Assignment Paper 103

 This blog is part of assignment of Paper 103:Literature of Romantics. 

■ Personal Information :

Name: Nishtha Desai 

Batch: M.A Sem 1 (2024-26)

Enrollment number: 5108240024

E - mail Address:

nishthadesai355@gmail.com 

Roll number: 23

■ Assignment Details:

Topic: Percy Bysshe Shelley as a Romantic Poet 

Paper & Subject code: Paper 103 : Literature of Romantics 

Submitted to: SMT Department of English, Bhavnagar 

Date of Submission: 20 November,2024

■ Table of Contens :

● Introduction 

● Love for nature 

● Strong Imagination 

● Beauty 

● Idealism 

● Poetic Style 

● Reformative Zeal

● Conclusion 

■ P. B. Shelley: As a Romantic Poet

● Introduction:

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) was an English writer who is famous today for being one of the major Romantic poets. His poetry, both long and short, is still widely read and studied today. He had a big influence on the literary community of his day and also impacted future generations of writers. Percy Shelley is also famous for his friendships with fellow Romantic poets John Keats and Lord Byron as well as his marriage to Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley) who wrote the novel Frankenstein. Like several of the Romantics, Shelley died young: he was only twenty-nine years old when he drowned.

● Love for Nature:

The first major trait that we find in his poetry is love for nature. In many of his poems he hidesinthe lap of nature. A long and elaborate discussion of the natural scenes doesn’t let us exhaust. Either itis a garden near Eiffel Tower, Italy or a simple moonlit night outside his window; he never fails to createan emotional trance. In his poem “The Death-Bell Beats” he portrays nature with a rich melancholic tone.

"No cloud along the spangled airIs borne upon the evening breeze,How solemn is the scene, how fairThe moonbeams rest upon the trees.Yon dark grey turret glimmers white, Upon it sits the mournful owl;Along the stillness of the nightHer melancholy shriekings roll. But not alone on Irvyne’s towerThe moonbeam pours its silver ray;It gleams upon the ivied bower,It dances in the cascade’s spray."

(Shelley, 1820, as cited in Hutchinson, M., A2003 Paper 114)

 His desire to float with the wind is not just a desire to get pleasure but it’s a wish to get healed of his internal and external miseries. In his famous poem “Ode to The West Wind”, he wants to be as light as a cloud to float in the sky and forget the harsh world.

"Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud."

 (Shelley, 1820, as cited in Hutchinson, M., A., T., 2003, p.77)  

A pure ecstatic pleasure, yet full of simplicity for the beloved, is worth mentioning. No poet can adopt such a portrayal of the natural objects with pure and phenomenal delight. He writes such passion in “To Sophia [Ms. Stacey]”. The depth of these emotions can be felt inside heart.

"As dew beneath the wind of morning,As the sea which whirlwinds waken, As the birds at thunder's warning,As aught mute yet deeply shaken,As one who feels an unseen spirit .Is my heart when thine is near it."

(Shelley, 1870, as cited in Hutchinson, M., A., T., 2003, p. 81)For the souls like Shelley, the great consolation 

● Strong Imagination:

Shelley’s imaginative flight is the part and parcel of his romantic poetry, and every romantic has adoptedan imaginative  trait that makes him unique in his era. Similarly, Shelley is par excellence in hisimaginative poetry. His imagination takes him to the world of ecstatic enjoyment, and he finds solacethere. This ecstatic pleasure may be short-lived but fills the heart with such a delight that nothing seemstroublesome or sorrowful. His famous poem “The World’s Wanderers” is rich in imaginative beauty. 

"Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light Speed thee in thy fiery flight ,In what cavern of the nightWill thy pinions close now?Tell me, Moon, thou pale and gray Pilgrim of Heaven's homeless way,In what depth of night or day Seekest thou repose now?Weary Wind, who wanderes .Like the world's rejected guest, Hast thou still some secret nest On the tree or billow? "

 (Shelley, 1824, as cited in Hutchinson, M., A., T., 2003, p.129)

Shelley’s imagination is not just a flight to a supernatural or platonic world; it’s loaded with deep emotions.His height of emotions accompanied to his imaginative delight, prove him a poet of the ecstatic world. Again, the feminine beauty is highlighted with such graceful imagery in “To Sophia [Ms. Stacey]”.

