pg. 730

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Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822)

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Major English Romantic poet

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Considered to be among the finest lyrical poets of the English language

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Unconventional life Uncompromising

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idealism Strong skeptical voice Notorious figure during his life

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He is perhaps most famous for the following:

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“Ozymandias”

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“Ode to the West Wind”

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“To a Skylark”

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Shelley became the idol of the next two or three generations of poets including the major Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets:

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Robert Browning

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Alfred Tennyson

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William Butler Yeats

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He is famous for his association with contemporaries John Keats and Lord Byron.

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He was married to the famous novelist Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.

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Shelley wrote the introduction to the 1818 edition of his wife’s novel.

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1814 – Shelley fell in love and eloped with Mary, the 16 year-old daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.

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For the next few years, the couple travelled in Europe.

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1822 – Shelley moved to Italy and published the journal The Liberal with Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron.

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By publishing it in Italy, the three men remained free from prosecution by the British authorities.

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The first edition of The Liberal sold 4,000

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copies. Soon after its publication, Percy Bysshe Shelley was lost at sea on July 8, 1822, while sailing to meet Leigh Hunt.

Read pgs. 730-740 Percy Bysshe Shelley – pg. 730 Preview Info – pg. 731 Literary terms: imagery – descriptive language – appeals to the senses Romantic philosophy – link nature and spirit

Read “Ozymandias” – pg. 733 “Ode to the West Wind” – pg. 734-736 “To a Skylark” – pg. 737-740

pg. 733

The feet of the colossus of Rameses II on which Shelley's poem Ozymandias is based.

Logical Structure *Ozymandias, or Ramese II, was pharaoh

of Egypt in the thirteenth century B.C.

The poem, as an Italian sonnet, can be divided into two parts:

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the first eight lines (octave) the next six lines (sestet)

Logical Structure

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The octave part describes the fragments of a sculpture the traveler sees on an ancient ruin.

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The sestet goes further to record the words on the pedestal and then describe the surrounding emptiness.

Logical Structure

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The words on the pedestal are in contrast to both the octave and the last three lines of the poem.

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The reader must ask:

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“What does Ozymandias want to achieve, as opposed to what is left behind him?

Irony

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The most obvious kind of opposition exists (between what Ozymandias said and what is left behind him).

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This opposition has the effect of dramatic irony.

Structure of Narration

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Frame story

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The poem contains a story (told by Ozymandias) within a story (told by the traveler) within a story (told by the speaker of the poem).

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In the core of this multiple story, the Ozymandias we know is only a sculpture and the words on it.

NOTES

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Message: power is fleeting – humans cannot escape effects of time

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Message is relevant – accomplishments, pride, power

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Lines 1-8: description of statue

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Lines 9-14: irony – wrecked condition

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Heart – longing desire

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Hand – creative aspect

NOTES

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Ironic comment on human pride & ambition

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Inscription: “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

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Remnants of statue

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Empty desert

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Ozymandias’s works – crumbled b/c of time and nature

NOTES

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Contrast: King’s pride/passion vs. image of devastation & emptiness

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Most important idea: meaninglessness of earthly power

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Ozymandias was an actual king of Egypt thousands of years before Shelley wrote

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Political message: No dictator can ever truly rule absolutely

NOTES

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A traveler describes crumbling remains of statue commemorating Egyptian pharaoh

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Statue’s expression: obscured but includes frown, wrinkled lip, sneer

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Condescending, proud ruler

NOTES

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Lines 10-11: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

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Words on pedestal convey attitude of pride & arrogance

NOTES

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Lines 12 14: “Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, / The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

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Idea expressed: Nature = more powerful than any human king

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Irony of inscription: Ozymandias expected his works to last forever.

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The statue and his entire civilization have been destroyed.

NOTES

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Although Shelley described only what the traveler saw, the reader should understand the traveler had other senses as well.

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For example, the traveler very likely felt the heat from the sun, etc.

“Ode to the West Wind”

pg. 734-736

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Apostrophe: Poem addresses the West Wind

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Poem describes force of West Wind

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West Wind:

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drives dead leaves

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stirs up the ocean

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destroys plants

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announces winter’s arrival

“Ode to the West Wind”

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Shelley:

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in awe of wind’s natural strength

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disillusioned with his own spiritual emptiness

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calls on West Wind to lift him up, destroy him, and then purify him (similar to changing of seasons)

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understands that decay will lead ultimately to the renewal of spring

“Ode to the West Wind” NOTES

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First two sections (I and II):

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Images of violence, death, decay, and burial

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Lines 16-17: Heaven and the Ocean are like trees.

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Lines 24-25: (Metaphor) Night is a tomb.

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Lines 46 48: Emphasis on driving force of wind’s strength

“Ode to the West Wind” NOTES

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Wind associated with autumn

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Leaves & seeds scatter – will bring new life

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Movement of clouds – initiates new weather

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Speaker asks wind to lift him as it would “a wave, a leaf, a cloud.”

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The “heavy weight of hours” (line 55) prompts speaker to ask wind to lift him up.

“Ode to the West Wind” NOTES

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Line 57: “Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is”

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Best expresses speaker’s hopes for West Wind

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Lines 57-63: Speaker sees himself in the autumn wind. Asks the wind to enable his spirit to be one with that of the wind.

“Ode to the West Wind” NOTES

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Shelley is not only examining the wind literally, he is also examining the wind figuratively speaking as well.

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The West Wind is an appropriate force to call on for new birth b/c it marks the changing of seasons: fall spring.

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Old is destroyed and replaced by new in the spring.

“Ode to the West Wind” NOTES

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Line 70: “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

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Even the bleakest situations are followed by times of renewal and hope.

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Line 70 ties together the poem b/c it sums up the theme: hope and a new beginning

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Summary: The West Wind’s destructiveness makes new life possible.

pg. 737-740 “To a Skylark” NOTES

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This poem is similar to “Ode to the West Wind” b/c both the wind and the skylark are constantly in motion.

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Define blithe: cheerful

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Stanza 1: The speaker claims the skylark is not a bird.

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The point? The bird’s song is something not of this world b/c the song is so beautiful.

“To a Skylark” NOTES

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Lines 6-35: images of light – suggest bird is celestial or other worldly

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Speaker says skylark’s song is heard everywhere, even in heaven

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Lines 16-20: appeal to sight, sound, and touch

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Overall image presented of skylark: bird is often invisible – speaker perceives skylark, at times, only through sense of hearing.

“To a Skylark” NOTES

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Line 35: image suggests skylark’s music is everywhere at once

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Lines 36-55 – speaker compares bird to the following:

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Poet

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Highborn maiden

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Glowworm

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Rose

“To a Skylark”

NOTES

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Lines 36 40: the skylark, like a poet’s hymns, creates sympathies and fears

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Lines 41-45: the skylark, like a sad maiden, sings songs to soothe the soul

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Lines 46-50: the skylark, like a glowworm's light, sings a song that fill the air

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Lines 51-55: the skylark, like the scent of fallen roses, sings a song that intoxicates the senses

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Each comparison suggests the skylark’s song can transform the world or even a soul.

“To a Skylark” NOTES

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Poet believes skylark’s songs are sweeter than songs of humans

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Skylark does not know annoyance and pain

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Skylark understands death more deeply than humans, though

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Lines 86 87: “We look before and after, / And pine for what is not”

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Unlike the bird, humans sulk and feel sorry for what is not and what will not be.

“To a Skylark” NOTES

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Lines 88 90: “Our sincerest laughter / With some pain is fraught: / Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”

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Even human laughter has grief.

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Human happiness is different from the skylark’s happiness b/c human happiness is always tinged with sorrow.

“To a Skylark” NOTES

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Line 103: “harmonious madness”

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The gladness of the skylark is too pure to be understood by humans.

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If the skylark’s gladness/happiness were translated into poetry, the verses would be startlingly beautiful, but impossible to understand.

“To a Skylark” NOTES

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Shelley focuses on:

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Limitations of human condition

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Poet’s struggle with limitations

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Quality Shelley perceives & praises above all in the skylark’s existence:

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Purity & simplicity of skylark’s joy

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Shelley’s description of nature in all three poems:

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Nature has much to teach us.