Percy Bysshe Shelley

1. Percy Bysshe Shelley By Mariah&Xuan

2. Objectives • Students will be able to recognize a poem by Percy Shelley • Students will be able to analyze a poem by Percy Shelley • Students will be able to write a poem in the format Percy Shelley did

3. Percy B. Shelley Born August 4th, 1792 Passed July 8th, 1822 He was only 29 years old when he died. Born in Horsham England Died in what we now know as Italy but used to be Kingdom of Sardinia Portrait drawn by Alfred Clint

4. About Him • English Romantic poet • Also tended to write about nature and incorporate nature with love • Mary Shelley(wife) is the author of Frankenstein • Ode to the West Wind • To a Skylark • When soft voices die • The Cloud • The Masque of Anarchy

5. Early Life Four younger sisters, one younger brother Early education was received at home Later continued onto Eton College Was bullied everyday in college Was interested in science Enlisted at the University College, Oxford

6. Marriage • At the age of 19, Shelley eloped with 16 year old Harriet Westbrook • Forbidden • Passionate letters threatening suicide • Westbrook family slighly pretended to disapprove but they wanted the marriage • Timothy Shelley(Percy’s father), infuriated that Percy went behind his back, refused to see the couple • Shelley accused Harriet of marrying for wealth • She moved back with her parents *Lanthe, their daughter is born June 23rd, 1813

7. 2ndMarriage Percy meets Mary Godwin while at the home of her father, William Godwin. Percy admired William’s ideas. William was a political philosopher. Shelley&Godwin elope to Europe along with Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont. Shelley returns to London with a pregnant Mary however, Percy goes into hiding to avoid his creditors.

8. Children Mary and Percy’s first daughter was born on February 22nd, 1815 but dies a few weeks after birth due to being a two month premature baby. Their second child was born on January 24th, 1816- a baby boy named William. On May 14th, 1817 Mary gave birth to the couples third child, Clara Everina. In 1818, not even a year after Clara Everina was born, she contracted dysentery and died in Italy. June 7th, 1819 the Shelley’s three year old son William died of malaria in Italy. At that point they have no living children, however, Mary was pregnant with their fourth. November 12th, 1819 Mary gave birth to their baby boy, Percy Florence, who becomes their only child that outlived them.

9. ‘When the Lamp is Shattered’ When the lamp is shattered The light in the dust lies dead— When the cloud is scattered The rainbow’s glory is shed. When the lute is broken, Sweet tones are remembered not; When the lips have spoken, Loved accents are soon forgot. As music and splendor Survive not the lamp and the lute, The heart’s echoes render No song when the spirit is mute:— No song but sad dirges, Like the wind through a ruined cell, Or the mournful surges That ring the dead seaman’s knell.

10. ‘When the Lamp is Shattered’ continued When hearts have once mingled Love first leaves the well-built nest; The weak one is singled To endure what it once possessed. O Love! who bewailest The frailty of all things here, Why choose you the frailest For your cradle, your home, and your bier? Its passions will rock thee As the storms rock the ravens on high; Bright reason will mock thee, Like the sun from a wintry sky. From thy nest every rafter Will rot, and thine eagle home Leave thee naked to laughter, When leaves fall and cold winds come. Bright reason will mock thee, Like the sun from a wintry sky

11. Analysis Percy was referring to love, yet again. When you go through the poem line by line in the first stanza, you’ll see the heartbreak under the words. For example: “When the lamp is shattered The light in the dust lies dead— When the cloud is scattered The rainbow’s glory is shed. When the lute is broken, Sweet tones are remembered not; When the lips have spoken, Loved accents are soon forgot.”

12. Poem Format His poems were written in iambic pentameter but his rhyming scheme is not the same as the traditional English sonnet. He used A-B-A-B-A-B, C-D-C-D, C-C-D-D

13. ACTIVITY #1 With a partner, write two short poems of four lines each, with the rhyming scheme ABAB The theme must incorporate romance OR nature. You have 5-10 minutes. *NOTE: be prepared to share one of the two poems with the class.

14. ACTIVITY #2 In groups of four, write a full length poem (14 lines). Rhyming scheme must be A-B-A-B-A-B, C-D-C-D, C-C-D-D The theme is the same as last time, however, this time try not to make the hints so straight forward. Make it a bit more difficult. You have 15 minutes. *Once again, be prepared to share with the class.

15. ‘The Cloud’ pt. 1  I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,          From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid          In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken          The sweet buds every one, When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,          As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail,          And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain,          And laugh as I pass in thunder.

16. ‘The Cloud’ pt. 2 I sift the snow on the mountains below,          And their great pines groan aghast; And all the night 'tis my pillow white,          While I sleep in the arms of the blast. Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,          Lightning my pilot sits; In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,          It struggles and howls at fits; Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,          This pilot is guiding me, Lured by the love of the genii that move          In the depths of the purple sea; Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,          Over the lakes and the plains, Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,          The Spirit he loves remains; And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile,          Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

17. ‘The Cloud’ pt. 3 The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,          And his burning plumes outspread, Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,          When the morning star shines dead; As on the jag of a mountain crag,          Which an earthquake rocks and swings, An eagle alit one moment may sit          In the light of its golden wings. And when Sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath,          Its ardours of rest and of love, And the crimson pall of eve may fall          From the depth of Heaven above, With wings folded I rest, on mine aëry nest,          As still as a brooding dove.

18. ‘The Cloud’ pt. 4 That orbèd maiden with white fire laden, Whom mortals call the Moon, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, By the midnight breezes strewn; And wherever the beat of her unseen feet, Which only the angels hear, May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, The stars peep behind her and peer; And I laugh to see them whirl and flee, Like a swarm of golden bees, When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent, Till calm the rivers, lakes, and seas, Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, Are each paved with the moon and these.

19. ‘The Cloud’ pt.5 I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone, And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl; The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim, When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl. From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape, Over a torrent sea, Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof, The mountains its columns be. The triumphal arch through which I march With hurricane, fire, and snow, When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair, Is the million-coloured bow; The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove, While the moist Earth was laughing below.

20. ‘The Cloud’ pt. 6 I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain when with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again.

21. References http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174384 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?41458-Percy-Bysshe-Shelley-s-When-the-Lamp-is-Shattered-poem-Analysis http://www.shmoop.com/percy-bysshe-shelley/timeline.html