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Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley: 1814-1817
Translations and poems by Shelley which span his career are supplemented by notes on the texts and content of his verses
452 pages, Hardcover
Published September 28, 1975
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About the author
Percy Bysshe Shelley
1,614 books1,392 followersWorks of Percy Bysshe Shelley, British romantic poet, include "To a Skylark" in 1820;
Prometheus Unbound
, the lyric drama; and "Adonais," an elegy of 1821 to John Keats.
The Cenci , work of art or literature of Percy Bysshe Shelley of 1819, depicts Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman.
People widely consider Percy Bysshe Shelley among the finest majors of the English language. He is perhaps most famous for such anthology pieces as Ozymandias , Ode to the West Wind , and The Masque of Anarchy . His major long visionary Alastor , The Revolt of Islam , and the unfinished The Triumph of Life .
Unconventional life and uncompromising idealism of Percy Bysshe Shelley combined with his strong skeptical voice to make an authoritative and much denigrated figure during his life. He became the idol of the next two or three generations, the major Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, as well as William Butler Yeats and in other languages, such as Jibanananda Das and Subramanya Bharathy . Karl Marx, Henry Stephens Salt, and [authorm:Bertrand Russell] also admired him. Famous for his association with his contemporaries Lord Byron, he also married Mary Shelley, novelist.
The Cenci , work of art or literature of Percy Bysshe Shelley of 1819, depicts Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman.
People widely consider Percy Bysshe Shelley among the finest majors of the English language. He is perhaps most famous for such anthology pieces as Ozymandias , Ode to the West Wind , and The Masque of Anarchy . His major long visionary Alastor , The Revolt of Islam , and the unfinished The Triumph of Life .
Unconventional life and uncompromising idealism of Percy Bysshe Shelley combined with his strong skeptical voice to make an authoritative and much denigrated figure during his life. He became the idol of the next two or three generations, the major Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, as well as William Butler Yeats and in other languages, such as Jibanananda Das and Subramanya Bharathy . Karl Marx, Henry Stephens Salt, and [authorm:Bertrand Russell] also admired him. Famous for his association with his contemporaries Lord Byron, he also married Mary Shelley, novelist.
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November 13, 2022I'm doing a deep dive on Percy Shelley this year and so had to acquaint myself with a few of his longer poems.
'Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude' was the most worthwhile.
Shelley begins with an explanation of his 'allegory' on a young Poet exploring a landscape within a mythical dream like journey of universal contemplation. The poem is quite auto-biographical at least in the spirit of how Shelley hoped to see himself and be seen by others: a suffering genius yearning for an innocence and purity of worldly circumstance that suits a feeling mind. This poem personifies his self and his poetics. It is everything over-the-top good about Shelley's writing. The writing propels itself forward, absolutely breathless, kinda cringey, struggling against madness and joy, a winding and chaotic trumpet call of ideals trying to fit into the natural order of the universe. It is so, SO over the top, but honest and brave in a very naive kind of way that I found engaging and endearing.
When you read it now, the style might seem cliché at times to readers today. Shelley was inventing that cliché and if you suspend your disbelief, it is quite moving. I highly recommend this poem.
And then, his really, really long poem, Laon and Cythna (often referred to by its 2nd ed. title 'The Revolt of Islam').
Boy. When you think of the societal boxes Shelley was trying to get out of in this work, it is so exciting!
He hoped to write for a general audience (according to Mary Shelley's notes). He hoped to move forward his agenda on atheism against the power of the church (despite great literal danger of incarceration and persecution). He explored his interest in open relationships and a non-theistic marriage outside of the church. Other topics include his desire for government driven by the mandate of the masses contrasted with the French Revolution and the creation of colonial America. It is pretty exciting in bullet point form. The implications made it clear why the text would be censored and banned in his lifetime.
However, reading it--ouch! I don't think anyone would finish this poem today without a scholarly interest. I had to grip my chair as my eyes glazed over.
It is 4500+ lines of heavy handed political experimentation.
Shelley talks way down to his audience through his orientalist fairy tale, which he hoped would help his ideals be understood.
You can read it and sift through the verbiage to get at the political significance. This is the reason this poem is 'important'. What Shelley tried to do and the time period he wrote in were quite extraordinary attempts at societal achievement. Put differently? A bunch of cans clanking behind a car with a 'Noble Effort' bumper sticker, bumbling along a 15 year road-trip to nowhere.
It is not a good poem even by Shelley's own standards. There is so much not good to get through just to be able to talk about it. This one aged me as I read it. I'm going for a walk...
'Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude' was the most worthwhile.
Shelley begins with an explanation of his 'allegory' on a young Poet exploring a landscape within a mythical dream like journey of universal contemplation. The poem is quite auto-biographical at least in the spirit of how Shelley hoped to see himself and be seen by others: a suffering genius yearning for an innocence and purity of worldly circumstance that suits a feeling mind. This poem personifies his self and his poetics. It is everything over-the-top good about Shelley's writing. The writing propels itself forward, absolutely breathless, kinda cringey, struggling against madness and joy, a winding and chaotic trumpet call of ideals trying to fit into the natural order of the universe. It is so, SO over the top, but honest and brave in a very naive kind of way that I found engaging and endearing.
When you read it now, the style might seem cliché at times to readers today. Shelley was inventing that cliché and if you suspend your disbelief, it is quite moving. I highly recommend this poem.
And then, his really, really long poem, Laon and Cythna (often referred to by its 2nd ed. title 'The Revolt of Islam').
Boy. When you think of the societal boxes Shelley was trying to get out of in this work, it is so exciting!
He hoped to write for a general audience (according to Mary Shelley's notes). He hoped to move forward his agenda on atheism against the power of the church (despite great literal danger of incarceration and persecution). He explored his interest in open relationships and a non-theistic marriage outside of the church. Other topics include his desire for government driven by the mandate of the masses contrasted with the French Revolution and the creation of colonial America. It is pretty exciting in bullet point form. The implications made it clear why the text would be censored and banned in his lifetime.
However, reading it--ouch! I don't think anyone would finish this poem today without a scholarly interest. I had to grip my chair as my eyes glazed over.
It is 4500+ lines of heavy handed political experimentation.
Shelley talks way down to his audience through his orientalist fairy tale, which he hoped would help his ideals be understood.
You can read it and sift through the verbiage to get at the political significance. This is the reason this poem is 'important'. What Shelley tried to do and the time period he wrote in were quite extraordinary attempts at societal achievement. Put differently? A bunch of cans clanking behind a car with a 'Noble Effort' bumper sticker, bumbling along a 15 year road-trip to nowhere.
It is not a good poem even by Shelley's own standards. There is so much not good to get through just to be able to talk about it. This one aged me as I read it. I'm going for a walk...
May 28, 2009
This is not the same edition of Shelley's work that I have, but my edition also has his complete collected works, as well as some of his essays. Shelley is a great poet, probably my favorite, to read if you want to understand how the rhythm and sound of poetry actually works. His style and technique also varies. He wrote a few epic poems, including Prometheus Unbound, and shorter, formal lines. He wrote brillant love poems and also crafed lines with feminist and anarchistic undertones. Pretty bold for his day!
April 6, 2021
Honestly thought most of it was kinda "meh."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews