ENG308Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Great Assembly, Terza Rima
ENG308 Jan 16
-read until ch 4 of Frankenstein for next class
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
-argument against the idea that he was an idealistic poet who used poetry to escape
from reality
-however, Shelly was attacking reality through his poetry
-for Shelley, reality was the status quo-was slavery for him
-imagines a better world
-equality
-justice
-freedom
-nonviolence
-first real political writer to suggest that nonviolence is the only way to have a
revolution
-for Shelley, possibility is not an escape from reality, but is what we should be
striving for
-the hope that at some point in time, human beings will create a world in which
these things exist together
-Godwin believed in the concept of necessity
-if you have a good idea, if it’s a valuable idea, they never forget it
-believed that history is always progressive, bc once you know something,
you can’t give it up
-used the metaphor of fire
-once you know how to make fire, you will always know how to make fire
and you will pass it on to your children bc it’s a valuable skill
-certain ideas like freedom-once you understand them, you will never forget
them and strive to create a better world
-writing poetry is not realistic in any fashion: not trying to put a mirror to the world
-it is instead a mirror to our minds
Ode to the West Wind cont’d
-hymn, ode
-performative value of these terms: hymn isn’t just a song, it’s an attempt to
converse with a diety of some kind, to celebrate a god
-an expression of who you are and what you believe in
-rarely sing a hymn alone—hymns linked to communities
-the poem is trying to sing a hymn that others are also singing to a deity of poetry
-notion of incantation: also performative
-incantation is used to summon up something
-the poem is the place where the God manifests themselves
-sense that his happens no where else but in the poem
-at stanza 4, shifts focus: begins with if
-the poet subject to another power
-that power is itself uncontrollable
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Read until ch 4 of frankenstein for next class. Argument against the idea that he was an idealistic poet who used poetry to escape from reality. However, shelly was attacking reality through his poetry. For shelley, reality was the status quo-was slavery for him. First real political writer to suggest that nonviolence is the only way to have a revolution. For shelley, possibility is not an escape from reality, but is what we should be striving for. The hope that at some point in time, human beings will create a world in which these things exist together. (cid:498)if you have a good idea, if it"s a valuable idea, they never forget it(cid:499) Believed that history is always progressive, bc once you know something, Once you know how to make fire, you will always know how to make fire them and strive to create a better world.
