CHAPTER III
SHELLEY'S POETRY
CHAPTER - III * SHELLEY'S POETRY
3.1.
Shelley, the Revolutionary
3.2.
Shelley*s Poetry* General Characteristics
3.2.1.
Simplicity
3.2.2.
Modernity
3.2.3.
Speed
3.2.4.
Emotional Expression
3.2.5.
Spoken and Prosaic Language
3.2.6.
Discriptive style
3.2.7.
Thought Provoking Style
3.2.8.
Repetition
3.2.9.
Platonism and Pantheism of Shelley
3.3.
Shelley's Poetry* Phonological Style
3.3.1.
Shelley's Lyrics
3.3.2.
Terza Rima
3.3.3.
Blank Verse
3.3.4.
The metre of Skylark
3.3.5.
Spenserian Stanza
3 •3 •6•
Rhythm of Poetry
3.3.7.
Rhythm and Rhyme
3.3.8.
The Function of Rhyme
3.3.9.
The Function of Alliteration
3.3.10.
The Importance of Assonance and Consonance
3.3.10.1.
Assonances
3.3.10.2.
Consonances
3.4.
Shelley’s Poetry* Semantic Style
3«4«1*
Symbolism
3.4.2.
Imagery and Similes
3 •4 #3 *
The Allegories of Shelley
3 *4.3.1.
Allegory and its Popularity in England
3.4.3.2.
The Allegories* 'Queen Mab',
'Revolt of Islam',
and * Prometheus Unbound '
3.4.3.3.
Allegory in 'Queen Mab'
3«4*3*3tl«
The gist of 'Queen Mab'
3.4.3.3.1.2 Explanation of Allegory in *Queen Mab*
3.4.3.3.1.2 The gist of the 'Revolt of Islam*
3.4.3.3.2,
Allegorical Explanation in *Revolt of Islam*
3.4.3.3.2.1 Explanation of Allegory in 'Revolt of Islam*
3.4.3.4.
Allegory in 'Prometheus Unbound'
3•4«3*4«1«
The gist of 'Prometheus unbound'
3 *4.3*4*2*
Allegorical Explanation in 'Promotheus Unbound'
3.5.
Discourse Aspect of Shelley.
Chapter - III
SHELLEY *S POETRY
"I say unto which hear# Love your enemies
Do good to them which hate you"
- st* Luke
"The great secret of morals is Love"
- Shelley ‘Defence of Poetry*
3.1*
Shelley,the Revolutionary
Shelley is one of the best poets among English
remantic poets.
his poetry.
He followed the above quoted principles in
Shelley's style is revealed through his poems
which are mythopoeic# allegorical, philosophical and bio­
graphical.
He remained as an ardent disciple of French
Revolutionary ideals.
The significant poems of Shelley are
the representations of the poet's passion for reforming the
world.
The key-note of revolution# liberty# equality and
fraternity are the master themes of Shelley's poems.
Shelley was animated to a greater deal by his compassion
for his fellow-beings.
His sympathy was excited by the
misery with which the world is burning.
freedom for the suffering humanity.
He revolted to attain
36
'Revolt was for Shelley the first principle.
His
basic impulse was to rebel against restraint and only there
after to suggest measures of improvement which his reading
and observation af forded ' (<^araJ2ei Me Niece. /
'• U
).
To him
the Revolution offered a theme involving pictures of all that
is best qualified to interest and to instruct mankind.
defined the master theme of the epoch.
It
He passionately
apprehended the abstract ideas of the French Revolution and
he remained as an ardent disciple of revolutionary idealism
throughout his life.
Shelley had a passion for reforming
the world with his principles equality, liberty, and
fraternity.
His religion was the religion of humanity.
No writer has left so clear an image of himself in
his writings.
delineation.
His works are finished pictures of selfShelley has a fire in his eye, a fever in his
blood, a maggot in his brain, a hectic flutter in his speech
which mark out him as the philosophic fanatic.
The evidence
from Shelley's poems confirms the impression Shelley had
on human passions.
The characters which he delineates have
all the same kind of pure impulse.
3.2.
Shelley*3 Poetry : General Characteristics
3.2.1.
Simplicity
Shelley has expressed his love for simplicity,
modernity and cl parity in his poems.
He feels that the
rhythmic and rhyming beauty of the poems should be expressed
37
through a selected simple poetic language.
The simplicity
el
increases the clarity and the beauty jXhe rhythm and rhyme
of his poems.
Illustrations:
"Sow seed# - but let no tyrant reap;
Find wealth, - let no imposter heap;
Weave robes, - let not the idle wear;
Forge arms, - in your defence to wear;"(SE*21-24).
"Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then - as I am listening now"(TASt100-105)
3.2.2.
Modernity
The modernity of his poems is felt through the modem
and magnanimous thinking revealed by his poems.
lines illustrate
The following
his modera thinking about the equality of
women.
Illustrations;
1.
"Woman and man, in confidence and love.
Equal and free and pure together trod
The mountain-paths of virtue"(QMs Canto 9, 89-90)
38
2.
"Can man be free
- if woman be a slave?
Chain one who lives, and breaths this boundless air.
To the corruption of a closed gravel (ROI: Canto II,
song.43)
3 « 3.3.
Speed
Speed is another excellent trait in Shelley's poetry.
William Keach Quotes C.S. Lewis who says 'the air and fire
of Shelley, his untrammeled, reckless speed make us imagine
while we are reading him that we have somehow left our body
behind'
(William Keach, 1984:154).
Shelley's eager and
breathless hurry makes his verse to lean forward, so that it
must run in order not to fall (Ibid).
The swiftness of his
impatient spirit is presented in delightful rapidity in his
poems.
Illustrations:
"0 wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being.
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence - stricken multitudes: 0 thou"(OTWW:1-5)
From the beginning of line two until line five there is no
opportunity for taking breath.
the verse at a tremendous speed.
The reader is forced to read
39
Speed is an aspect or experience one feels from that
uuhe writes about.
The following lines again illustrate this
stylistic feature.
2.
"Higher still and higher
Fran the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire?
The blue deep thou wingest.
And singing still dost soar, and
- soaring ever singest"
"In the golden lightning
of the sunken sun,
0*er which clouds are brightning
Thou dost float and run;
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun"(TASs6-15)
The two stanzas are noted for swiftly rising and
swooping movement with its semantic meaning and rhythmic
suggestiveness.
•soar*,
bird.
The lexical items *springest',
'wingest',
‘float' and *run‘ suggest the speedy-flight of the
The lexical items,
'singing-soar',
'soaring-singest'
suggest the rocking motion of the bird.
3.3.4.
Emotional Expression
Emotional Expression is an inborn nature in Shelley.
It is the chief characteristic feature of Shelley's poetry.
40
Illustrations:
1. "Rise
like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number
Shake your chains to earth like dew,
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Your are many - they are few"(MOA:151-5)
2.
"OhI lift me as a wave, a leaf,
a cloudl
I fall upon the thorns of life! I Bleed!"
(OTWWs 53-54)
3. "Alas! I have nor hope nor health,
Nor peace within nor calm around,
Nor that content surpassing wealth"(SWDj19-21)
3,2,5.
Spoken and Prosaic Language
The Allegory 'Queen Mab* illustrates his spoken-
language style, prosaic style and explanatory style.
The poem
with its metre Blank verse is filled with prosaic passages
and unrhymed lyric for which spoken language is made use of.
Illustrationss
1.
"There is no .§odl
.........
infinity within
Infinity without, belie creation;
The exterminable spirit it contain
Is nature's only -tjod" (QM.VII; 13-24)
41
2.
"Throughout these infinite orbs of mingling light#
of which your earth is one# is wide diffused
A spirit of activity and life"(QM.VI*146-148)
3.2.6.
Discriptlve Style
Shelley's style is remarkable for rich discriptive
diction.
The following are the often repeated descriptive
items.
1.
Bright gleam
I
beam radiance
I
fire
I
Suggesting brightness or light.
flame.
2.
Gloom, darkness are terms suggested to describe his
gloomy nature
3.
Charms# caves# gulphs and abysses are often made use of.
4.
Airy* atmosphere# cloud# wind# blast and rain are
always found in his diction.
5.
Agony# pain and torture are also found in his verse.
Illustrations *
1.
"I fall upon the thorns of lifel I bleed 1
A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed .."
(OTWW*54-55)
42
2.
"Alas! I have nor hope nor health.
Nor peace within nor calm around"(SWDsi8-19)
3.2,7.
Thought provoking Style
Shelley's poems are remarkable for their thought
provoking style.
The question forms are often used by Shelley
as a means to provode revolutionary thoughtin the minds of
thoughtless people.
Illustrations t
"If winter comes
Can spring be far behind?"(OTWW:70)
"What love of thine own kind?
What ignorance of pain?"(TAS:75)
"Who reigns?
There was the Heaven and earth at first
Who is his master?
Is he too a slave?
Whom calledst thouJ%od"<PU:Act 11*32, 109, 112)
In 'Queen Mab' the ignorant girl Ianthe asks a number
of questions to Ahasuerus, the wandering jew to get her
thinking and knowledge clarified.
3.2.8.
Repetitions
Repetitions of words are made use of to stress the
ideas expressed.
of the readers.
Repetitions increase the emotional response
43
Illustrations:
"The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robe ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears;"(SE:17-20)
The repetition of certain words and compounds exhibits
the uniqueness of Shelley's style.
The word purple is used
to make compounds such as purple waves, purple sky, purple
clouds, the purple moon, the purple seaweed, the purple sea,
the purple fountains.
Another word used like this is azure.
It appears in 'The cloud','Ode to liberty',
sensitive plant* and 'Ode to West Wind*.
'Adonals*,
Shelley is fond of
the compound words formed with the word 'winged*
'winged-seeds *,
(e,g,)
* spirit-winged *, temper-winged *,
winged *, ' though-winged,*
*The
* seraph­
‘morning-winged,*, ' splendour-winged *.
The lexical items such as pyramids, pinnacles, aerial, and
tremulous also occur frequently.
3.2,9,
Platonism and Pantheism of Shelley
The lyrics of Shelley are noteworthy for the aspect of
pantheism and platonism.
life and spirit.
These aspects present nature with a
Various aspects of nature are personified
and presented in different forms.
In the 'Ode to West Wind* Shelley identifies himself
with the wind and converses
with it.
He calls it
44
1.
’0 wild west wind'
2.
"Wild Spirit*
3.
'Destroyer and Preserver*
4.
'Spirit fierce'
5.
'My spirit'
6.
'The trumpet of Prophesy'(OTWW)
In the poem 'To a skylark* Shelley addresses the bird as
1.
'Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
2.
'Teach us, spirit or bird'.
3.
'Unbodied joy* (TAS)
The bird is personified as
1.
* a poet hidden*
2*
'a high-born maiden*
3.
'a glow-worm'
4.
'a rose-embowered'
5.
'Thou scomer of the ground'(TAS)
In the poem 'To Night' the natural phenomenon of
Night is addressed as
"Spirit of Night"
"Beloved night"
Death and sleep are addressed as the brother and child of
the Night.
"Thy brother Death came"
"Thy sweet child sleep"(TN*22-3)
45
Hie poem 'The cloud' presents the pleasant personality and
human attributes of the cloud*
manifestations of nature.
and shores.
It plays
lives through the
It lives through pores of the ocean
It laughs and is amused.
All the natural objects#
the leaves# buds# the flowers# the sun, the moon# the winds
are transformed by its magic touch.
The following lines
illustrate the impersonation of the cloud.
"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"(TC*73-76).
3.3.
Shelley's poetry: Phonological Style
The excellence of Shelley is exhibited through his
longer poems and lyrics.
cal and mythological.
The poems are symbolical# allegori­
The stylistic features of the poems
represent and reveal the philosophy and psychology of the poet.
The stylistic devices and methodology suggested in the previous
chapter are adopted to analyse the pragmatic aspect of the
poems•
The stylistic techniques followed reveal Shelley's art
of self-delineation.
All his longer poems and lyrics contain
a finished picture of the poet.
The impulsive characteristics
of the poems has a single direction to carry out the dictates
of the unique propensity of Shelley - a passion for reforming
mankind.
46
The poems are the incarnations of Shelley's revolu­
tionary desire.
The stylistic features of Shelley's poems
reveal the philosophy and
psychology of the poet.
spirit of nature possessed him.
The very
He is a violent reformer
seeking to overthrow the instititions of his time to establish
a millennium.
His poems are violent attacks against government,
priests, marriage, religion and even J§od as men supposed Him
to be.
As a lyric poet Shelley is one of the supreme geniuses
of English Literature.
'To a Skylark',
The lyrics,
'The Cloud*,
'Ode to the West Wind',
‘To Night',
'Hymn to Pan*,
'Hymn to Appollo', are mythopoetic, which exhibit wonderful
myths of nature.
*
The symbolical allegories,
'Queen Mab',
'Revolt of
Islam' and .'Prometheus Unbound* are invectives against
religion, marriage, kingcraft, and priest-craft.
They represent
Shelley's exquisite plans and schemes for reform.
3.3.3.1.
Shelley's lyrics
Sehlley's lyricism is incomparable.
The verbal magic
and cadence of syllables of his lyrics are remarkable.
His
lyrics 'Ode to West Wind* and 'To Skylark' are triumphs of
musical harmony.
The lyrics are noted for word-music, music
of sounds and emotional ecstasy.
The lyrics exhibit Shelley's
excellent usage of rhyme, rhythm, assonance, consonance and
alliteration.
47
3.3.2.
Terza Rima
The lyrics 'Ode to West Wind' is made up of the poetic
form 'Terza Rima*.
It is a tercet# a stanza of three lines.
In this, the first and third lines rhyme together.
The middle
one rhymes with the first and the third of the succeeding
tercet.
It forms a unit in a running series of tercets# each
of which sets the rhyme for the next.
Italian measure.
The Terza Rima is an
It is adopted from the Italian writer Dante.
The first stanza of 'Ode to West Wind' runs thus*
"0 wild west Wind# thou breath of autumn's being#
a
Thou# from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
b
Are driven# life ghosts from an enchanter fleeing#a
Yellow# and black# and pale,
and hectic red,
b
Pestilence - stricken multitudes; 0 thou#
c
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
b
The winged seeds# where they lie cold and low#
c
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
d
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
c
Her clarion O'er the dreaming earth# and fill
d
Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air
a
With living hues and odours plain and Hilljf" (1^12 >d
48
3.3.3,
Blank Verse
Blank verse in unrhymed poetry.
plays are written in blank verse.
pentameter.
Most of Shakespeare's
It is written in iambic
It presents natural rhythms to English language.
In iambic feet# a weak syllable is followed by a strong one.
Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' is written in blank verse.
"Ah mel alas# pain# pain ever# for everl
No change# no pause# no hopeI yet I endure.
I ask the Earth have not the mountains felt?
I ask you Heaven# the all-beholding Sun#
Has it not seen?
The Sea, in storm or calm"
(PU.Act.1*23-27)
In the poem 'Triumph of Life' also# the poet follows
the same measure.
3.3.4.
The Metre of Skylark
The piece#
'To Skylark* adopts the measure of three-
foot lines followed by a six-foot line.
the form according to him convenience.
Ode.
Shelley has changed
It is the form of an
Each stanza consists of five lines# the first four lines
being shorter than the last line.
lines have rhymes.
rhymes.
The first and the third
The second and the fourth line also have
The fifth line has twelve syllables and is called
'Alexandrine.
The earnest hurry of the four short lines
followed the long effusiveness of Alexandrine expresses the
eagerness and continuity of the lark.
49
"Highes still and higher
a
From the earth thou springest
b
Like a cloud of fire;
a
*
The blue deep thou wingest
b
And singing still dost soar, and
- soaring ever singest"
c
The basic movements, iambic and trochaic feet are
followed and this metrical freedom reflects the freedom
enjoyed by the poet.
The next stanza joins like this*
"In the golden lightning
a
of the sunken sun
b
O’er which clouds are brightning
a
Thou dost float and run;
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just
begun"(6-155
c
The rhythmic suggestiveness of these lines are
remarkable.
3.3.5.
Spenserian Stanza
In 'Revolt of Islam* and 'Adonais' Shelley adopts
the Spenserian stanza without any alteration.
of two linked quatrins in
It consists
iambic pentameters, rounded off
with an Alexandrine rhyming with the eighth line.
In spite
of its division into two quatrains and a final line longer
by a foot than the rest, it is one inseparable unit owing
to the interweaving of rhymes from the beginning to the end.
50
The second quatrain continues a rhyme with the first and
the closing line with the second.
The Alexandrine relieves
the monotony of the two preceeding quatrains and gives a
sense of completion.
It is a stanza admirably suited to a
lengthy narrative? and descriptive poem with lofty rhetorical
passage.
For example, one stanza from Shelley's 'Adonais'
is quoted here.
"Ah, woe is me! Winter is come and gone
But grief returns with the revolving year;
a
b
The airs and streams renew their joyous tone;a
The ants, and bees, the s wo Hows reappear;
b
Fresh leaves and flowers deck the dead
seasons * bier;
The amorous birds
now pair in every brake
And build theirmossy
b
c
houses in field and
brere;
And the green lizard, and the golden snake
b
c
Like unimprisoned flames, out of their
trance awake"iXVIII)c
3-3.6.
Rhythm of Poetry
Rhythm or movement of language depends on the movement
of syllables.
'Rhythm in the sense of syllabic pattern or
repetition belongs to poetry alone.
It makes the poem
artistic, significant and expressive'(Emid Hamer, 1970:2).
51
•In English rhythm or movement of language occurs
in a quality which may best be called stress.
It is on
this quality that the rhythm of verse is founded.
depends mostly on emphasis.
Stress
According to the emphasis given#
stressed and unstressed syllable are formed.
called heavy and light syllables' (Ibid# p.3).
is a feature of musical composition which
They are also
Thus rhythm
depends on the
systematic grouping of words according to their duration.
3.3.7.
Rhythm and Rhyme
These two features of poetry make the proper fusion
of sound and sense.
They fashion the total meaning of poems.
They are not mere decorations.
of poetry.
They are the basic elements
The proper fusion of rhythm and rhyme make the
sound an echo to the sense.
These factors are the fundamental
basis for the language of poetry.
3.3.8.
The function of Rhyme
Rhyme is the accompaniment of stanza form.
be rhymed in pairs or couplets.
Verses may
Two lines rhyme when their
last stressed syllables have the same vowel sound or
consonant sound.
observed.
In rhyme# the hamony of terminal sound is
Rhyme links the lines and thought of the poem.
The function of rhyme is to emphasise the integrity and
separateness of the stanzas.
It gives a pleasure of its own#
falling on the ear with the effect of an echo (Ibid# p.22).
52
Shelley has liberally used rhyming words in his poems.
In 'Ode to West Wind', an exact picture of the west wind is
dipicted through the rhyming words as
being
-
feeling
dead
-
red
-
bed
thou
-
low
-
blow
until
-
fill
-
-
ocean
commotion
shed
-
spread
-
head
-
dirge
surge
-
verge
night
-
might
dreams
-
lay
bay
-
towers
hill
streams
-
-
day
powers
-
flowers (Stanzas I, II & III)
In the poem 'To a Skylark' the actual flight of the
bird is presented through the rhyming words.
Springest
-
wingest
lightning
-
brightning
sun
- run
flight
even
-
-
daylight
heaven
- narrows
sphere
-
know not
singest
begun
arrows^
loud
-
clear
cloud
flow not
-
delight
thee
see
thought
-
wrought
hidden
-
unbidden
maiden
-
lone
towel
-
hour
golden
-
dew
hue
-
leaves^
- bower
- view
- deflowered
- gives
showers
grass
-
-
- surpass
heard
thine
-
wine
chart
-
vaunt
-
-
strain
plain
-
joyanee
-
aslee£
-
fear
-
pain
annoyance
dee£
-
stream
laughter
fraught
scorn
want
mountains
- dream
after
not
-
divine
-
fountain£
deem
thieve^
flowers
was
-
laden
beholden
embowered
Bird
-
-
thought
- born
-
tear
- near
measures^
-
treasure£
sound
found
-
gladness
know
-
-
ground
madness
flow
now
54
The above rhymes are presented through the usage of
suffixes est, Inq, en, ed, es, ness*
The lyrics,
'stanzas written in 'Dejection',
'To Night'
and 'Hymn to Appollo' are remarkable for their wonderful
rhymes*
Stanzas and lines are tied together by the rhymes
which enhance the beauty and rhythmical effect of a stanza.
It illustrates the poet's merit in the usage of figurative
language*
3.3*9.
The Function of Alliteration
Alliteration plays an important role in the phonolo­
gical features of a poem.
The repetition of similar sounds
in the intial and medial positions in the word sequence is
called 'alliteration'.
The application of alliteration
encourages the free flow of thought.
quality of the poems.
It enhances the aesthetic
It helps the writer to impress his
message in the readers memory.
Frequent occurences of
alliteration catches the attention of the readers.
Shelley's
lyrics exhibits a fine usage of alliterations.
"0 wild west wind, thou breath of Autumn being.
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear
Beside a pumice isle and Baiaels bay
Wild spirit which art moving everywhere
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low".
(Ode to the West Wind)
55
"Higher still and higher
And singing still dost soar, and soaring every
singest
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not?
Like a gdow-worm aolden
Our gweetest songs are those that tell of saddest
thought
Thy skill to poet were, thou scomer of the
ground(TAS)
3.3.10.
The Importance of Assonance and Consonance
Assonance and consonance are the other categories
which are in close relation with alliteration.
They elevate
the aesthetic effect of the poems.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in word
combinations
and Consonance is the repetition of consonantal
sounds in word combination.
3.3.10.1. Assonances
"All overgv$>wn with azure most and flowers
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
And tremble and despoil them selves? oh. Heart
A wave to part beneath thy power, and share
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud,
I fall upon the thorns of life! £ bleed.
Ashes and sparks my words among mankind"(OTWW)
56
"Keen as are the arrows
411 the earth and air" (TAS)
"Where all the long apd lone daylight
Apd noon lay heavy on flower and tree
Even a? the winds §pd waters are
Apd I might feel in the warm §ir"(SWD).
"As she dances ajDOUt the sun
Apd then again I dissolve it in rain
Apd their great pines groan aghast
^pd I all while bark in Heaven's blue simile
Which an earthquake rocks apd swings
As still as a brooding dove
Ace each paved with the moon apd these
The volcanoes are dim apd the stars reel and swim
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from
the tomb
I arise apd unbuild it again"(TC).
"Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was
Aid all that did
then attend and follow" (HP) •
"All prophecy, all medicine is mine
All light of art or nature"(H.A*)
57
3,3.10*2. Consonances
"Waken me when their mother# the gray dawn
Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone
I walk over the mountains and the waves
The sunbeams are my shafts with which I kill"(HA)
"We come# we come
Where loud waves are dumb
The wind in the reeds and the rushes
Speeded by my sweet pipings
The sileni# and sylvans and Fauns
I sang of the dancing stars"(HP)
"From the geas and the streams
And their great pines groan aghast
Whom mortals call the Moon
Glides glimmering O'er my fleece life floor"(TC)
"The breath of the moist earth is light
The winds# the birds# the ocean floods
Alas! I have nor hope nor health
Nor peace within nor calm around
Nor fame nor power# nor lone# nor leisure
Shall on its stainless glory set"(SWD)
"Swiftly walk O'er the western wave
Touching all with thine opiate ward
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not?
What love of thine own kind? What Ignorance of pain
58
Thy skill to poet were, phou scorner of the ground
The world should listen then - as I am listening
now"(TAS)
"The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low
Wild spirit which art moving everywhere
Quivering within the wave's intenser day
So sweet, the sense faints picturing theml
And tremble and depoil themselves I Oh, hearl
A wave to pant beneath they power and share
A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Sweet though in padness"(OTWW)
3.4.
Shelley's Poetry * Semantic Style
3.4.1.
Symbolism
Symbol is a comparison between the abstract and the
concrete.
'Symbolism can therefore be defined as the art of
expressing ideas and emotion not by describing them directly,
nor by defining them through overt comparisons with concrete
images, but by suggesting what these ideas and emotions are,
by re-creating them in the mind of the reader through the use
of ^explained symbols *(Charles Chandwick, 1971*2-3).
Another aspect of symbolism is described as
'transcendental symbolism#
* In this aspect of symbolism,
concrete images are used as symbols, not of particular
thoughts and feelings within the poet, but of a vast and
general ideal world of which the real world is merely an
imperfect representation* (Ibid, 3),
This aspect elevates
the poet to the rank of a prophet or a seer.
Symbolism can be said to be an attempt to penetrate
the reality to a world of ideas, either the ideas within the
poet, including his emotions, or the ideas in the platonic
sense that constitute a perfect supernatural world towards
which man aspires.
In order to see beyond the surface of
reality there, is often a fusion of images, a kind of
stereoscopic effect to give a third dimension.
Symbolism
emphasises the musical quality of poetry.
3.4.2.
Imagery and Similes
'Ode to West Wind* and 'Skylark* provide a complex
human problem with a satisfactory solution.
Through the
medium or artistic form, they give coherence to the intellectual,
emotional and sensuous experience of the poet.
'Ode to West Wind' is a lyric of great complexity
and artistic design.
of imagery.
It is franfcly metaphorical and full
In the first three stanzas the poem deals with the
action of the west wind upon the leaf, the “cldud. and the wave.
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The fourth stanza indentifies the poet with nature.
The
nature imagery of the three beginning stanzas are the action
and the interrelationship
of the West wind with the leaf#
the cloud and the wave.
The imagery of the first stanza presents a contrast
of death and regeneration.
It presents the West Wind as
a destroyer and preserver.
It shatters established
structures so that new ones may be built from their ruins.
It settles the withered leaves# in order to quicken a new
birth.
The first stanza presents a chain of similes.
describes the activities of the west wind on land.
It
The
wind drives the dead leaves before it settles# just as a
magician drives away a ghost by his approach.
"Thou# from whose unseen presence the leaves and
Are driven# like ghosts from an enhanter fleeing"
The West Wind scatters the seeds and covers them with dust.
They are buried underground where they remain like dead
bodies in their graves.
approaches.
They sprout into plants when spring
This process is illustrated in a simile which
says#
"Wild Spirit# which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver".
61
The above lines present the Metaphors 'Destroyer* and
‘Preserver1 through which the wind is personified.
They
metaphorically refer to death and regeneration and Autumn
and spring.
The second stanza describes the activities of the
West Wind in the air.
The West Wind carries on its surface
loose clouds which seem to have fallen from the sky just as
withered
leaves fall from the branches of trees in autumn.
The locks of the approaching storm are spread on the airy
surface of the West Wind like
the bright
hair uplifted
from the head of the frenzied Maenad - a drunken female
follower of Bacchus, God of Wine.
"Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad".
The stanza is notable for the imagery it presents.
The West Wind is the dirge of the dying year for which the
closing night will be the dome of a big tomb vaulted with
all the aggregated strength of the West Wind as seen in rain,
lightning and hailstorm.
The third stanza illustrates the effect of the West
Wind on water.
It is rich in imagery.
The wind awakens
from sleep the blue Mediterranean sea which was dreaming
of old palaces and towers which once stood on its shores.
The Wind blows on the Atlantic and the plants growing at the
62
bottom of the ocean tremble with fear and shed their leaves.
The two oceans - the Mediterranean and the Atlantic are
personified.
"Thou who didst waxen from his summer dreams
The blue mediterranean, where he lay.
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams.
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae*s bey
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intense day.
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them".
The next stanza deals with the identification of the
poet with the West Wind.
He is reminded of his boyhood when
he was like the West Wind swift and uncontrollable.
the misfortunes of life have crushed him.
the thorns of life.
But now
He is bleeding on
He wishes that he were a leaf, a wave,
a cloud, so that the West Wind could lift him.
He makes the
pathetic appeal through the following lines.
"Oh! lift me as a Wave, a leaf, a cloud 1
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".
63
In the last stanza through the Metaphors,
fierce*,
Wind.
'Spirit
*My spirit* and 'Impetuous One* he calls the West
He appeals to it to become one with him and to scatter
his dead thoughts over the universe to bring a new period
in human history.
He would like the West Wind to broadcast
over the whole world his prophecy about the coming of the golden
Age.
The stanza presents a clear expression of Shelley's
idealism, his belief in the perfectibility of human nature,
and his belief in the golden Age of mankind.
"Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth1
And, by the incantation of this verse.
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind1
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecyI 0, Wind,
If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?".
The 'Unawakened earth* is an allusion to the English people
of Shelley's time who are degenerate and are buried beneath
old conventions, old habits of thoughts and old institutions.
'The trumpet of a prophecy* alludes to Shelley's reforming
Zeal.
He wants to correct the people and to make them
realise that
his revolutionary principles which is based on
French Revolution will come true in future.
64
The poem has many symbolic meanings.
It symbolises
the force of Nature and the free spirit of man.
It is a
symbol of change, a symbol of strength and energy# a symbol
of his own personality and a symbol of hope.
It is a
destroyer of the old order of society and a preserver of the
new.
It is a symbol of the law of life itself which contains
creation and destruction# and manifests itself in the cycle
of the seasons the cycle of birth# death and rebirth.
The last line of the poem#
'If winter comes# can spring
be far behind?'# has symbolic and allegorical meaning.
Winter
is a period of great distress and it symbolises a period of
hardship and difficulties.
It allegorically refers to the
failures of French Revolution.
Spring# a season of joy and
rebirth in nature will be followed by winter.
Similarly
this period of misery# suffering and evil will surely come to
an end and the golden Age will commence.
During the golden
Age or the Millennium beauty and love will reign over the
earth.
There will be neither evil or injustice nor suffering
among humanity.
It exhibits the poet as an idealist, as a
believer in the eventual triumph of the forces of good over
the forces of evil.
The poem is based on hope - hope# tempered
with humility# hope# firm-based in the revolutionary idealism
symbolised by the West Wind.
65
Ode to the skylark, presents the melodious skylark,
the symbol of the poet.
spirit of poetry.
design.
It is a platonic symbol of the ideas
It has natural, personal and philosophical
The skylark is a real bird and a spiritual symbol
(Ibid:244).
Through a series of similes and metaphors Shelley
suggests a sweetness of the Skylark's music, the invisibility
of the skylark and the great height from which the bird sings.
Shelley depicts the sweet and rapturous singing of the skylark.
The music of the skylark has been idealised.
The poet wants
to know the inspiration behind the skylark to sing such
melodious and ecstatic strains.
He contrasts the sorrow and
suffering of mankind with the unspeakable Joy of the bird.
The Skylark is like the poet who soars to the regions
of lofty thou its thoughts are not easily understood, but its
music can be fully enjoyed.
"Like a Poet hidden
In the light of thought.
Singing hymns unbidden,
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and tears it headed not;"(VIII)
The skylark is like a high-born maiden singing faith
and love in sweet songs which flow beyond her bower, though
she herself is not visible.
66
"Like a high-born maiden
In a palace-tower,
Soothing her love-laden
Soul in Secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her
bower;"(IX)
The skylark is like a golden glow-worm which is hidden
by the flowers and glass but whose pleasure become known to
us by the light which it scatters around
"Like a glow-worm golden
In all dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Among the flowers and glass, which screen it
from the viewl"(X)
The skylark is like a rose which is concealed from sight by
the leaves around it but whose existence is revealed to us
by the Sweet Scent with which it fills the air.
"Like a rose embowered
In its own green leaves
By warm winds deflowered.
Till the seent it gives
Makes faint with too much
-Sweet those heavy-winged thieves;"(XI)
The bird is addressed with the metaphors 'Spirit' and
“Blithe Spirit'.
67
'Skylark* is the symbolical representation of Shelley's
philosophy.
He says the life of human beings is full of
disappointments and frustrations*
longings which remain unfulfilled.
Men have desires and
In the past and the present
they have an intense desire for what they have not been able
to achieve and for what they will not be able to attain.
There is an element of pair mingled even with their most
genuine laughter.
They can never enjoy pure happiness.
The
Sweetest songs of human beings are those that are full of
sorrow and grief.
"We look before and after#
And pine for what is not;
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught?
Our
Sweetest songs are those that tell of
saddest thought" (XVIII)
Shelley adds that humanity can attain happiness if it
can give up harted# pride# scorn and feel.
"Yet if we could scorn
Hate# and pride# and fear?
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear#
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near"(XIX)
68
3.4.3.
The Allegories of Shelley
The allegory and the myth of 'Queen Mab1,
'Revolt of
Islam', and 'Prometheus Unbound' are the greatest expressions
ever given to humanity in desire for intellectual light and
spiritual liberty.
The allegories prove that man can be
liberated not by the cosmic and calculating process of reason,
but by the cosmic and spontaneous operation of life.
The
poetic dramas are in quest of the ways and means for the
regeneration
of humanity.
The "Renaissance of man and society
would take place only through suffering, compassion, tolerance
and love which is a necessary factor in the millennium to come.
3.4.3.1.
Allegory and its Popularity in England
'Allegory is an extended Metaphor.
Allegorical
personages are frequently personifications..
It is an artistic
expression by means of which symbolic fictional figures and
actions of
truth or generalizations about human conduct or
experience could be presented.
It is a symbolic representation
stressing a hidden spiritual meaning transcending the literal
sense of the text.
Allegory, parable, myth, fable, apologue
are the literary forms typically telling a story for the sake
of presenting a truth, or a moral.
Myth applies chiefly to
platonic Myth which was a brief explanation of a difficult
o
phrlosphic truth revealed by means of a short allegorical
analogy.
Symbolism is closely connected with allegory.
Symbolism can be described as an art of using symbols by way
of investing things with the symbolic meaning or expressing
the invisible, intangible, or
spiritual by means by visible
or sensuous representations.
During the conflict with France and immediately after
the French Revolution in 1789, authors and publishers in
England were subjected to legal harrassment and even threat­
ened with death.
This repressive atmosphere continued even
in the nineteenth century.
There was a renewed cut, break of,
or suppression of the press in England following the defeat
of Napoleon.
These periods of interference with the freedom
of the press coincide tellingly with the revivals of serious
allegory.
of Man*
In 1792 Thomas Paine, the author of *The Rights
(1791)
was imprisoned on a trumped-up charge.
In
1794, Home Tooke, Hardy and Thelwall were tried for high
treason and were acquitted.
In 1803, Blake himself was accused
by a drunken soldier of seditius utterances and tried for
treason.
He too was acquitted.
In 1793 Blake issued his
allegorical account of the American Revolution, in 'America*
which he wrote mainly in allegorical forms.
Southey and Hunt
were the other contemporary writers of Shelley who followed
the allegorical method of writing.
Shelley in 1811 was sent
out from Oxford for refusing, to disavow a pamphlet entitled
'The Necessity of Atheism*.
allegory 'Queen Mab* in 1816.
Shelley published his first
In 1817 he was deprived of the
custody of his children on the grouds of immoral conduct and
70
irreligious views.
This was followed by the other allegories
'The Revolt of Islam*
(1817) and 'Prometheus Unbound' 1819.
Harrassed and threatened by those in power# radical poets
resorted to the indirect ways of expressing their views
(Jackson, J. 1980*220).
3.4.3.2.
The Allegories* 'Queen Mab',
'Revolt of Islam*
and * Prometheus Unbound'
Shelley says 'Poets are the institutions of laws, and
founds of civil society* .....
secret of morals is love;
.....
He. adds that 'The great
According to him poets are
the unacknowledged legislators of the world* (Shelley, 1962*
255).
The three allegories prove Shelley's definitions
regarding poets and poems.
Shelley's long poems,
'Queen Mab',
'Rebolt of Islam'
and 'Prometheus Unbound* describe successful revolutions.
They are allegorical, symbolical and philosophical.
They deal
with the process of ideal revolutions through allegorical and
symbolical representations.
The theme of longer poems of
Shelley is the conflict between tyranny and love.
represents evil and love represents good.
Tyranny
'The poems reveal
that love is the only subject which can inspire Shelley to
sustained poetic flights'(Sarita Singh, 1970*75).
In 'Queen Mab', Shelley visualises a future which is
guided by reason and love.
tyranny.
It is free from the lane of
The allegorical poem emphasises on the removal of
71
tyranny through love.
Through symbolic indirection the poet
presents his views on nature, the evils of religion, of
marriage and of the eating of animal flesh,
Shelley's
pantheism and platonism - a religious regard and reverence
towards nature is represented through the allegory.
It also
satiri §es the political institutions, the ways and means of
capitalism and priestcraft.
The symbolical representations
persuades the readers to shed their ignorance and supersitions.
'In 'Queen Mab' Shelley summed up all the idealism of his
adolescence, his
ardor for reform, his dreams of a pefected
human society*(Carl Grabo, 1936:103).
of Shelley is built upon this allegory.
The ultimate philosophy
'The poem is an
embodiment of his 'World view, his concept of the relation
of man to society and society to nature, an object which he
later attempted in 'Revolt of Islam' and 'Prometheus Unbound'
(Loyola Furtaco, 1958:25).
Shelley, with a new revolution sets out 'to destroy
the old order, to find convincing arguments for necessity of
this destruction and to leave the building of the new world
of Hope* .......
Necessity, the mother-goddess directs working
wills toward the happy earth of the future.
Kings priests and
capitalists must make the way for the liberated poets .....
'Queen Mab* is a violent and vigorous
ttack on the older
order.
The poem presents Shelley's passion for reforming the
world;
He wants to make it a better world to live in.
'He
held that the past and the present of mankind were disfigured
by the bloody hands of tyranny which manifested itself in two
ways* the tyranny of the church and the tyranny of the state*
(Sarita Singh* 1970s63).
3.4.3.3.
Allegory in Queen Mab
3.4.3.3.1.
The gist of Queen Mab
The allegory depicts the experience of the spirit or
the soul of the girl named Ianthe with the fairly named
Queen Mab.
The fairy summoned the soul of the girl to witness
the world of the past* present and future as a reward for her
purity.
The soul of the girl is separated from her body.
It ascends in a chariot to the heavenly abode of the fairy.
The fairy reveals the
present.
corrupted world of the past and
The fairy explains to the soul of the girl about the
greedy kings* capitalists and bishops.
An account of war*
commerce and selfishness of the kings* bishops and priests is
given by the fairy.
Ahasuerus appears.
religious.
A phantom of a wardering Jew namely
It tells about its hatred towards fjod and
It makes it suggestion for the abolition of the
orthodox %od and Christianity.
The fairy suggests that the
corrupted world will be reformed through the strong will power
of man.
After this the soul of the girl is brought back and
united with her body by the fairy.
3.4.3,3.1.2.
Explanation of Allegory in *Queen Mab1
Allegorical and symbolical
Items that are allegorised and
representations
symbolised
1. The fairy Queen Mab
1. Symbol of the ideas and Prophetic
imagination of Shelley.
.
Choosen instrument and trump­
2
eter of the golden age.
2. Queen Mab*s description
1. Shelley's scientific knowledge
of the solar system and
symbol of Shelley's acute
wonders of the sky
astronomical knowledge.
3. Queen Mab's definition of 1. Shelley's passion for the
necessity and materialism
scientific theories of the
scientists# Erasmus Darvin#
Rousseau# Holbach# Plato and
Godwin.
4. Queen Mab's account of
«&od# religion and state
1. Allegorically represents
Shelley's hatred towards the
corruptions of the church and
state during his time.
5. Ahasuerus# the wandering
Jew
1. Represents Shelley's frown,
anger# at the blood thirtiness
of the church and Christianity
which is full of corruption.
2 . Represents Shelley's anger
towards the corrupted English
Kings and their longing for
blood-thirsty war.
6. Queen Mab's utopia
1. Shelley's ideal world which is
gained through people * s strong
will-power.
7. lanthe, the girl
1. Symbolises the ignorant humanity
which is
submissive to the
corrupted priest and the king.
Aim of the Allegory
Shelley depicts his contemporary England with its
corrupted, merciless, priests and kings.
He pours out his
uncountrollable fury and anger towards the church and state
of his time.
Shelley, suggests that the condition may be
changed, an utopi^a may created if the people of England have
a strong will power and challenging courage to overthrow the
priests and the king.
The first canto narrates the journey of the spirit of
lanthe, to the hall of spells of 'Queen Mab* which is far beyond
the bounds of the solar system.
The journey fulfills two
thematic functions.
the duality of Body and soul,
It depicts
asserting the superiority of the latter.
The description of •
the vastness of the universe and multiplicity of the solar
75
systems and other worlds tends to dwarf the earth.
Shelley's
study of nature and its divinity is based on the principles
of naturalists like
Mab',
Darwin, Rousseau and Holbach.
'In Queen
'Necessity* means a cosmic power whose rule is absolute
both in the material and in the moral world......
a power
which will inevitably by slow degrees, produce social,
institutional and even climatic changes to a world situation'
(Loyala Furtado, 1958:31).
Canto II talks about the will-power of man, redemption
of man which is attained through strong will power.
The
fairy then shows the evils of monarchy or any form of society
where some are masters and others are servers.
The spirit
of Nature attacks the chief manifestations of earning human
pride and war.
It criticises commerce, capitalism and religion.
It is followed by a systematic attach on the judeo-christian
tradition.
Moses is portrayed as a murderer and Jehovah as
a sadistic projection of human pride and sin.
The spirit of
Ianthe is the allegorical presentation of ignorant humanity.
Ahasuerus, the wandering Jew. is the symbol of human will-power.
The Fairy talks about the corruptions
God and religion.
of bloods;
crimes.
in the name of
God has only filled the earth with rivers
It shielded criminals and encouraged them to do
The irony of the situation is that every crime has
been made holy by Him.
The tyrannous omnipotence oppressed
the slaves who build temples for him.
Ahasuerus gives a
powerful description of the blood thirstiness of the J§od who
76
was created by the votaries of different religions.
Ahasuerus, allegorically represents Shelley’s views
on God and religion.
He tells the story of creation.
story is the story of creation as told in the Bible.
the creator emerged in a different light.
'His
In it
He is not the
Lord of justice and mercy but the 'Omnipotent fiend' who
created the race of man for 'My fame* and who planted the
tree of evil in the garden of Eden(Sarita Singhs65).
Religion has been the cause of the suffering of man
through generations.
It has turned into the tyrants stick
with which he has persecuted people and used them for his
selfish motives.
The tyrant is not prepared to be deprived
of this stick and he uses all the guile and force at his command
to preserve it.
Christianity provides a good example of the
way in which religion has been both the cause and the means
of the presecution of people.
Shelley's description of the
violence and bloodshed generated and encouraged by
Christianity is a powerful condemnation of the tyranny of
religion.
'War,.
imprisonment, assassination, and flasehood;
deeds of enexampled and incomparable atrocity have made it
what it is.
The bloodshed by the votaries of the god of
mercy and peace, since the establishment of His religion,
would probably ■jAsffice to drown all other sectaries now on
the habitable globe.
We derive from our ancestors a faith
77
thus fostered and supported:
for its maintenance.
We quarrel, persecute and hate
Even under a government which,
whilst
it imfringes the very right of thought and speech, boasts of
permitting the liberty of the press, a man is pilloried and
imprisoned because he is a deist, and no one raises a voice,
in the indignation of outraged humanity*tlbid:67).
Shelley considered <jod and religion to be the strong­
est pillar^ of the edifice of tyranny, the tyranny of both
the church and the state.
Of the two agents of tyranny; God
and the despot, the farmer was the more powerful one because
He served as a support for the latter*.
Shelley’s most
bitter words of condemnation are reserved for god who is the
fountain-head of everykind of persecution.
In the name of
God, Hell, and Heaven, people have be persecuted for
centuries‘(Sarita Singh, 1970:67).
The fairy describes
allegorically the role of the trio in the unhappiness of
mankind.
"God, Hell, and Heaven
A vengeful, pitiless, and almighty fiend.
Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage
Of tameless tigers hungering for blood
Hell, a red gulf of everlasting fire
Where poisonous and undying worms prolong
Eternal misery to those helpless slaves
Whose life has been a penance for its crimes.
And Heaven, a meed for those who dare belie
Their human nature, quake, believe, and cringe
Before the mockeries of early power"(QM.IV:210-220)
God is the prototype of man's misrule upon the earth.
v
He takes the same pleasure in persecuting and tomenting
others as is taken by a blood-thirsty tyran^t.
He created
man and woman only for the purpose of satisfying his lust
for blood.
"The self-sufficing, the Omnipotent,
The merciful, and the avenging ^odl
Who, prototype the human misrule, sits
High in Heaven's realm, upon a golden throne.
Even like an earthly king; and whose dread work,
Hell, gapes for ever for the unhappy slaves
Of fate, whom He created, in his sport
To triumph in their torments when they fell"(QM.VIt
103-110).
According to Ahasuerus, the real enemy of mankind is
God.
'He is the almighty tyranjit who does not like to see
mankind happy.
He is responsible for misery of the people
and the disquiet which prevails unchecked in all ages.
are fought in the name of religion.
Innumerable crimes are
committed everyday in the name of religion because <§od
encouraged and supports it.
Wars
79
"I have seen God's worshippers unsheathe
The sword of His revenge, when grace descended.
Confirming all unnatural impulses.
To sanctify their desolating deeds;
And frantic priests waved the ill-omened cross
O'er the unhappy earth: then shone the sun
On showers of gore from the rep flash steel
Of safe assassination, and in all crimes
Made stingless by the spirits of the Lord
And blood-red rainbows canopied the Lord"(QM:225-234).
Ahasuerus, has sought the blood-shed perpetrated in
the name of religion.
He describes in an extremely eloquent
language the murder and blood-shed associated with religion
under its influence all human relationships are forgotten
and dehumanisation is brought in.
Through this character
Shelley gives a picturesque description of religion.
It is a
description of condemnation of the role of the religion which
has played in the preservation of tyranny, oppression and
blood-shed under its shelter.
The next agency of tyranny is the state.
Those who were
in power during Shelley's time tyrannised over people.
The
allegory is replete with description of tyrannous acts of
rulers who used their power to establish their rule.
The poet
satrises the tyrantfts, monarchs and despots who had usurped
through fraud or violence.
They like earth-quakes feared for
their power to destroy and bring about ruin.
80
"Monarchs and conquerers there
Proud O'er prostrate millions trod
The earthquakes of the human race;
Like them forgotten when the ruin
That marks their shocks is past"(QM:II:121-125).
The fairy remarks that the kings and conquerors rise from
rapire and murder.
They live on the blood of the toiling
millions and fatter themselves on their flesh and marrow.
"Whence, think'st thou, kings and parasites arose,
Whence that unnatural line of drones, who heap
Toil and unvanquished penury
On those who build their palaces, and bring
Their daily bread?
From vice, black, loathsome vice;
From rapine, madness, treachery and makes
Of earth this thorny wilderness; from lust,
Revenge, and murder....... ". (QM. Ill: 118-126).
Shelley exhibits the history of mankind which has been
an endless story of suffering and bloodshed brought about by
tyrants and their men.
The tyrants knows the art of using
his men like pawns in a game of chess.
toil to heap on himself the luxuries.
He does not have to
He purchases them with
the blood of real builders of civilization.
Those who produce
food die of hunger while the tyrant gorges himself with every
imaginable delicacy.
The tyrant for his act of bloodshed
81
and rapire is reward with fame.
Thus God and tyrant flurish
together through ignorance and superstitions.
"Since tyrants by the sale of human life
Heap luxuries to their sensualism, and fame
To their wide wasting and insatiable pride.
Success has sanctioned to a credulous world
The ruin, the disgrace, the woe of war,
His hosts of blind and unresisting dupes
The despot humbers; from his cabinet
These puppets of his schemes of moves at will,
Even as the slaves by force or famine driven,
Beneath a vulgar master, to perform
A task of cold and brutal drudgery/
Hardened to hope, insensible to fear.
Scarce living pulleys of a dead machine.
Mere whells of work and articles of trade,
That grace the proud and noisy pomp of wealth"
(QM.Vj64-78)
God is the prototype of human misrule.
He has served
as the foundation-stone of the edifice of misrule and tyranny
upon the earth.
God, who was bom in ignorance and
superstition has helped to perpertuate superstition and
ignorance.
The tyranny of ages converges into the concept
of j§od who has been the source and shelter of injustice and
bloodshed through the ages.
He sites
82
"High in Heaven's realm, upon a golden throne.
Even like an earthly king; and (His) dread work
Hell, gapes for ever for the unhappy slaves
Of fate, whom He created, in his sport.
To triumph in their torments when they fell"
(QM.VI:106-110).
The surface of the earth was covered with the blood, and
the crimes of the innocent millions who were butchered in
sweet Confidence.
"And unsuspecting peace, even when the bonds
Of safety were confirmed by wordy oaths
Sworn in His dreadful name
(QM.VI:115-117).
The poem portrays an ample picture of the radiant
future in which earth is no longer hell.
with nature.
Man is
in harmony
Man, who was a miserable, diseased and base
being is now changed with taintless body and soul.
Man has
created the happy earth, a reality of Heaven which is the
glorious prize of blindly-working will.
With his admonition
and prophecy for the future through courage of 'Soul * and
' elevated will'.
The philosophic ideals of Shelley are poured in all
their profuson and richness through the allegory.
83
3.4.3.3.
Allegory in Revolt of Islam
3.4.3.3.1*
The gist of the Revolt of Islam
The story begins with a fight between a snake and
an eagle.
The story introduces two spirits in their heavenly
abode namely Loan,
the male character, and cythna, the
female character who present an account of the experience
they had in their city Argolis when they were alive.
Cythna and Loan were lovers.
They were separated
when the city was attacked by a tyrant named Othman.
Both
of them were captured, imprisoned and tortured in separate
places.
After few years they had escaped.
army of Non-violent partritic and soldiers.
tyrant Othman,
3.4.3.3.2.
They defeat the
But later the tyrant with the help of foreign
forces defeat Loan and cythna.
were killed.
They formed an
The patriots and soldiers
Loan and cythna were burnt to death.
Allegorical Explanation in Revolt of Islam
Allegorical and
Items that are allegorised and
Symbolical representation symbolised
1. The violent quarrel of 1. Symbolical reference to French
the snake and Ea^gle
Revolution
2. Refers to the struggle between
the good and the bad respectively.
2. The wounded serpent
1. Defeat of the good course, the
French Revolution
84
3, The Victorious eafigle
1* The victory of the bad and
corrupted monarchs
4. The lady nursing the
1. Represents Shelley's hope and
belief in the success of the
snake
principles of French Revolutionliberty, equality and fraternity
in the future world.
5. The lady's suggestion
1.
Allegorically refers to
Shelley's influence of the
doctrine of Plato.
Shelley's
suggestions for a future re­
formed world through love,
forgiveness and non-violence
with a good spirit.
6. The story of the spirits 1.
of Loan and cythna
Dedicated services of the
French Revolutionists for the
Right principles of the
revolution.
7. Loan
1.
Symbolically refers to Shelley
and his father-in-law who had
influenced him.
8. Cythna
1.
Mary, Shelley's wife and her
mother wolistonecraft are
represented by cythna.
85
9.
Hermit
1. Allegorically refers to Shelley's
principle of love truth and
forgiveness.
2. Refers to Shelley's philosophy
evil should be treated with good
hatred should be
returned with
love.
10. The tyrant and his
soldiers
1. The king and his followers.
and the capitalists of Shelley's
time.
11. The priest and the
church
1. The unruly priest and the chruch
of Shelley's time who were
merciless without any real
Christian spirit in them.
12. Martyrdom of Loan
Cythna
1. Allegorically refers to the
dedicated service of Shelley and
his wife Mary to the principles
of French Revolution.
They were
ready even to die for the right
cause of the French Revolution.
Aim of Allegory
Shelley depicts his contemporary England with its
corrupted, merciless, priest and kings.
He depicts the
story of French Revolution through the martyrdom of Loan and
86
Cythna.
He suggests that a reformed world dreamp^by the
French Revolution is possible if people cultivate the good
habits of forgiveness, love, truth, non-violence and hope.
The next allegory is 'Revolt of Islam'.
suppressed by his publishers.
It was
It is a tale of lovers who
repeatedly risk their lives for one another.
They sacrifice
their love to the higher ideal of love of mankind.
The poem
consists of political despotism and domestic depostism which
could be overcome by wisdom, love and liberty.
the romantic idealism of French Revolution.
It represents
Allegorically
it is meant to be the union of representative man and
representative woman who are capable of the highest individual
happiness when they live according to their ideals.
They
are able to escape from the falsehoods of the social
organisation in which they are trapped.
At the beginning of the play an allegorical and
symbolical representation of good and evil are depicted.
Standing on the seashores, the poet views the struggle between
the serpent and the Eagle.
The struggle symbolically
represents the continuous battle between the spirit of good,
the serpent, whose heavenly shape is the Morning star, and the
spirit of evil, the Eagle, whose heavenly shape is the bloodred comet.
The struggle has existed throughout history.
is the primary conflict in Loan and Cythna.
It
To Shelley the
spirit of evil is not synonymous with the general orthodox
87
conceptions of 'devil and sin'.
It rather represents the
tyranny of despots, the oppression of churches and
individual man's potential for hate, violence and selfishness,
it derives power from man's own ignorance.
The spirit of
good should not be considered as the traditional obedience
to authority.
It represents the freedom and equality of all
human beings.
It is the individual's potential for love,
non-violence and brotherhood.
At the conclusion of the violent struggle for
supermacy, the apparently lifeless serpent fall?into the sea
and the victorious Eagle flies away.
A woman, who represents
Hope, finds the crippled but not fatally wounded serpent and
nurses it.
The poet joins them and they sail in a boat,
which is love to the Temple of Immortality.
On the way she
explains to the poet the meaning of what has just occuredThe age old battle between good and evil.
It also refers
to the French Revolution
"Thus all triumphed, and the spirit of evil.
One power of many shapes which none may know.
One shape of many names;M(11:370-372).
Justice and truth wage silent war with custom, and priests
and kings feared as the world's foundation trembled.
Even
though it appears that the spirit of evil has been once again
victorious, the poet should not despair.
88
"Though thou may'st hear that earth in now become
The tyrant's garbage, which to his compeers.
The vile reward of their dishonoured years.
He will dividing give. - The Victor fiend.
Omnipotent of yore, now quails, and fears
His triumph dearly won, which soon will lend
An impulse swift and sure to his approaching and"
(11:426-32)
Hope and the spirit of good have gone forth into the hearts
and minds of men.
thrones.
Kings and priests sit upon tarnished
A moral revolution is at hand.
The empathic
imagination, the weapon of the poet and the reformer, has
been stirred and vitalized.
When people imaginatively
accepts the spirit of good, of live, of non-violence then the
ideal revolution occurs.
The weapons of despots - fear gold,
violence will cease to be effective.
Thrones will lose
their luster.
As the morning star rises in the heavens the little
boat sails into the temple of Immortality.
The poet then
hears thety story of two spirits. Loan and Cythna, recently
arrived from battle in the temporal world.
Loan and Cythna, allegorical representation of wisdom
tr
and Love who also represent the spirit of good start narrate
the way of life they had on earth.
Shelley through Loan
CL
portrys his view of reformation and revolution through Love.
89
Loan begins by telling about his childhood and of the misery
that engulfed his native land.
belief.
Argolis# Loan assets Shelley's
All tyranny is a conspiracy of despot and slave.
The slave gives the despot the power by which he tyrannizes.
He participates in tyranny’s quilt by contributing to the
evil.
Loan describes how His city was
and his men.
captured by the tyrants
Consequently the victims and the torturers suffer
through bondage.
Loan now has no hatred towards his tyrants.
Shelley voices his policy of forgiving the enemies through
Love.
Loan and cythna were captured by the enemies.
were seperated to undergo slavery.
They
Loan was chained to a
pillar in a cave because he behaved brutally towards the
armed-men who ill-treated cythna.
out of thirst and insanity.
humanity.
He actually killed four
Loan suffers for his sin against
He experiences physical agony and spiritual anguish.
c.
When near death he was resued
by
Hermit and they set sail to
a faraway Island.
Cythna after the miseries in the slavery escapes and
is leading a gentle revolution on behalf of women's freedom
and justice,
she persuades her followers to dedicate their
life for the love of humanity.
"To feel the peace of self-contentments lot
To own all sympathies# and outrage none.
And in the inmost bowers of sense and thought.
90
Until life's sunny day is quite gone down#
To sit and smile with joy# or# not alone.
To kiss salt tears from the worn cheek of Woe;
To live, as if to love and live were one#
This is not faith or law, nor those who bow
To thrones on Heaven or Earth, such destiny
many know"(11*3298-3306).
The Hermit's advice to Loan brings out Shelley's
principle of forging and loving.the enemies instead of
fighting with them,
"If blood be shed#
'tis but a change and choice
Of bonds - from slavery to cowardice
A wretched fallI - uplift, thy charmed voice 1
Pour on those evil men the love that lies
Hovering within those spirit soothing eyes Arise, my friend# farewellI"(11*1657-62)
Loan joins the army of Cythna and advises them not to take
revenge on the tyrants soldiers who had mercilessly attacked
them.
He says evil should be returned with good.
should be returned with love.
Hatred
He talks of the power of truth,
love and forgiveness.
"Oh wherefore should ill
ever flow from ill,
And pain still keener pain for ever breed?
