Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley's Poetry

Home , Mont Blanc (poem), Mutability (poem), Ode to the West Wind, Sublime (literary), To a Skylark

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Poetry

Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung eines akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie

an der Karl- Franzens Universität Graz

vorgelegt von Sabrina PALAN

am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Martin Löschnigg

Graz, 2017

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Eidesstattliche Erklärung

Ich erkläre an Eides statt, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen nicht benutzt und die den benutzen Quellen wörtlich oder inhaltlich entnommenen Stellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe. Überdies erkläre ich, dass dieses Diplomarbeitsthema bisher weder im In- noch im Ausland in irgendeiner Form als Prüfungsarbeit vorgelegt wurde und dass die Diplomarbeit mit der vom Begutachter beurteilten Arbeit übereinstimmt.

Sabrina Palan

Graz, am 27.02.2017

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 5

2. Romanticism – A Shift in Sensibilities ...... 8

2.1 Etymology of the Term “Romantic” ...... 9

2.2 A Portrait of a Cultural Period ...... 9

2.3 The First and Second Generation of Romanticists in England ...... 14

2.4 The Concept of Poetry in the Romantic Age ...... 15

2.5 Characteristic Features of Romanticism ...... 18

2.6 Main Themes in Romantic Poetry ...... 20

2.6.1 Nature ...... 20

2.6.2 The Sublime ...... 22

2.6.3 The Supernatural ...... 23

2.6.4 Childhood Innocence ...... 24

2.7 Subjectivity in Romantic Poetry ...... 25

3. Percy Bysshe Shelley as Poet of the Second Generation of Romanticists ...... 30

3.1 Shelley‟s Life and Major Works ...... 32

3.2 Main Themes in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry ...... 35

3.2.1 Presence of a Sublime Spirit in Nature ...... 36

3.2.2 Change and Transience of Life ...... 37

3.2.3 Freedom, Revolutionary Prophecy and Politics ...... 37

3.2.4 Power of the Imagination and Poetic Inspiration ...... 38

3.2.5 Interconnectedness of Present, Past and Future ...... 38

3.3 Shelley‟s Philosophical Position ...... 39

3.4 The Significance of Poetry and the Role of the Poet in Shelley‟s Literary Works ..... 42

3.5 Systemic Thought in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry ...... 48

4. Analysis of Selected Works by Percy Bysshe Shelley ...... 52

4.1 The Presence of a Sublime Spirit as a Core Element of Systemic Thought ...... 52

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

4.1.1 “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” ...... 53

4.1.2 “Mont Blanc” ...... 58

4.1.3 “To Constantia” ...... 64

4.2 Continuous Change as the Key Moment for the Development of Systemic Thought . 68

4.2.1 “Mutability” ...... 69

4.2.2 “Ozymandias” ...... 71

4.3 The Belief in an Interdependence between Present, Past and Future as a Constituent Element of Systemic Thought ...... 74

4.3.1 “Chorus from Hellas” ...... 75

4.3.2 “Ode to Heaven” ...... 79

4.4 Prophecy of (Political) Change and the Belief in an Interdependence between Growth and Decay as Constituent Elements of Systemic Thought ...... 84

4.4.1 “Ode to the West Wind” ...... 85

4.4.2 “Ode to Liberty” ...... 92

4.4.3 “Ode to Naples” ...... 106

4.5 Identification with a Sublime Spirit and Unity of Poet and Nature as Final Steps towards a Philosophy of Systemic Thought ...... 117

4.5.1 “To a Skylark” ...... 118

4.5.2 “The Cloud” ...... 125

5. Conclusion ...... 131

6. Bibliography ...... 134

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

1. Introduction

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 – […] Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise, and unbuild it again. (“The Cloud” Shelley: 1820)

Percy Bysshe Shelley belonged to the second generation of English Romanticists. In contrast to the poets of the first generation, Shelley sharply felt the gap between the noble ideals of his age and factual reality surrounding him. Nevertheless, his poetry is infused with a boundless optimism and genuine reverence for the sublime and divine in nature. The lines above, taken from one of his most famous odes - “The Cloud” - epitomise what lies at the core of the poet‟s literary works and lyric poetry: the presence of a sublime spirit or power in nature, the poet`s solitude which is the prerequisite for his creativity, a sense of change and an awareness of the transience of life. All these elements combined with the profound notion that growth and decay, life and death, destruction and creation are intimately related with each other characterise Shelley‟s literary works. Filtered through the poet‟s subjective perspective, the environment seems to be suffused with a sublime power. This power is omnipresent and everlasting, and reminds the speaker of the interdependence between all elements in life.1

In this diploma thesis, I will demonstrate the pervasiveness of systemic thought in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s literary works. Systemic Thought, a concept deriving from Systems Theory and Social Science, is defined as “Denken in Wirkungs- und Rückkoppelungszusammenhängen, das die Eigendynamik von Prozessen anerkennt und die kurzfristige sowie langfristige Wirkungen, direkte als auch indirekte Einflüsse berücksichtigt” (Breuer 2012: 17). In Shelley‟s understanding, systemic thought means interconnectedness and an awareness of a never-ending interplay between growth and decay in life. This belief in

1 Percy Bysshe Shelley was not the first Romantic poet to express such ideas. Similar tendencies were already noticeable in the cultural climate of the late 18th century and were partly taken up by the poets of the first generation of Romanticists. The English poet William Blake for instance, who historically belongs to the pre- romantic era, published two complementing poem cycles - Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience - in which he acknowledges the interconnectedness of good and evil. These tendencies eventually culminate in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan the interconnectedness of all entities in the universe is manifested in the idea that a divine spirit runs through everything and everyone, thereby creating an interdependence between all parts of the system: old and new, rise and decay, destruction and creation. Yet, systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry is also informed by the highly subjective perspective taken in his literary works. This diploma thesis will therefore analyse the interplay between systemic thought and subjectivity (as a lens or perspective through which the speaker perceives the world) in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry.

The main research question I wish to answer in this diploma thesis is whether systemic thought and subjectivity are conflicting elements in Shelley‟s poetry or whether they work together with one reinforcing the other. My aim is to analyse the development of systemic thought in 12 of Shelley‟s poems. Through an in-depth analysis of these works, I will show that systemic thought is at the core of Shelley‟s poetry. In the earlier poems the aspect of change, the transience of life and the presence of a sublime spirit in nature feature as main themes. In later poems, these ideas are further developed into the notion of systemic thought, which then permeates the whole poem. The presence of a sublime spirit acts as the synthesising force and can therefore be regarded as a pivotal element in the development of systemic thought in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry.

