274
THE STAR IN THE WEST
For the old gods indeed
go down to death ,
But the new gods arise from
rottenness
. 1
2
The
pantheistic
idea , which
is so near akin
to the
agnostic , we find set in the fine
prayer of
Jephthah ,
and still more
so in the final words of Tannhäuser
:
I say , then
“
I ”; and yet it is not
“ I ”
Distinct , but
“ I " incorporate
in All.3
It further finds development
in
the last four lines of
“ Ode to Poesy ”:
No man,
No petty
god , but One who governs
all
,
Slips the sun's
leash
,
perceives the sparrow's fall
,
Too high for me
to
fear
,
too near for man
to
call
.*
And arrives
at
full manhood
in
such fine lines as the
following
:
God
is
the Complex
as
the Protoplast
:
He
is
the First
(
not
“
was
"),
and
is
the Last
.
(
Not
“
will be
")
...
6
God slips you
,
He
is
Undefinable
.
Not good
!
Not wise
!
Not anything
at
all
.6
Isis am
I,
and from my life are fed
All stars and
suns
,
all
moons
that wax and wane
,
Create and uncreate
,
living and
dead
,
The mystery
of
Pain
.
I
am the Mother
,I
the silent
Sea
,
The Earth
,
its travail
,
its
fertility
.
Life
,
death
,
love
,
hatred
,
light
,
darkness
,
return
to
me
To Me
!?
2 1
The Fatal Force
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
143
.
Jephthah
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
78
.
3
Tannhäuser
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
261
.
4
Mysteries
:
Lyrical
and Dramatic
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
115
.
5
Tannhäuser
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
226
.
8
Ibid
.
vol
.I,
p
.
258
.
?
Ibid
.
vol
.i,
p
.
262
.