We are all breathen - even the slaves who kill
<JL
For Hire are men; and two avenge mi seed
91
On the misdoer, doth Misery feed
With her own broken heartI O Earth, 0 Heaven 1
And thou, dread Nature, which to every deed
And all that live or is to be hath given,
Even as to thee have these done ill, and are
forgiven”(11x1810-18)
The tyrant's soldiers have realised the value of
love and forgiveness.
They no more remained the slaves of
the tyrant and they have withdrawn from evil.
revolution is complete.
The ideal
The tyrant is defeated through love
and forgiveness with which his slaves are corrected.
Mob want to attack the tyrant.
The
But Loan advises them that
they have to forgive him for his misdeeds.
"Alas, such were pure, - the chastened will
Of virtue sees that justice is the light
Of love, and not revenge, and terror and despite"
(roi;
Loan seeks to maintain his humanity in the midst of
the revolutionary process.
and the oppressor
their enemy.
He seeks to liberate the oppressed
by demanding the revolutionaries to love
They do not dehumanize both the enemy and
themselves by revenge, terror and despite.
Loans actions
demonstrate the necessity of a strong and charismatic herbleader in Shelley's vision of a free and liberated society.
92
The peace and joy established by the revolution are short
lived.
The tyrant supported by foreign armies subdue the
patriots through wholesale slaughter.
in love and brotherhood to die*
The soldiers flocked
They willingly offer them­
selves as a sacrifice, to action love, to freedom, and
to humanity.
Finally the priests suggest that God's wrath will be
pleased only by the martyrdom of Loan and Cythna and only when
they are burnt to death.
"And priests rushed through their rangs, some
counterf eiting
The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed
With their own lies they said their
God was waiting to see his enemies
Writhe, and burn and bleed"(11:4189-94)
3.4.3.4.
Allegory in Prometheus Unbound
3.4.3.4.1.
The gist of Prometheus Unbound
The allegory deals with the suffering of the hero
Prometheus and his lady love Asia.
Prometheus is tied to
a rack for thousand of years to tortured by Jupiter, the
corrupted jfcjod of Christianity.
Jupiter tortures Prometheus
to know a secret from Prometheus.
his enemy.
his enemy.
Prometheus first hatred
After suffering to a great extent he forgives
93
Asia, his lady love now joins him.
Mercury, the agent
of Jupiter and the evil spirits torture Prometheus.
Earth,
the mother of Prometheus, lone, and Panthea and good spirits
console Prometheus.
force approaches.
Demogargon, the universoal spirit or
It demolishes the rule of Jupiter and
releases Prometheus.
3.4.3.4.2.
1•
Prometheus joins his lady-love Asia.
Allegorical Explanation in Prometheus Unbound
Symbol for all the ideal qualities
Prometheus
which men should have - courage,
endurance, fighting spirit against
tyranny.
Allegorical personification for
self-less dovotion to a great
cause with love, faith, charity
and hope.
3.
Representation of reason and wisdom,
4.
Allegorically stands for the
Principles of Christianity; Non­
violence, forgiveness, love and
redemption.
5.
Prometheus represents the intelli­
gentsia of the early nineteenth
century who were aware of the need
for political reform.
94
2.
The torture of
1.
The torture and torment of the
intellectuals of Shelley's time
Prometheus
by the thoughts of war and
oppression of that period
His recantation of
1.
Symbolises the realisation in
hearts of the'intellectuals of
the curse
Shelley's age to give up the
9UX* of revenge from their
thousands
hearts.
3.
Demogargon
1.
Spirit of Eternity# of the
Universe# the ultimate reality
and necessity.
4.
Jupiter
1.
On the political level represents
the tyranny of kings and priests.
2.
On the psychic level represents
the evil impulses within
proraetheus himself.
5.
The personifications
1.
Allegorically represents
Shelley's myth-making excellence
6.
Earth
1.
Represents love without wisdom
7•
Mercury
1.
Represents wisdom without love
symbolises the persons who carry
out the will of the aristocratic
class and dispise themselves for
so doing.
95
8.
1.
The Furies which
Represent those forces by
means of which the governing
torture Prometheus
aristocracy tartured the
intellectuals
9.
Asia
10, lone and Panthea's
1,
Representation of spirit of love
1.
Represent the hope of a new
dwelling with
order in the hearts of the men
Prometheus
of England of Shelley's time
eventhough there is despotism
and struggle for liberty
11,
Panthea's information 1. Represents the approaching
of the approaching
golden age
spring.
Aim of the Allegory
Shelley depicts his contemporary England with its
corrupted# merciless aristocracy and the money-minded
authorities fef the church.
He wants to reform England.
Shelley looks forward to a happier world based on Christian
charity between men.
poem.
It is this spirit which animates the
It represents the permanent and spiritual means of
transformation for all men in all ages.
The events
'Prometheus Unbound' take place in the realm of mind.
unfolds renovation after renovation.
of
It
96
Allegorically Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' concerns
itself with the revolution of the human spirit rather than
the reform of society.
According to Shelley there must be a
reform of the individual before society as a whole could be
reformed.
Act I of the play represents Prometheus as a
pathetic man chained to the precipice of icy rocks.
In his
opening speech we are given a brief glimse of his dark
night of the soul.
He has been tortured physically and
mentally for three thousand years by Jupiter.
Jupiter on
the political level represents the tyranny of kin$s and
priests.
On the psychic level he represents the evil impulses
within Prometheus himself.
"Whilst me, who am thy foe, eyeless in hate.
Hast thou made reign and triumph, to thy scorn
O'er mine own misery and they vain revenge
Three thousand years of sleep-unsheltered hours.
And moments aye divided by keen pangs
Till they seemed years, torture and solitude.
Scorn and despair - these are mine empire"(i:1-7).
Prometheus is the hope of mankind because he refuses to
submit to Jupiter's rule;
He also chains himself to pain and
inaction through his hate of the tyrant and his desire for
revenge.
The intensity of his
suffering has produced
profound spiritual enguish and egocentric self-pity and
brought prometheus to the e$dge of despair.
he realises a new commitment of life.
In this state
His spiritual state
97
immediately begins to change.
"v......
He says that he hates no more.
I speak in grief.
Not exultation, for I hate no more.
As then ere misery made me wise. The curse
Once breathed on thee I would recall" (1*46-49)
Through his suffering Prometheus has gained the knowledge
that evil is its own worst enemy.
To exist with hate and
revenge in his heart towards Jupiter is to reduce his spirit
to the level of Jupiter's.
evil.
Then he becomes a partner in
It is to chain his soul to the forces of death and
destruction.
His realization I.-„C' - ^ is what he himself
has done leads him to sympathize with the unwitting position
of Jupiter and to pity him.
"It doth repent me; words are quick and vain?
Grief for awhile is blind, and so was mine
I wish no living thing to suffer pain"(1;303-5)
Mercury's speech to Prometheus is like a pragmatist's to
a pasifist.
omnipotence.
He advises Prometheus to submit to Jupiter's
But Prometheus strong will power never yielded.
He says,
"He who is evil can receive to good;
For justice, when Triumphant, will weep down
Pity, not punishment, on her own wrongs.
Too much avenged by those who err" (1.389-405)
98
That evil is its own worst enemy, its own punishment.
The
severe tortures by the furies and Mercury makes Prometheus
to pity 'the slaves of the slave'.
There is no fear in him.
The furies are powerless to subsume the human will.
The
horrible visions and acute pain inflicted on Prometheus can
not sway the hero from his will power.
Act 1 ends with
the comfort given to Prometheus by the healing spirits of
Earth.
They bring
hope to Prometheus with their prophecy
of the approaching revolution.
Act II opens in the Indian cascasus with the soliloquy
by Asia.
She is the allegorical symbol of universal love,
fertility and the promise of a new life.
Prometheus has
given up the hate which filled his being, his thoughts have
now turned to Asia and the love they once shared.
His hate
has separated him from his most powerful ally-love.
Asia
realizes the change that has occured within the soul of
Prometheus and her transformation begins immediately.
Panthea has a dream and Asia along with Panthea is
prompted
to visit Demogorgon.
Demogorgon is the symbol of
Eternity, universal force, the ultimate reality, and
Necessity.
Asia through her visit learns of impending doom
of Jupiter and her reunion with Prometheus.
Good and evil
war within the human spirit eternally and love is the only
means by which man can assure the perpetual triumph of good
over evil.
The act ends with the personification of love
through Asia.
99
Act III presents the symbolical presentation of
Jupiter, the spirit of evil and tyranny*
and egoism.
He is full of pride
Jupiter is seen at his proudest moment, on the
verge of total victory over persistent enemy Prometheus.
Jupiter is about to be married to Thetis, his lady love.
But Demogorgon approaches him and orders Jupiter to follow
him.
He is the child of Jupiter.
He has come to replace
Jupiter as Jupiter has replaced his father saturn.
Jupiter cannot crush Demogorgon beneath his feet
as he once attempted to crush all else.
Prometheus, the
collective imaginative potential of man, becomes united with
Asia unchanging love, and together they prepetually renew
their dedication to life.
and love.
Their union is the union of wisdom
Act IV is a lyrical hymn to regenerate man and a
musical celebration of life.
Earth, Moon, Hour and spirits
sing to celebrate the glory of wisdom, will and love.
Demogorgon sings his vision of revolution and reality#
gentleness, virtue, wisdom and Endurance will assure man's
innate ability to control the quality of his life.
His will
is free.
As Shelley wished man has become free through the
freedom attacked by Prometheus.
has fetllen.
The Evil
empire of Jupiter
100
"The loathsome mask has fallen.
The man remains, -
Sceptretess, free uncircumscribed, - but man?
Equal, unclassed, tribeless and nationless.
Exempt from awe, worship, degree The king over himself; »yust, gentle
Wise, - but man?"(Illsiv.193-198)
Demogorgon sings Shelley's vision of revolution and reality*
He says,
"Gentleness, virtue, wisdom, and Endurance,
These are the seals of that most firm assurance
Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength?
