‘Adonais’, one of the finest poems ever penned by a poet, is classical, firstly, in its pastoral character. In writing it Shelley made use of two ancient Greek poems in the pastoral tradition of Theocritus. The first is the ‘Elegy of Adonis’ written by Bion, a pastoral poet, who was an imitator of Theocritus.
Shelley at times duplicates Bion's lament for Adonis meticulously, predominantly in the opening.
The second Greek poem is the ‘Elegy for Bion’, written by Moschus, who had been a pupil of Bion. In this elegy, Bion is alleged to have been cruelly poisoned by an unknown hand.
The form of Shelley's poem is thus the pastoral elegy which began with Bion's Lament for Adonis and Moschus's Lament for Bion, Greek poems of the 1st and 2nd century B.C. respectively. Spenser's lament for Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophel, and Milton's lament for Edward King, Lycidas, continue this custom of pastoral elegy which culminates in Shelley's Adonais.
Shelley's imaginings and metaphors in Adonais is both opulent as wqell as varied. We not only have here nonconcrete and otherworldly images so representative of Shelley's poetic mastermind, but also discover several concrete and tangible images. Some of the images are brilliantly colourful and opulent.
More than most his greatest verses, finest poems, Shelley's imagery here gives evidence of his fertile and winged imagination.
The poem contains one of the most illustrious images in all of Shelley's poetry. We are told that the ‘Divine Spirit’ is eternal, while the individual human lives are transitory:
"The One remains, the many change and pass".
The image which has become impartially prominent in all od Shelley’s canon is:
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments……….
This image has been called the best concise expression of Platonism in English verse.
While we live, Life with its diversity of momentary arrangements incompletely hides the static directness of Eternity, just as a coloured glass roof above our heads partially covers the vivacity, of the sky. Death is the devastating of the roof, which eliminates the illusory presence and shows us the sky as it really is.
The general imagery of this poem, then, is wide-ranging. Shelley explores folklore, antiquity, memoire, the Bible, Platonic thinking, and pantheistic principles so as to find imageries which would best define his thoughts and feelings.
The poet’s imagination travels from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth, and on earth from England to Italy, in search of material for his metaphors. Especially, the imagery of Nature makes a rich contribution to the entire conclusion of the poem.
It is dazzling. Read it at least once in your lifetime guys!!