PB Shelley (1792-1822) belonged to the Second generation of the Romantic Age. He became a key member of a close knitted circle of visionary poets and writers that included Lord Byron, John Keats, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Peacock and his second wife, Mary Shelley. He is known for classic poems such as “Ozymandias”, “Ode to the West Wind” , “The Cloud’ and others. He wrote a verse drama “The Cenci” and philosophical poems such as “Queen Mab”, ‘Alastor”, “Adonais” , “Prometheus Unbound” and his final unfinished work “The Triumph of Life”.
Shelley’s writing feature the prospects of mysticism. He explores the realm of inexistent beings rationally and its manifestation on human mind. “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” shows the shadow of “unseen power” which moves and “floats though unseen among us” manifests upon the physical object of nature. He calls it as a ‘Spirit of Beauty” which he further adds that it’s manifestation on human mind can make any individual omnipotent and extremely powerful.
One of the important aspects of Shelley’s writing was the treatment with satire. His satire is directed against the political tyranny and rulers. “Ozymandias” is a classic poem and a sonnet with the ironical message of the temporal physical power that decays with time. Shelley mocks at the tyranny of king Ozymandias whose political power could not hold its dominion for a long period of time but is surrounded with “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay”.
Shelley’s imagination is different from other Romantics. The faculty of imagination is expressed as closely resemble to the divine. Shelley in his essay “A Defence of Poetry” argue that the poet is the creator and his creative process are almost close to divine. In “Adonais“, he compares the “mind” or the creativity of John keats to “A godlike mind soars forth, in its delight”. However, he amalgamates between facts and nature to give his creative imagination. “Ode to a Skylark” shows the amalgamation by bringing forth the atmospheric refraction of light in parallel comparison to the moon diminishing during the day once “white dawn clear” and likewise the physical appearance of the skylark gets blurred as the sun sets down which is due to the atmospheric refraction of light.
Shelley was a revolutionary poet and derives much influences from the French Revolution. The French Revolution destroyed the old setup of order and brought a new order to the society. “Ode to the West Wind” shows the destruction of old ideas to emerge a seed of new ideas. He compares old ideas to “leaves dead” and pleads the West Wind to drive away “like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing”. He talks about the emergence of new ideas where “the winged seeds” are preserved like a “corpse” until “the spring shall blow” resulting of the harbingers of change.
“Ode to the West Wind” sprouts a Romantic elements of subjectivity. Shelley was a victim of mob torment and a bully. He addresses his own personal emotions in the statement ” A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed” him and “I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed”. These lines suggest the sufferings and pains he went through in his own life and pleads the West Wind to use him as a “lyre” and swept away his old self to a new life stating “be thou me,/Impetuous one!”.
Lastly, Shelley exhibited Hellenistic writing in his poems. “Adonais” is a poem of fifty five Spenserian stanzas and a clear imitation of Theocritus and Moschus pastoral tradition. It is an elegy written in commemoration for Keats and Adonais is a representation of Keats in the poem. Adonais is dead as the wild boar killed him while he was hunting and the wild boar is the representation of the critics especially the reviews who criticized Keats poetry. He tries to suggest that the career of Keats is killed by the critics and hence the hellenistic elements are revolutionary in its approaches and filled with subjective spontaneity of poet’s own emotion.
Shelley Adonais as a Pastoral Elegy
Hymn to Intellectual Beauty as a Romantic Poem
Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind as a Romantic Poem
Pb shelley was a romantic age poet