This diploma thesis consists of two main parts which are meant to complement each other: first, a historical part which contains information on the Age of Romanticism and its most prominent features, biographical details on the life and works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as the major themes of his writing2; second, an analytical part in which an in-depth analysis of 12 poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley will be performed. In my literary analysis the main focus will be placed on how the subjectivity of the speaker affects his argumentation and in which ways the poems are infused with systemic thought. The aim of the analytical part is to show the development of systemic thought in the following literary works by Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc”, “To Constantia”, “Mutability”, “Ozymandias”, “Chorus from Hellas”, “Ode to Heaven”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “Ode to Liberty”, “Ode to Naples”, “To a Skylark” and “The Cloud”. In the conclusion of my thesis, I will summarise my findings and point out further areas of study in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s writing.

2 In this context, Shelley‟s views on life and his conception of the role of the poet will be analysed. His essays On Life, On Love and A Defence of Poetry will allow me to gain an insight into his reasoning and philosophical position.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The following chapters will present a detailed portrait of the Romantic age as a cultural and historical period. First, the socio-historical background of Romanticism will be analysed. The role of historical events such as the French Revolution for the development of a new way of thinking will be discussed. The difference between the mind-sets of the first and the second generation of Romantic poets in England will be analysed and the concept of poetry in the Romantic period will be explained. In addition to this, the most important themes in Romantic poetry will be examined. Finally, the role of subjectivity and self-expression in Romantic poetry will be discussed. In this context, I will demonstrate why subjectivity can be seen as the key to understanding Romantic poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

2. Romanticism – A Shift in Sensibilities

The Romantic age was a period of history and the arts dating from 1770 to 18303 (cf. Breuer 2012: 11). Although the first official meta-poetic statement of Romantic principles4 was published in 1800, the basis for Romantic ideas had already been created decades before by a shift in sensibilities away from reason and rationality. This shift in sensibilities marked the beginning of Romanticism.

The Romantic period was characterised by a shift in sensibilities towards feelings and emotions5. In the 18th century the emphasis had been placed on reason and understanding. People strived to imitate the classical models of the writers and artists of ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore, this age had been termed the “Age of Reason” or “Neo-Classicism”. It was characterised by rational thought and the onset of empiricism. Poets found their inspiration in classical antiquity and were seen as men of learning who had acquired taste and cherished an appreciation for regular beauty. The aim of poetry was to instruct and the use of a specific poetic diction and formulaic language was common. However, in the second half of the 18th century a shift away from classical models and reason was noticeable. Suddenly, the emphasis was placed on imagination, sentiment and feeling. Poets were no longer men of letters working in and enjoying the company of society, but individuals who deliberately isolated themselves from society preferring to work alone and appreciating their solitude. This appreciation of solitude was also explicitly expressed in their literary works6, with their rejection of society being a deliberate and conscious decision.

3 The time period from 1770-1830 is characteristic for English Romanticism. In other European countries such as France the Romantic period started earlier. French Romanticism was from 1750 to 1850. In other English- speaking countries such as the USA the Romantic period started later and lasted until the late 18th century. 4 The meta-poetic statement of Romantic principles referred to here is the preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth. 5 A clear cut definition is difficult. Therefore, historians prefer to talk about the idea of a shift in sensibilities from Neo-classicism to Romanticism. 20th century literary scholars often contrast Romanticism with Classicism. Kitson (1999: 35) argues that although the frequently named binary oppositions such as reason vs. emotion, empiricism vs. transcendentalism, society vs. the individual, city vs. nature can help to quickly characterise both cultural periods, such characterisations should be taken with caution. The reason is that there was a slow and gradual transition from the ideas of Classicism to Romanticism and that the Age of Romanticism was indeed very complex and diverse because of this. 6 Good examples in this respect are Thomas Gray‟s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” and William Wordsworth‟s “The Daffodils”.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

2.1 Etymology of the Term “Romantic” The etymology of the term “Romantic” is especially illuminating because it shows how the meaning of a word can change over time and how otherwise very contradictory elements all come to have the same label (cf. Perry 1999: 4). Therefore, this chapter will briefly focus on the historical origin of the term “Romantic” and the way in which its meaning has changed throughout history.

The term “Romantic” was coined retrospectively and came to denote the artistic and literary movement of Romanticism. Its origins go back to old French and the Middle Ages when the term “romanz” was used as an adjective describing texts that were written in vernacular language, the language spoken by the common people, which descended from spoken Latin. The term “romances” was then coined to describe entertaining literature written in vernacular language. Its content often involved love and adventure stories and was viewed as light, improbable, fanciful and full of wild scenery - in short, low-brow literature.

In the 17th century the “romantic” was associated with the imaginative or fictitious. Its meaning was comparable to adjectives such as “fabulous” or “extravagant”, often carrying overtones of disapproval. This changed in the 18th century when the term “romantic” was increasingly used with approval, especially in descriptions of pleasing qualities of landscapes. “Romantic” literature came to be regarded as stimulating and seen as connecting people with their natural environment. As such, a positive meaning was added to the concept.

Nowadays, literary scholars use the term in the sense of a literary-historical classification that labels certain writings of the later 18th and early 19th century (cf. Perry 1999: 3).

2.2 A Portrait of a Cultural Period The Romantic age in England was marked by several great changes. In philosophy it was a reaction against eighteenth-century rationalism and the Enlightenment.7 Writers and poets rebelled against the dominance of the material and of reason. They challenged the view of the physical world which was increasingly dominated by science and rationality.8 Instead, they

7 Abercrombie‟s definition of Romanticism brings in a new perspective. He argues that in Romantic poetry the spirit of the poet‟s mind is withdrawing from the outer world and striving to rely more on the things it finds within himself. As he sees it, the “true antithesis” is not Romanticism vs. Classicism, but Romanticism vs. Realism and that consequently Romanticism is marked by a “tendency away from actuality” (Abercrombie 1926: 7). 8 What must be highlighted in this context is that it was not science per se that the Romanticists reacted against. Kitson (1999: 41) argues that their opposition was primarily directed against Newtonian science. In the act of

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan tried to capture what was missing and sought to discover the truth hidden within an object. Measuring and quantifying were not important anymore, but rather, striving to understand the spiritual essence, the core of the thing became the prime goal of poets and philosophers. The intuition was meant to be man‟s guide on this path. Many philosophers and intellectuals thought that they needed to transcend reason in order to be able to see the full picture. Their ultimate aim was to cross the boundary of the physical world and to enter the spiritual realm.9

Poets began to play a greater role than before. They started to regard themselves and to be regarded as artists endowed with a special gift: their imagination. The imagination was seen as the poet‟s peculiar gift, now enlisted in man‟s most important endeavour: the search for spiritual truth - a view that was expressed explicitly by many Romantic writers.10 The poet‟s intuition and his feelings also began to be of greater importance in his search for a deeper meaning in life. Therefore, psychologically, the Romantic age expressed an assertion of the self and of individual experience with the focus being placed on the individual‟s own emotions and his/her subjective perspective. Poets and writers searched for some deeper meaning lying beyond thus, trying to comprehend the essence of things. They believed their imagination to be the special gift that set them apart from others. Some even thought of themselves as prophets endowed with a deeper insight capable of prophesying the future. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley even went so far as to describe poets as the “unacknowledged legislators of the world”, thereby implying that poets had the power to change reality with their prophecies. (Shelley qtd. in Abrams 2006: 850).

In politics, the Romantic age was marked by the pursuit of liberty and the destruction of restrictive patterns of the past. The French Revolution in 1789 proved to have a profound impact on people‟s mind-sets and their way of thinking. This historical event inspired people all across Europe to believe in the ideals of freedom and equality. According to Hazlitt (qtd. in Duff 1999: 25) the revolution with all its repercussions was not only the major political event of the period, but also formed the model for its most characteristic literary achievements. Duff (1999: 25) argues that Romantic poetry is informed by and subject to the same unstable dynamic as the French Revolution. The poet‟s obsessive turning of the mind banishing of the divine from nature, Newton had emptied the world of its mystery. It was exactly this demystification of nature that the poets and philosophers of the Romantic age resented (cf. Kitson 1999: 41). 9 The struggle to discover the truth lying beyond was expressed by many Romantic writers. The Romantic poems “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats or “To a Skylark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley in which the speaker strives to follow a bird or spirit into another realm both express this wish. 10 A perfect example is Samuel Taylor Coleridge who stated that “all truth is a species of revelation”, thus implying that writers, intellectuals and philosophers should be interested in what lies beyond. (Coleridge qtd. in Abrams 2006: 8).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan back upon itself, the language of utopian idealism, the apocalyptic visions, the subjective perspective of the speaker, the heightened awareness of literature‟s ideological function, and indeed the whole transformative texture of revolutionary discourse all give support to this argument (cf. Duff 1999: 32). Duff (1999: 24) further postulates that Romantic poetry mirrors the psychological patterns of the French Revolution and internalises the ideological conflict of the revolution debate. Hence, the imaginative impact of the French Revolution proved seminal to the development of Romantic literature all across Europe.

In England the early period of the French Revolution evoked an enthusiastic response from liberals and radicals alike. Although the initial enthusiasm and boundless expectations of early sympathisers were disappointed11, the revolution created a pervasive feeling that this was an age of new beginnings. Everything seemed possible, not only in the political and social realm, but also in the intellectual and literary sphere. Most poets viewed the literary productions of their age as originating from a new and fresh impulse and ascribed this to a commonly felt sense of limitless possibilities (cf. Abrams 2006: 6). The ardent revolutionary ideals of French revolutionists stimulated radical social thinking and encouraged dreams of a peaceful evolution of society to a final stage in which all prosperity would be equally distributed. Many Romantic poets dreamt of the regeneration of the human race and gave expression to their hopes in their poetic works. Especially the second generation of Romantic poets often voiced their revolutionary ideals and enthusiastic hopes for a better future by prophesying the destruction of the old and rigid structures and painting future scenarios in which liberty and justice ruled.

The Romantic age was also marked by a shift away from the cities towards the countryside. While Neo-classical literature had been metropolitan, Romantic literature was characterised by a flight from the city into nature. Romanticists preferred the countryside where nature was still untouched, wild and overwhelming. One of the reasons was that in the Romantic age a new attitude towards society emerged. The ideal of classicist poets who moved and worked within society was dismissed. Instead, emphasis was placed on the individual and his/her

11 As the French Revolution followed its increasingly violent course, more and more English sympathisers were dissuaded. The enthusiastic attitude in favour of the French struggle for freedom was succeeded by widespread disillusionment among early supporters because of the terror caused by Jacobin extremists and their offer of armed assistance to all countries desiring to overthrow their own governments. The execution of Louis XVI and the guillotining of hundreds of French noblemen shocked many English aristocrats and intellectuals. To the English bourgeoisie, it seemed as if the French had lost sight of all they had struggled for (cf. Abrams 2006: 8).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan subjective experience.12 Society was no longer seen as a desirable place for poets as its image changed drastically and acquired negative connotations. In fact, Romantic poets regarded society as an evil force, moulding and stunting its citizens. As such, they often accused society of corrupting and repressing its citizens. The description of society by William Wordsworth, one of the most famous Romantic poets of his generation, in Intimations of immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood is emblematic in this respect: “Shades of the prison-house begin to close/ Upon the growing Boy” (Wordsworth qtd. in Abrams 2006: 308, lines 67-68). Wordsworth believed that as children grow up and become adults, they are inevitably corrupted by society. Therefore, only children were pure because they were not yet affected by this corrupting influence. Many Romantic writers shared this view and gave expression to it in their literary works. Considering this negative attitude towards society, is not surprising that poets developed a sense of estrangement and isolated themselves from society.13

The Romantic period was characterised by a multitude of social and economic changes. Many European countries experienced radical upheavals causing them to develop from primarily agricultural societies to modern industrial nations. There was a shift in the economic power from the landholding aristocracy to the large-scale employers. These changes led to the emergence of a new member of society: the working class. This new landless class, which subsisted on starvation wages, either migrated to the rapidly growing industrial cities or was exploited as cheap farm labourers in the country (cf. Abrams 2006: 4). The population in England became increasingly divided into “Two Nations”: the rich and the poor.14 Since no attempt was made to regulate this shift, the situation for the poor deteriorated. Inadequate wages, long hours of work under harsh working conditions and repressive measures led to protests and riots in England. When the situation had reached a critical point in 1832 due to acute economic distress and disorders that threatened to break out into revolution, the government finally passed the first Reform Bill that alleviated the situation and extended the vote. Although most of the working class and all women remained still without a voice, the first step into the direction of a peaceful readjustment of parliamentary representation and power had been taken (cf. Abrams 2006: 4).

12 This emphasis on subjective experience became manifest in the poets‟ writing as they shifted the focus away from the mere description of an object, but towards how they perceived the object and which emotions they felt when describing it. 13 While in some cases the poet was the one who isolated himself, in others it was society which rejected the poet because of his questionable moral or political views. Percy Bysshe Shelley is a perfect example for the latter. 14 The term “Two Nations” was introduced by Benjamin Disraeli who noticed that the population had become divided into the two classes of capital and labour.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The Romantic age experienced a rediscovery of local cultures and a flowering of vernacular literature. An astonishing variety of literary works constructed on new principles of organization and style emerged. Romantic poets and writers went into a completely new direction. Instead of ancient Greek and Latin tales, poets saw their role models in the lives and traditions of the people from their own culture. In their literary works poets and writers foregrounded their own history and culture.15 The ideal of classical antiquity was dismissed, instead poets turned to the Middle Ages for inspiration with folklore and old medieval forms such as the ballad flourishing again. Romanticist writers were fascinated by myths, legends or medieval history. Figures such as Cain, Satan, witches, sorcerers and the infamous character of Napoleon often featured in their works (cf. Abrams 2006: 3). This is not only evident in Romantic poetry, but also in the narrative literature of the age, as seen in the genre of gothic literature which features medieval elements. The novels that have to be mentioned in this context are Mary Shelley‟s Frankenstein and the first Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. Both literary productions belong to the genre of Gothic literature and came to be regarded as representative for their age.

The Romantic poets gave greater attention to traditional genres than their predecessors in the Age of Enlightenment had. (cf. Woodring: 1970: 4) Old literary forms such as ballads, hymns, sonnets, odes and conversational poems were rediscovered and used for transmitting a different kind of content. Woodring (1970: 4) argues that the emulation of the great models of poetry such as the Miltonic sonnet or the Pindaric ode16 led the Romanticists typically to the higher aspiration of reworking those models. New varieties of lyric poetry were the result.

In the Romantic age, there was certain evidence of a new language and style characterised by experimental boldness and creative power. The Romantic poets had the sense that the literature of their age was filled with “electric life” (cf. Abrams 2006: 5). They had the impression that old things were passing away and dreamt of the regeneration of the human race (cf. Abrams 2006: 94). In his Defence of Poetry, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley claimed that the literature of his age had “arisen as it were from a new birth” (Shelley 1821: 34. online). This view was shared by many of his contemporaries who believed that a new spirit was burning in their works of literature and art. They believed that this new spirit in writing could be seen as an accompaniment of political and social revolution. This upheaval in

15 Perfect examples in this respect are the literary productions of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 16 The classical form of the ode was rediscovered during Romanticism. Shelley in particular revived the Pindaric ode which has a ceremonial character and is formally and stylistically elaborated.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan literature was inspired by the agitations of the French Revolution which to Romanticist authors had truly seemed to be the dawn of a new era (cf. Abrams 2006: 6). Duff (1999: 26) supports this view claiming that the extreme development of visionary poetics in the Romantic age absorbed the transformational energies, ideological self-consciousness and verbal momentum released by the French Revolution.

2.3 The First and Second Generation of Romanticists in England In the Romantic age, writers and poets did not think of themselves as Romantic nor did they regard themselves as a group of writers following a particular set of rules. In the 18th century, there was neither a unified movement of Romanticism, nor anything like a Romantic manifesto or programme all poets adhered to. In fact, most poets saw themselves at opposite poles from each other and quite frequently they even disliked each other‟s works. The term “Romantic” was applied to them in retrospect by 20th century historians.17 Nevertheless, there was something distinctive about this age. What united all Romantic poets was their desire to go beyond human limits and their refusal to submit to limitations imposed by society. They all shared the same intellectual and imaginative climate of their time - the “spirit of the age”18 - and set themselves infinite and inaccessible goals (Hazlitt qtd. in Abrams 2006: 7).

The most important Romantic authors of the first generation of English Romanticists were William Blake (1757-1827), William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). The poets of the second generation were Lord Byron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and John Keats (1795-1821). What should be kept in mind is that these authors that have been labelled the “Romantic poets” have not always held this position. In fact, their status as the leading figures of a cultural age has only been determined in the 20th century. At the end of the 19th century, the canon of Romantic poetry only included those poets who drew their inspiration from the Middle Ages (cf. Perry 1999: 4).19 This clearly shows the changeability of the literary canon and evidences its historical development.

17 What always has to be kept in mind is that when talking about the cultural history of Romanticism we are not talking about a fixed historical object called “Romanticism” but about the ever-changing history of literary reception (cf. Perry 1999: 7). 18 This term goes back to William Hazlitt who wrote a collection of essays entitled “The Spirit of the Age“ in which he captured the distinctive social and cultural climate of the Romantic age. 19 Before that historians and literary scholars had distinguished different “schools” such as the “Lake School” (including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Robert Southey), the “Demonic School” (most notoriously Byron) and the “Cockney School” (including Keats and Leigh Hunt) (cf. Abrams 2006: 6).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

What the first and the second generation of Romantic poets had in common was their radical social thinking. When they were young, all of them were radical thinkers united by their belief in ardent revolutionary ideals. The first generation of Romanticists enthusiastically embraced the aspirations of the early years of the French Revolution. The second generation had close contact with the radical groupings in England and supported nationalist movements against tyrannies in Europe. The radicalism of the second generation, particularly Shelley‟s and Byron‟s, was often of a more vague, utopian kind, more idealistic than practical and frequently coming into conflict with their real-life experiences (cf. Abrams 2006: 14).

What distinguished the first generation of Romantic poets from the second generation was their attitude towards life and a slightly different perception of nature. As already mentioned, the political climate of their time had changed. The second generation of Romantic poets had to come to terms with the fact that the French Revolution had failed and that the millennial expectations and enthusiastic hopes for a better future had been disappointed. Consequently, the second generation of Romanticists more acutely felt the gap between their noble ideals and cold reality. The second distinguishing characteristic concerns the generations‟ different perception of nature. For the first generation of Romantic poets nature was a source of truth and authentic experience, while for the second generation nature was a source of beauty and aesthetic pleasure. The dissimilar ways of how both generations viewed nature evidence their different mind-sets.

The six poets Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats have been singled out by scholars of the twentieth century to represent an age that was immensely complex and diverse. As such, it is not surprising that they do not fit a single definition. In recent years, a much greater range of activities and accomplishments has been recognized. Literary scholars of this century acknowledge that the Romantic Age has many more great authors than the six canonical figures mentioned above, including female writers.

2.4 The Concept of Poetry in the Romantic Age In traditional Neo-classicist aesthetic theory, poetry had been regarded as an art of imitation. As such, Neo-classicist poets had felt obliged to imitate the classical models of Greek and Latin literature. Therefore, their language often was formulaic and followed certain “rules” that had been created centuries ago. In their view, poetry should instruct the reader and hold up a mirror to nature (cf. Abrams 2006: 7). Romantic poets, however, had a very different view on the matter.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The father of German Romanticism, Friedrich Schlegel, argued that the aim of Romantic poetry was to take a fresh look at the ordinary life of people and render life and society poetic. He elaborates this view in the Athenaeum-Fragment - a statement of Romantic principles that tries to encompass and define the character of Romantic poetry.

Die Romantische Poesie ist eine progressive Universalpoesie. Ihre Bestimmung ist nicht bloß, alle getrennten Gattungen der Poesie zu vereinigen und die Poesie mit der Philosophie und Rhetorik in Berührung zu setzen. Sie will und soll auch Poesie und Prosa, Genialität und Kritik, Kunstpoesie und Naturpoesie bald mischen, bald verschmelzen, die Poesie lebendig und gesellig und das Leben und die Gesellschaft poetisch machen. (Schlegel 1964: 13)

According to Schlegel, the aim of Romantic poetry was not only to strive for the infinite, but also to render ordinary life and society poetic. Schlegel defines the aim of Romantic poetry as ceaseless activity. In his view, poetry was a union of opposites and aimed at the creation of a wholly new system of symbols by endowing ordinary things with a surplus of meaning.

In England, the official beginning of the Romantic age has been dated 1800 - the year of the publication of the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems by two of the most eminent figures of the age: William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The preface of the Lyrical Ballads served as the first meta-poetic discussion of Romantic poetry because it justified a new kind of writing by uttering a critical statement of poetic principles. The preface of the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads can therefore be regarded as a turning point in English literature. Its author William Wordsworth had collected isolated ideas and organised them into a coherent poetic theory based on explicit critical principles (cf. Abrams 2006: 7).

In the preface, Wordsworth defined Romantic poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings that take their origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity” (Wordsworth qtd. in Abrams 2006: 263). In his view, the act of poetic composition must be spontaneous arising from impulse and be free from all rules, but at the same time, should be followed by critical reflection. Bode describes Wordsworth‟s understanding of poetry as follows:

Gegenstand der Dichtung bei Wordsworth ist nicht die äußere Welt, sondern die innere Erfahrung, das Äußere nur insofern, als es in die Konstitution des Selbst eingegangen ist. […] Laut Wordsworth hat Dichtung ihren Ursprung nicht im Erleben selbst, sondern in der Erinnerung der Emotion. Dichtung und Bewusstsein beziehen sich nie auf irgendein „Original“ sondern immer nur auf andere Bewusstseinsinhalte, andere Kopien, wenn man so will – die Außenwelt ist nur als Teil der eigenen Erfahrung und Inhalt des eigenen

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Bewusstseins präsent. Bei Wordsworth wird aus der Poetik eine Weltanschauung: Die Welt hat Realität allein in meinem Bewusstsein. (Bode: 1998: 877)

Wordsworth located the source of a poem not in the outside world, but in the individual poet (cf. Abrams 2006: 7). In his view, the essential materials of a poem were the inner feelings of its composer. Wordsworth specified that external objects only became important after they had been transformed by the poet‟s subjective perspective and imbued with a greater meaning. He believed that the neo-classicist writers of the 18th century had imposed artificial conventions on poetry that had distorted its free and natural expression; and he was not alone with this view as many of his contemporaries shared this conviction. Charlotte Smith, an important female writer of the Romantic age, expressed a similar view when she identified poetry as the “expression, utterance and exhibition of emotion” (cf. Smith qtd. in Abrams 2006: 7).

Samuel Taylor Coleridge conceived of the process of composing a great work of art or literature as being similar to the growth of a plant. He viewed the act of writing as a self- originating process that begins with a seed-like idea in the poet‟s imagination which then grows and evolves into an organic whole in which the parts are internally related to each other and to the whole (cf. Abrams 2006: 7). This theory denotes an organic view of the world, i.e. a view which is characterised by the belief in dynamic (inter-)relationships that are self- regulating and self-reproducing.

John Keats, a poet of the second generation of Romanticists, was of the opinion that “if poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all” (Keats qtd. in Abrams 2006: 9). In one of his letters to his friend John Taylor, he uttered the view that the poet must feel his inspiration coming from within, growing slowly but steadily and finally creating a unique work of art. This view clearly shows some parallels to Coleridge‟s concept of the process of composing a work of art.

William Blake proposed the notion that composing a good poem cannot be learned as his neo- classicist predecessors had claimed. He argued that “Inspiration and vision are the source of poetry” (cf. Abrams 2006: 9). Percy Bysshe Shelley went even one step further. He was of the opinion that the finest pages of poetry are products of an unconscious creativity, a view which is explicated in his essay A Defence of Poetry (cf. Abrams 2006: 9).

In his Defence of Poetry Percy Bysshe Shelley further argued that poetry reproduces the common universe and “purges from our inward sight the film of familiarity which obscures

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan from us the wonder of our being” (Shelley 1821: 30. online). He was of the opinion that poetry creates the universe anew and “strips the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping beauty which is the spirit of its forms” (Shelley 1821: 30. online). What Shelley emphasises here is that Romantic poets wish to add a certain freshness of sensation to their poetry. He argues that people were so overcome by customs and conventions that they had become blind to the miraculous daily-occurring wonders.

All these viewpoints taken together create the impression that the genius of Romantic poets acted unconsciously. This, however, could not be farther from the truth for the testimony of observers, as well as surviving manuscripts of the poets, show that the Romantic poets worked and continuously revised their texts.

In conclusion, it can be said that all Romantic poets emphasise the free activity of the imagination as well as the insistence on the essential role of intuition and the feelings of the heart to supplement the judgements of the purely logical faculty of the head (cf. Abrams 2006: 9). They openly rejected the idea of the mind as a mirror-like recipient of an already created universe. Philosophers and poets living in the Romantic period believed that the mind was a creative instance, producing its own universe.

2.5 Characteristic Features of Romanticism Romanticism and the literature of this age have been marked by ardent revolutionary ideals, emotional directness of personal experience, emphasis of the poet‟s subjectivity, idealism, extremes of emotion (horror, awe, fear) and a deliberate turn to nature (cf. Perry 1999: 7). Literary scholars have further identified five characteristic features of Romanticism that resurface in Romantic literature (cf. Brandt: 2014).

The first characteristic is the primacy of the imagination (cf. Brandt: 2014). In the Romantic period, poets and writers began to emphasise their intuition and imaginative faculties rather than focussing on the purely rational modes of understanding reality that had been proposed by previous generations. The main reason why they did so was that the old models of explanation and ways of thinking were no longer satisfying and failed to help them in precarious situations. In addition to this, there also was a shift in religious ideas. The Romantic age was the first period in history when many writers failed to find traditional Christian belief fulfilling. Therefore, they decided to engage in a search for a more profound spiritual reality. From this point onwards, feeling and imagination were employed in search

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan for spiritual truth. The imagination was raised from being simply a faculty for creating fictions to a method of apprehending and communicating truth (cf. Abrams 2006: 6).

The second characteristic of Romantic thought is the belief in the transformative power of the imagination (cf. Brandt: 2014). Romantic poets believed that it was their task to make the familiar unfamiliar, thereby investing reality with meaning. In contrast to their predecessors, Romantic poets aimed at glorifying the ordinary and the outcast. In their view, art was to show commonplace things in a new and unconventional light, just as if they were extraordinarily breath-taking.20 It was seen as their task to elevate humble and rustic life and a plain style by making it the subject of poetry.

