historical in some context and for me to understand what I am saying, I have to dig into the etymology (my favorite topic!) joyfully and get to know some interesting characters. One of them popped up while I was skimming to the end of the document (finally) just to see what was upcoming. The name Ahasuerus was introduced when Queen Mab, who is called "Fairy" is asked by the spirit of Ianthe, called "Spirit" if there is a God. Fairy's response is to summon Ahasuerus to the stage so Spirit can ask him that question. He is described by Fairy as such:
An awful grace to his all-speaking brow."
I really can't reference any more here, this is just one stanza so you can see I have my work cut out for me. The following comments are but a fraction of what is published since this poem was one of many during the early 1800's that was brought forth from earlier ancient works about the subject. What is the subject? The Wandering Jew, of course, penned by Moncure Daniel Conway. Verbose as they are, Jews have a lot to say. Here is but one version of a myth that I suspect, from my other research, is really about a North American Indian. But, that's another story.
'Ahasuerus the Jew crept forth from the dark cave of Mount Carmel. Near two thousand years have elapsed since he was first goaded by never-ending restlessness to rove the globe from pole to pole. When our Lord was wearied with the burthen of His ponderous cross, and wanted to rest before the door of Ahasuerus, the unfeeling wretch drove Him away with brutality. The Saviour of mankind staggered, sinking under the heavy load, but uttered no complaint. An angel of death appeared before Ahasuerus, and exclaimed indignantly, "Barbarian! thou hast denied rest to the Son of man: be it denied thee also, until He comes to judge the world."
I found Percy Bysshe Shelley's epic "Poem of Mab, Queen of the Faeries" on a scribd site for editors, a translation. Along with the poem I found the associated commentary. The poem is lengthy and I am practicing the phrasing in order to recite it in an audio/video recording I plan to upload on my youtube channel. I printed out the text of the poem double columns per page single space. It came out to 22 pages. As I have been making my way through it, I have had to stop at least once per page and using my French-English and old Webster's Dictionaries, try to figure out what these ancient usages originally meant. Basically, I'm on page 5 and have been working on it for at least 3 weeks! This is definitely taking longer than I anticipated. I am learning a lot, however, and the things I am learning are so profound, who woulda thought? I certainly didn't know I would discover what a human soul is, what wealth is, what a monarch really is, where penury aka destitution comes from and so on. The names that have emerged as well, they are historical in some context and for me to understand what I am saying, I have to dig into the etymology (my favorite topic!) joyfully and get to know some interesting characters. One of them popped up while I was skimming to the end of the document (finally) just to see what was upcoming. The name Ahasuerus was introduced when Queen Mab, who is called "Fairy" is asked by the spirit of Ianthe, called "Spirit" if there is a God. Fairy's response is to summon Ahasuerus to the stage so Spirit can ask him that question. He is described by Fairy as such: