1 / 8

Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Poet of Transience and Nature's Power

Explore the life and works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, a renowned poet of the Romantic era. From his turbulent relationships to his profound poetry reflecting themes of transience, nature's power, and the sublime. Discover the legacy of this influential literary figure.

shasta
Download Presentation

Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Poet of Transience and Nature's Power

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Percy Bysshe Shelley1792-1822

  2. Born into an aristocratic family • 1810: Accepted into Oxford College • 1811: Expelled for publishing The Necessity of Atheism • 1813: Published an atheistic poem, “Queen Mab”

  3. Eloped with 16-year old Harriet Westbrook • 1814: Met Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and traveled abroad with her and her stepsister, Claire Clairmont • 1816: Harriet drowned herself, Shelley married Mary, and their son William was born (busy year). Byron, a friend, had an affair with Claire. Later, Shelley himself supposedly did as well.

  4. July 8, 1822: Shelley’s small boat, the Ariel, sank, killing him. According to legend, his body was burned but his heart remained intact. • Mary, his wife, published his posthumous works.

  5. Themes “Mont Blanc”: The Transience of Life, the Power of Nature

  6. The glaciers creep/ Like snakes that watch their prey, from their far fountains/ Slow rolling on…

  7. Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757): The Sublime: definition p. 39: "Astonishment ...is the effect of the sublime in its highest degree; the inferior effects are admiration, reverence and respect." Sources of the Sublime: Terror Obscurity Power Privation: Vacuity, Darkness, Solitude & Silence Vastness Infinity (Succession and Uniformity; the "artificial infinite" as well as natural infinity) Difficulty Magnificence Light Color Suddenness Feeling Pain

  8. “Ode to the West Wind” “Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is…”

More Related