And if, with infirm hand, Eternity,
Mother of many acts and hours, should free
The serpent that would clasp her with his length?
These are the spells by which to reassume
An empire O'er dientangled doom"(IV:562-9)
Love and wisdom have combined with the evilj. of man to over
throw 'Heaven's despotism.
In future if evil, which is
eternal, should again win supermacy the noble traits,
gentleness, virtue, wisdom and endurance will assure man
victory*
Shelley asserts through Demogorgon that man has
the innate ability to control the quality of his life.
will is free.
His
101
The final lyric of the poem allegorically refers to
Shelley's faith in Hindu Philosophy.
Deraogorgon says,
"To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;
To defy power, which seems omnipotent;
To love and bear; to hope till Hope creates
Prom its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;
This, like thy glory. Titan is to be
Good, great, and Joyous, beautiful and free;
This is alone Life, joy, empire and victory"
(IV:569-578)
The application of different literary and linguistic
stylistic aspects like mind-style, structural method, semiostylistic theory and Existential psychonalysis to the poems
exhibit the philosophy beind the poems.
Shelley's hatred for oppression, love for freedom,
Christian philosophy of love, and ^andhian philosophy
Non-violence are revealed through the allegories.
of
102
3.5,
Discourse Aspect of Shelley
Discourse is a sequence of sentences centring around
a specific theme.
David Crystral (1985:114) defines discourse
as'a term used in linguistics to refer to a continuous stretch
of language larger than a sentence'.
Discourse may be
classified into four categories as
1.
Narrative Discourse
2.
Dialogue Discourse
3.
Expository Discourse
4.
Hortatory Discourse
Narrative Discourse
The subject matter of a narrative text may be called
'themes*.
Description about nature# event# episode,
description of a character, characters activities from the
structure of a narrative text.
Dialogue Discourse
Dialogue Discourse is followed by conversational
texts.
Conversational texts may be in question answer or
cause-response forms.
Expository Discourse
Expository Discourse is constructed for the exposition
of any situation.
or end of a line.
It takes place at the beginning# middle
103
Hartatorv Discourse
Hartatory discourse encourages the previous or the
forthcoming incidents in a novel.
It contains lines or
sentences which have the function of making the readers or
listner to do something based on the suggestions given in
the lines.
It may be a request, order or command.
The poets Shelley and Bharathidasan follow the four
discourse patterns in their poems.
The structure of the
poetic discourse can be analysed by the abstract elements
as
1•
Pre Margin
2•
Nucleus
3.
Post Margin
Pre margin and post margin represent the introductory and
concluding stanzas of the poems discussed.
the theme of the poem.
Nucleus refers to
Order of occurrence of events
portrayed may be classified as follows.
1.
Continuous events
2.
Discontinuous events
3.
Parallel events
Based on the above said discourse analysis the poems of the
two poets, Shelley and Bharathidasan can be analysed.
104
Discourse Structure of the Poem * ODE TO WEST WIND*
Pre Margin
: West Wind is introduced as a wild spirit
Neucleus
: The action and the interrelationship of the
wind with the leaft, the cloud and the wave.
The poet's indentification with the west
wind,
Post Margin
: West Wind's action as a trumpheter.
Shelley‘s
hope in the golden age of the ideal world.
No,
Symbol
1.
West Wind
2•
3.
Winter
Spring
Allegory:
Actual Item Symbolised
1.
The force of Nature
2.
Shelley's personality
3.
Change and hope
4.
The free spirit of man
5.
Strength end energy
6.
Destroyer of the old order
7.
Preserver of the new order
1,
Failures of French Revolution
2.
A period of hardship and difficulties
1.
Golden age or the Millennium
2.
Beauty and Love will reign over the earth.
The poem exhibits Shelley as an idealist,a
as a believer in the triumph of the forces
of good over the forces of evil.
It is an
allegorical representation of Shelley's
revolutionary idealism.
105
Continuous event:
The action of the wind
Piscontinuous
:
Allegorical and symbolical, and
:
Value of the wind.
Event
Parallel Event
Postrayal of Shelley's
Discourse Structure of the Poem 'TO THE SKYLARK*
Pre Margin
The bird skylark is introduced as a
blithe or happy spirit
Neucleus
A series of similies and metaphors
regarding the beauty and the music of
the bird.
Post Margin
Indentification of the poet with the
Bird.
His request to the bird to teach
him its happiness.
No.
Symbol
1.
Skylark
Actual Item Symbolised
1*
Shelley's personality
2.
Platonic symbol of the ideal
spirit of the poetry
3•
Allegory
Shelley's philo sophy.
The poem exhibits Shelley
idealist.
as an
Allegorical representation of
Shelley's philosophy of life.
106
Continuous Event :
The flight of the bird
Piscontinuous
Allegorical and symbolical value of the
:
Event and Parallel
bird.
Portrayal of Shelley's
Event
contemporary world.
Discourse Structure of the Allegory 'QUEEN MAB'
Pre Margin
:
a. A Fairy named Queen Mab visits a
virtuous girl named Ianthe in her
sleep.
b. Ianthe*s spirit or soul follows the
fairy, Queen Mab to her heavenly abode.
Neucleus
:
a. The fairy Queen Mab reveals the
secrets of past and future world.
b. Express the evils and corruptions of
the chruch and state by the priest
and kings
c. Suggestions made by her for the aboli­
tion of present condition of chruch
and state.
Establishment of Man's
power through equality.
Post Margin
t
Ianthe's spirit is brought back and united
with her body by a fairy.
107
No.
1.
Symbol
Queen Mab
Actual Item Symbolised
1. Allegorical representation of the
principles of Shelley
2. The prophetic imagination of Shelley
3. Trumpheter of the new prophecy and
revelation
2.
Ahasuerus
Represents Shelley's views on god and
religion
3•
Church and
Tyranny
State
4,
God
Prototype of human misrule
5.
Ianthe
Ignorant humanity
Allegory
Through the story Shelley visualises a
future which will be guided by reason
and love.
It emphasises the removal of
tyranny through love.
It presents Shelley's
passion for reforming the world.
Through
symbolic indirection the poet presents
his views on nature the evils of religion
and of marriage.
Continuous Event t
The fairy Queen Mab's visit of Ianthe and
the influence made by the fairy.
108
Discontinuous
:
Allegorical and symbolical value of the
Event and Parallel
fairy.
Portrayal of Shelley’s contem-
Event
porary world and the ideal world.
Discourse Structure of the Allegory ’REVOLT OF ISLAM*
Pre Margin
t
a. A fight between a serpent and an
eagle near a sea-shore.
Defeated
serpent is thrown into the sea.
b. Wounded serpent is nursed by a lady
in a ship.
The poet joins them.
c. Arrival of the ship at the temple of
immortality in heaven.
Neucleus
t
The poets hears the experience of the two
spirits Loan and Cythna who were recently
killed in the battle of the temporal
world.
Loan's city Argolis was captured
by a tyrant named Ottaman.
lady love
tyrant.
Loan and his
Cythna were captured by the
Later they gather the force of
the patriots and defeated the tyrant.
But it was short lived.
The tyrant
gathered the foreign forces and defeated
Loan, Cythna and the patriots.
109
Post Margin
s
According to the suggestions made by
the priests. Loan and Cythna were burnt
alive.
Allegory
i
The poem is an allegory through which
Shelley wants to replace the world with
love and forgiveness.
referring to
'•_£
It is an allegory
French Revolution
and its failure.
No,
1•
Actual Item Symbolised
Symbol
Serpent and
Good and evil
eagle
2,
Defeat of t !
The failure of French Revolution
serpent
3,
Loan and Cythna Representations of wisdom and Love
the spirit of good
4,
Tyrant, Ottaman Tyranny
5,
Hermit
Principles of forgiveness
Continuous Event »
Love story of Loan and Cythna and their
patriotism.
Discontinuous
s
Allegory implied in the sacrifice of Loan
Event and Parallel
and Cythna,
Event
England.
Potrayal of contemporary
Discourse Structure of the Allegory ’PROMETHEUS UNBOUND*
Pre Margin
t
Prometheus# the hero of the poetic drama
is chained to the precipice of icy rocks.
He has been tortured physically and
mentally for three thousand years by
Jupiter# who represents the tyranny of
kings and priests.
Neucleus
:
Prometheus suffers severe tortures by the
furies and Mercury/the agents of Jupiter.
Eventhough the hero is tortured by the
enemy.
Jupiter# the hero understands the
value of love and forgive his enemy.
He hates Jupiter no more.
Prometheus has
understood the universal truth that evil
can not be replaced by evil.
replaced only by good.
It can be
After this realis­
ation# Asia# his lady love# joins him.
Demogorgon# the spirit of eternity is
introduced.
He is the universal force#
supporting good, and destroying the evil.
Post Margin
:
Demogorgon replaces Jupiter
Prometheus is released.
Asia.
from his power
He is united with
Ill
No.
Symbol
Actual Item Symbolised
Prometheus
The collective potential of mankind
2
Asia
Pure, eternal love
3
Jupiter
Tyranny
4
Demogorgon
Universal force, eternity.
1
,
Allegory:
: The poetic drama concerns itself with the
revolution of the human spirit.
Allegori­
cally it is a poetic presentation of New
Testament ethics.
Shelley recommends
passive resistance, forgiveness of wrongs
and goodwill towards others.
Continuous Event:The painful story of Prometheus Unbound
the change in his mentality from hatred to
love towards his enemy, his union with Asia
and the freedom he gets through Demogorgon
from the continuous event of the story.
Discontinuous
:Allegorical and symbolical value of
Event and
Prometheus Unbound, Asia, Jupiter and
Parallel Event
Demogorgon,
Shelley's contemporary world
and the ideal world is portrayed.