The third characteristic feature of Romantic thought is the value poets ascribed to spontaneity and self-expression (cf. Brandt: 2014). Poets no longer felt the need to adhere to neo-classical patterns and formulaic language. Artificiality, wit and the strict use of a specific poetic diction were viewed as obstacles hindering the poet in letting his thoughts flow freely and intuitively. Therefore, a simpler and less artificial language was preferred instead.21

The fourth characteristic feature is the importance of individuality and personal freedom (cf. Brandt: 2014). In the early 18th century, poets and philosophers were men of letters who worked and lived within society. Throughout the 18th century, this changed radically. At the end of the 18th century, society was no more seen as benevolent, its presence no more appreciated. The main reason for this change was that economic strategies (laissez-faire style) and capitalist tendencies had not contributed to general welfare, but only widened the gap between rich and poor. However, from a philosophical perspective, the Romantic poets nevertheless sought ways of reconciling the idea of man‟s individuality with the belief in the existence of a vast interconnected universe. They were unwilling to accept the neo-classicist view that the individual is a self-interested entity striving only for his/her own well-being and not caring for others. (cf. Woodring: 1970: 8). They attempted to relate the individual to nature and the whole universe.

20 The poet William Wordsworth held the conviction that all things were by nature equally fit subjects for poetry. He even specified that if there were any preference to be given, those that were the meanest and most unpromising would be the best (cf. Abrams 2006: 13). In his preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth claimed that the aim of Romantic poetry was to throw over “situations from common life…a certain coloring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect” (Wordsworth qtd. in Abrams: 10). 21 Wordsworth argued that the aim of Romantic poetry should be to “shatter the lethargy of custom” and destroy the traditional poetic conventions so as to “refresh our sense of wonder” (Wordsworth qtd. in Abrams: 2006: 7). However, not all Romantic poets were in favour of this idea. The poets Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge maintained their allegiance to the traditional poetic decorum and archaic language patterns.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The fifth characteristic feature of Romanticism is the emergence of a new consciousness of the historical past. In the Romantic age, philosophers and historians developed an awareness of the interconnectedness of present, past and future with the holistic idea that the present had grown out of the past being accepted. Poets further developed this systemic view of life and integrated the notion into their poetry. A perfect example in this respect is the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley whose poems and literary works are pervaded with the idea that everything in the universe is connected. Chapter 3.4 Systemic Thought in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Poetry presents an in-depth analysis of the development of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

2.6 Main Themes in Romantic Poetry The main themes in Romantic poetry are nature and the effect of nature on the individual, the sublime, the supernatural and childhood innocence as opposed to the depravity of society. Romantic writers also frequently glorified the ordinary or the outcast and let themselves be inspired by ancient folklore and medieval tales. Generally speaking, the Romanticists were fascinated by the faculty of the imagination and elevated concepts such as spontaneity, individuality, intuition and inspiration in their meta-poetic writing.

2.6.1 Nature One of the most important themes in Romantic poetry is nature. The primary reason why Romantic poets turned away from the city and searched for a deeper truth within nature was because the corruption of society had traumatised them. Romantic poets had a very different view of nature than their predecessors in the Age of Reason. In the heyday of the Enlightenment common belief held that nature needed man to fulfil herself. People believed that nature was given to mankind and as a consequence man was entitled to make the best use of nature for his own benefit. In other words, man and nature were thought to be working together productively implying that man was entitled to exploit nature. The Romanticists had a different view on the matter. To them, man was no master, but rather a part of nature and the idea of exploiting nature seemed utterly absurd since it meant destroying the basis of their own existence. As such, it is not surprising that nature became one of the key themes in Romantic poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Nature and the environment were often depicted either in the form of a picturesque22 natural scene (e.g. “The Daffodils” by William Wordsworth) or as a sublime force (e.g. “Mont Blanc” by Percy Bysshe Shelley). What should be mentioned in this context is that in the Romantic age the taste in landscapes and nature changed considerably. Suddenly poets and artists found wild and exotic landscapes appealing and expressed this in their works of art. Landscapes the Romanticists favoured were wild and desolate places, barren moors and highlands, gloomy graveyards and mysterious castles and awe-inspiring mountain ranges, in particular the Alps.

Romantic poets believed that nature should not be described for its own sake but should reflect the inner state of the poet (when immersed in a natural environment) as well as the poet‟s perceptions and innermost beliefs. Many of the longer Romantic nature poems are meditative in the sense that the presented scene serves to raise an emotional problem or personal crisis.23 For Romantic writers poetry had an expressive function. Therefore, it is not surprising that Romantic poets endowed the landscapes they described with life, passion and expressiveness. Since they believed that the outer universe corresponded to an inner or spiritual world, their poems often contain highly metaphysical concepts of nature. The landscapes and spirits of sublime power that often feature in Romantic poetry can therefore be seen as embodying human hopes and longings. 24

In Romantic literature, the poets‟ appreciation of nature and the wilderness eventually culminates in their deliberate attempt to identify with nature. Breuer (2012: 26) describes this identification process as the final step towards a more profound understanding of the relationship between man and nature. He argues that the development of a dialectic relationship between the poet and the landscape plays a crucial role in constituting the poet‟s personality: “[Der entscheidende Schritt ist] eine Anerkennung der Natur als Agens in der Persönlichkeitsbildung und damit ein Verständnis für die Wechselwirkungen Natur-Mensch“ (Breuer 2012: 26). Here Breuer (2012: 26) claims that Romantic poets showed an awareness of the dialectic relationship between perceiving subject and perceived object.

22 The term “picturesque“ designates that “peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture“ (Gilpin 1996: 45). Trott (1999: 79) argues that in essence, it represents a way of judging a landscape by criteria drawn from paintings. 23 Good examples in this respect are “Lines composed a few Miles above Tintern Abbey” by William Wordsworth and “Mont Blanc” by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Here the development and resolution of the personal crisis constitute the organising principle of the poem. 24 William Blake‟s and Samuel Taylor Coleridge‟s symbolist poetry have to be mentioned in this respect. Also in Shelley‟s poetry animals are turned into symbols imbued with a greater significance beyond themselves (cf. Abrams 2006: 10).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

2.6.2 The Sublime Another important theme in Romantic poetry is the sublime, which has been defined in diverse and often contradictory ways in the past. In the following section, Edmund Burke‟s and Immanuel Kant‟s definition will be contrasted. In addition to this, the views of 20th century scholars on the subject-matter will be presented.

