Percy Bysshe Shelley
Presented by Helen Ding, Rohan Bansal, Sydney
Stec, and Pooja Amirneni
What do these have in
common (besides facial hair)?
TYRANNY!
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Tyranny (noun): Cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control
One of many things that Shelley was strongly against
Often expressed strongly-opinionated viewpoints in his literature
Biography
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1792 - 1822, born in Horsham, England
His first major poem, Queen Mab, attacked social institutions such as
marriage, monarchy, and the church
He was outcast by British society due to his scandalous behavior and fled
to Switzerland, where he became close friends with Lord Byron and John
Keats
Was originally married to Harriet Westbrook but grew increasingly
unhappy.
Left Westbrook - who was pregnant with second child - and married Mary
Wollstonecraft Godwin (Mary Shelley)
Biography (cont...)
• In addition to poetry, Shelley also wrote
pamphlets about his opinions and
beliefs
• Most of his major works were written
within the four years before his untimely
death, when he drowned while sailing at
the age of 29
• He made little money from his writing
during his lifetime, and his primary
income was what his grandfather left to
him
Ozymandias (pg 846)
Ozymandias is a poem discussing the extent of control that rulers have over
their people, and the idea that power is limited by person's lifespan.
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
He met someone from a traveller from Egypt who shares a story with him. The
traveller wants to pass on his adventure. This demonstrates the Romantics
beliefs on the necessity of bearing witness and sharing stories.
Ozymandias
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Talks about the destruction of Ozymandias and how his statue once stood tall
when he was the mighty king but now has fallen.
Ozymandias
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
These final lines describes the entire theme of how tyranny eventually falls.
A Lesson on Conformity
An Exhortation
An Exhortation is a poem that discovers the integrity and motives of a poet.
Shelley does through a metaphor comparing the needs of chameleons to
that of poets.
While reading the poem look out for:
The overall theme
Explication of each stanza
Tone of the poem
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An Exhortation
Chameleons feed on light and air:
Poets' food is love and fame:
If in this wide world of care
Poets could but find the same
With as little toil as they,
Would they ever change their hue
As the light chameleons do,
Suiting it to every ray
Twenty times a day?
Poets want love and fame. But if they do not get it, would change what they do just that
they can get their love and fame. Conformity should not be an option for poets.
An Exhortation
Poets are on this cold earth,
As chameleons might be,
Hidden from their early birth
In a cave beneath the sea;
Where light is, chameleons change:
Where love is not, poets do:
Fame is love disguised: if few
Find either, never think it strange
That poets range.
You don’t know if you you’re going to become a poet - it just kind of happens.
However, if you are unsuccessful they change similar to how the chameleon does
when it sees light. Love is referred to as fame and can be thought of as
interchangeable.
An Exhortation
Yet dare not stain with wealth or power
A poet's free and heavenly mind:
If bright chameleons should devour
Any food but beams and wind,
They would grow as earthly soon
As their brother lizards are.
Children of a sunnier star,
Spirits from beyond the moon,
O, refuse the boon!
If they get fame they keep on doing what they have been, but they should always what
they do regardless of the fame/love. Similar chameleons changes colors makes it
unique, a poet who keeps changing no longer becomes unique.
A Question to Ponder....
Shelley believes that it is important not
to conform to a group of people. Do
you agree or disagree with this
notion?