"Thy deep eyes, a double Planet,Gaze the wisest into madness With soft clear fire,--the winds that fan it Are those thoughts of tender gladness Which, like zephyrs on the billow,Make thy gentle soul their pillow."

(Shelley, 1870, as cited in Hutchinson, M., A., T., 2003, p.81)

When Shelley writes to a singing sound in his poem “To One Singing”, we find the height of imagination full of romanticism and awe. 

"My spirit like a charmed bark doth swim Upon the liquid waves of thy sweet singing,Far far away into the regions dim Of rapture as a boat, with swift sails winging Its way a down some many winding river, Speeds through dark forests o'er the waters swinging..."

  (Shelley, 1839, as cited in Hutchinson, M., A., T., 2003, p. 32)

● Beauty:

Beauty is an other element of Romanticism in Shelley's poetry.  Shelley is an ideal in itself and a microcosm of the beauty of Nature and he calls it ''Intellectual Beauty'' . He celebrate Beauty mysterious power. In the de arts, to Intellctual Beauty, he says that when Intellectual Beauty departs this world becomes a '' Dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate'' and if human heart is its temple, then man would become immortal and omnipotent.

'' Man were immortal and omnipotent 

Did'st thou, unknown and awful as thou art,

Keep with thy glorious train firm state 

Within his heart.''

● Idealism :

Idealism is the very much common characteristic especially in second generation Romantic poets. Shelley's idealism falls under three subheadings. Revolutionary, Religious and Erotic.

1. Revolutionary Idealism:

His revolutionary idealism is mainly due to French Revolution. Through his ''Queen Man'','' The Revolt of Islam'' and ''Prometheus Unbound'' , he inspired people to revolt against scorning at the tyranny of state, Church and society and hoping for a golden age.

2. Religious Idealism:

Though Shelley was a rebel, he was not an atheist. He believed in the Super power of the God and he imagined God as supreme 'Though' and 'Infinite Love''.

3. Erotic Idealism:

Shelley believed in the abstract beauty of love and beauty- Love as infinite and beauty as intellectual.He celebrate love as a creator and preserver in his ''Symposium''and beauty as Supreme Spirit in ''Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.''

● Poetic Style:

Shelley's poetic style is also romantic.To some extent, it is an imitation of William Wordsworth's style . He uses a lot of powerful symbolism and imagery. The series gorgeous of Similes in ''The Skylark '' show the romantic exuberance of Shelley. His diction is tacktile .But he never uses any ornamental word and every word fits inits place and carries its own weight. They express the diverse feeling of the poet with the notes of music which appeal to every human beings's eras.He uses terza rima in his ode '' Ode to the West Wind'' which is one of the finest uses of terza rima in an English- language poem.

■ Conclusion:

It is impossible to cover all the feelings and emotions created in the mind of the reader after readingShelley- a great romantic poet of his age. A feeling that seems supernatural, elevated, and platonic isecstasy. Almost every poetic work of Shelley is rich in such imagery, which makes the readers feelexalted and in harmony with the theme and scenery discussed in the lines. His Romanticism is justdifferent in this sense that he takes the readers to that world of ecstatic pleasure, gently holding theirhands. This world of ecstasy makes the readers forgetful of the real world, although, for the time being,but the readers start feeling poet’s pains, and pleasures. There is one condition to experience this feeling,read the romantic genius (P.B Shelley) with concentration. He will not disappoint his readers. MaryShelley, his wife, has tried to draw the attention of his critics towards that eternal message of humanityand love that Shelley wished to convey but unfortunately, life didn’t give him enough time.For who, except those who were acquainted with him, can imagine his unwearied benevolence, hisgenerosity, his systematic forbearance? And still less is his vast superiority in intellectual attainmentssufficiently understood—his sagacity, his clear understanding, his learning, his prodigious memory. Allthese as displayed in conversation, were known to few while he lived, and are now silent in the tomb:(Mrs. Shelley, 1818, as cited in Hutchinson., A., T., 2003, p.69)

■ My Reference Sources are:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357910442_PB_Shelley's_Romanticism-A_World_of_Sheer_Ecstasy

https://www.scribd.com/document/475685704/SHELLEY-AS-A-ROMANTIC-POET

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley

Thank you..