In the Romantic age, the idea of the sublime came to signify the “highest” in a particular category, e.g. the “moral sublime” (cf. Trott 1999: 77). According to Romantic poets, the concept of the sublime conveys a sense of height or loftiness and is associated with limitlessness (cf. Trott 1999: 77). In contrast to beauty that turns upon feelings of pleasure, the sublime is based on the still more powerful feelings of terror and pain. In his Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful Edmund Burke25 defines the sublime as whatever evokes fascination and fear at the same time and thus manages to inspire the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling: .

Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. I say the strongest emotion, because I am satisfied the ideas of pain are much more powerful than those which enter on the part of pleasure. (Burke 1757: 20)

According to Burke (1757: 20) the human mind is both terrified and uplifted all at once when it is confronted with nature at its grandest. It is as if the mind were spellbound by the intensity of the sight. According to his definition, whatever is beautiful and stunning, but at the same time, also causes terror and fear is to be defined as a source of the sublime. Vast mountain ranges, gushing waterfalls, violent thunderstorms and wild landscapes fall into this category. What all representations of the sublime have in common is that they convey an aesthetic of excess or non-representability – a sense of limitlessness (cf. Trott 1999: 79).

Immanuel Kant26 defines the concept of the sublime by establishing a contrast to a similar idea. His definition is based on the opposition between the beautiful and the sublime. In his Critique of Judgement Kant states that while beauty has a concrete form, the sublime is

25 Edmund Burke was an Irish political theorist, philosopher and author who lived in the early 18th century and became famous for his philosophical and political views. 26 Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and theorist who lived in the Age of the Enlightenment and came to be regarded as the central figure of modern philosophy. Kant‟s theories continue to have a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially in the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, ethnics, aesthetics and political theory (cf. encyclopaedia online: 2017).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan without form or limitation and as such it involves the apprehensions of limitlessness and totality: “The beautiful in nature is a question of the form of the object, and this consists in limitation, whereas the sublime is to be found in an object even devoid of form so far as it immediately involves or else by its presence evokes a feeling of limitlessness” (Kant, 1892: 34). However, Kant concedes that faced with an object of overwhelming size and awe- inspiring beauty, the imagination and the mind are forced to recoil. He then elaborates that “the point of excess for the imagination…is like an abyss in which it fears to lose itself” (Kant 1892: 107). According to Kant, it is reason which saves the mind from drowning in this excess. The Romanticist poets, on the other hand, believed that the sublime transcended the rational. In other words, the feelings of awe and terror evoked by the sight of the sublime are beyond words and the emotions evoked in the viewer overwhelm rational thought.

One thing most literary scholars of the 20th century agree on is that the sublime escapes the limits of representation (cf. Trott 1999: 79). As a result, in Romantic poetry, the sublime assumes an aesthetic of excess or limitlessness. According to Trott (1999: 79), the sublime can be seen as both invoking unity and refusing closure, as being inherent in the object and the mind. Wittreich‟s definition seems especially illuminating in this respect: “Where neither whole nor parts, but unity, as boundless or endless allness – the sublime” (Wittreich 1970: 252).

2.6.3 The Supernatural In Romanticist poetry supernatural events have a deep psychological import. Woodring (1970: 329) argues that English Romantic poets were adherents of dream, revivers of myth, addicts of vision, and scholars of self. Some of the poets of the Romantic age liked to establish medieval settings for events that violate our sense of realism and the natural order (cf. Abrams 2006: 12). Therefore, the term “medieval revival” was frequently attached to the time period between 1760 and 1830. The trend of turning back to the Middle Ages was a reaction to the growing urbanization and the industrial revolution in the 18th century.

Some Romanticists were particularly interested in unusual modes of experience.27 Romantic writers and poets preferred medieval and lonesome settings and integrated knowledge from superstition and demonology into his works. Therefore, in many of their works the characters

27 In particular the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the author Mary Shelley have to be mentioned in this respect.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan or speakers are concerned with visions and nightmares.28 Coleridge and his contemporaries opened their age up to the realm of mystery and magic integrating materials from ancient folklore, superstition and demonology. Their aim was to impress upon the reader a sense of the occult powers and unknown modes of being (cf. Abrams 2006: 12). The binary of the self and the other was also often explored in their literary works.29

2.6.4 Childhood Innocence Childhood innocence is another important theme in Romantic poetry. Romantic poets and philosophers believed that the child was closer to God when compared to the adult man. William Wordsworth‟s poem Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood epitomises this belief and simultaneously disparages the corrupting and evil influence of society.30 The idea of the uncorrupted and pure nature of the child‟s perspective was also seen as the ideal mind-set for poetic composition. In his meta-poetic writing, the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge remarked that for him the character and privilege of genius was “to combine the child‟s sense of wonder and novelty with the appearance of everyday life.” (Coleridge qtd. in Abrams 2006: 13). This quotation is evidence of the importance of the visionary power of childhood innocence in Romantic poetry.

21st century scholars have provocatively diagnosed Romanticism as a kind of “subjective idealism” (Paul de Man qtd. in Perry 1999: 7). With this term they imply that the poets of the Romantic period all lived in the dreamy introverted remoteness of their own minds (cf. Perry 1999: 7). In other words, the Romantic poets tended to direct the focus towards their inner life and personal feelings. As such, it is not surprising that Romantic texts often seem to transcend their historical circumstances and to project their readers onto an imaginative plane where the particularities of time and place were forgotten (cf. Perry 1999: 7). McGann (1983: 101) goes one step further claiming that the subjective idealism of Romantic poets and their extreme focus on the world within themselves were nothing but means of escaping reality. While some literary scholars of the 20th century support this view, others have argued that what McGann describes as escapism is in fact subjectivity. This leads me to the topic of the next chapter: Subjectivity in Romantic poetry. In the following section, I wish to elaborate why Romantic poetry is characterised by an extreme focus on “subjectivity” and the “subject”.

28 A perfect example in this respect is Coleridge‟s ballad “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in which supernatural forces determine the actions of the speaker. 29 A good example in this respect is Mary Shelley‟s gothic novel Frankenstein in which the categories of self the other are increasingly blurred as the story progresses. 30 The idea that society exercised a corrupting influence on children was also voiced by the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his treatise Emile, or Treatise on Education.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

2.7 Subjectivity in Romantic Poetry Subjectivity can be regarded as the key to understanding Romantic poetry. In the late 18th century, the ideas of individualism and subjectivity, inherited from the Age of Enlightenment, were combined with a new focus on the emotions and feelings of the individual. An enhanced awareness of the responsibility and autonomy of the individual developed. This is particularly evident in the new concept of the poet as a genius and prophet. It was only in the Romantic age that individualism and subjectivity reached its modern-day importance (cf. Jaegle 1995: 17). In fact, subjectivity played a key role for the argumentative practice and meta-poetic considerations of poets and philosophers. However, before explaining the role of subjectivity in Romantic poetry, it is important to define the terms “subjectivity” and “subject”.

From a psychological point of view, “subjectivity” refers to a person‟s (or subject‟s) perspective or opinion, personal feelings, beliefs and desires (cf. encyclopaedia online 2017). The term is often used casually to refer to unsubstantiated personal opinions and is contrasted to knowledge and fact-based beliefs (cf. encyclopaedia online 2017). What follows from this definition is that the necessary prerequisite for subjectivity is a “subject”.

The term “subject” is the Latin translation of “hypokeimenon”, which is Greek for “that one below” or “that one lying beneath” (cf. Hagenbüchle 1998: 4). The “subject” is defined as “ein substantieller Träger von Eigenschaften, Wirkungen bzw. erkannten Objekten und ist somit das vom Erkenntnisprozess selbst unabhängige Seiende“ (Meyer qtd. in Jaegle 1995: 20).

Hagenbüchle„s definition of subjectivity and the subject brings in a different perspective: „Subjektivität meint in erster Linie das sich wandelnde Selbstverständnis des Menschen, welches sozio-kulturelle Bedingtheit mit einschließt“ (Hagenbüchle 1998: 1). Hagenbüchle defines subjectivity as the ever-changing self-perception of human beings (cf. Hagenbüchle 1998: 1). In his view, the subject can only be understood when considering the manifold dialectic influences it is subjected to. “Das Subjekt, so dürfen wir folgern, ist nur als dialektischer Prozess überhaupt verstehbar“ (Modell qtd. in Hagenbüchle 1998: 10). He further argues that analyses of subjectivity are always linked to social and cultural conditions. Particularly, religious, philosophical, social and legal aspects play a role.

Subjektivität als Untersuchungsgegenstand zielt primär auf das sich wandelnde Selbstverständnis des Menschen und dessen Versuch, sich seiner selbst unter veränderten kulturellen Bedingungen immer wieder neu zu vergewissern, ein Prozess, der grundsätzlich nicht zum Abschluss gelangen kann. […] Der Mensch als jenes Wesen, das mit sich selbst, mit

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

anderen und mit seiner Umwelt in eine besondere – und historisch immer wieder neue – Beziehung treten kann und muss, das ist der Kern dessen, was hier mit Subjektivität gemeint ist. […] Subjektivität als Begriff präzise zu definieren fällt deshalb schwer, weil Subjektivität als Phänomen erst im historischen Wandel überhaupt fassbar wird. (Hagenbüchle 1998: 9-10)

Here Hagenbüchle implies that it is difficult to define the concept of subjectivity because subjectivity as a socio-cultural phenomenon can only be comprehended when its historical development is taken into account. What is also emphasised here is the view that there is no point when the task of defining one‟s identity is terminated. Man is defined as a social being who has to “negotiate” his identity by developing various relationships (with himself, with others and with his environment). Since the environment is subject to continuous changes, the task of defining one‟s identity can therefore never come to an end. This point of view is supported by Erving Goffman who coined the term “identity bargaining“ (Goffman qtd. in Hagenbüchle 1998: 11). Goffman argues that humans are constantly bargaining their identity, that is, they are continuously engaging in some form of intrapersonal and intersocial negotiation of their identity.

In “Das Problem der Subjektivität in der Lyrik der englischen Romantik” Wolfgang G. Müller (1996: 127) claims that both the subject and the speaker‟s subjectivity play a crucial role in Romantic poetry. In his essay Müller describes five criteria of subjectivity that can be applied to Romantic poetry. These will be the point of departure from which I will analyse the perspective and position of the speaker in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry.

According to Müller, the first criterion of subjectivity in Romantic poetry is the presence of an explicit speaker. “Als erste Manifestation des Subjektiven ist der spezifische Bezug auf das Ich des Sprechers zu nennen” (Müller 2012: 128). The focus on the isolated lyric persona is created through the use of first person personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns. The perspective of this speaker is rendered and events and landscapes are described from his point of view. The presence of an explicit speaker allows the poet to highlight the subjective experiences of this lyric persona. A perfect example in this context is Thomas Gray‟s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” in which the speaker, while being alone on a cemetery, reflects on the death of his friend. In the poem, Gray refers to the speaker explicitly and describes the speaker‟s memories and feelings. He also focuses on the speaker‟s emotional state which leads me to Müller‟s second criterion of subjectivity that can be applied to Romantic poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The second criterion of subjectivity is the speaker‟s highly emotional rendering of his thoughts, actions and his environment. “Die zweite romantische Eigenschaft ist die intensive Emotionalisierung der Darstellung” (Müller 2012: 129). The speaker‟s feelings and emotional reactions are foregrounded and described in minute detail. William Wordsworth‟s poem “The Daffodils” exemplifies the highly emotionalised state of the speaker and the way in which these emotions can affect the reader who starts to empathise with the lyric persona. In particular, the highly emotional language the speaker uses to describe nature enhances this effect.

The third criterion of subjectivity (that can be traced) in Romantic poetry is the frequent appearance of the real life author in the role of the speaker (cf. Müller 2012: 129). “Die dritte auf die Romantische Dichtung verweisende Eigenschaft ist, dass die Reflexivität des Gedichts in hohem Maße auf das Ich in seiner Rolle als Dichter bezogen ist” (Müller 2012: 129). In other words, the speaker of a Romantic poem often can be identified with the author him/herself. In this case, the personal pronouns in the poem can be interpreted as relating directly to the historical author of the poem. A good example in this respect is Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s “To a Skylark”. In this poem, the real life author identifies with the speaker who utters the wish to soar high up into the blue sky just like the singing bird. He praises the skylark and at the same time envies it for its profound connection with nature and boundless freedom.

The fourth criterion of subjectivity is the speaker‟s identification with nature and his desire to be united with nature. “Die vierte Eigenschaft ist, dass ein zentraler Bezug zwischen dem lyrischen Ich und der Natur hergestellt wird. Die Einheit Ich-Landschaft gleicht einer Konvergenz von Ich-Naturwahrnehmung“ (Müller 2012: 129). This criterion of subjectivity presupposes that an intense relationship between the lyric persona and nature is established in the poem. Müller describes this as “die vermenschlichende Einfühlung in die Natur” (Müller 1996: 130). The union of man and nature often creates the impression of an anthropomorphised natural scene. Good examples in this respect are the poems “Ode to the West Wind” and “The Cloud” by Percy Bysshe Shelley in which the speaker identifies with a sublime spirit in nature. In both of these texts, the speaker strives to unite with the spirit but only in “The Cloud” a unity between the perceiving subject (=speaker) and perceived object (=spirit in nature) is reached.

The fifth criterion of subjectivity is the speaker‟s political and socio-critical awareness. “Die fünfte Eigenschaft ist das aus der Subjektivität resultierende politische Bewusstsein des

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Sprechers, wobei sich eine gesellschaftliche und politische Stellungnahme artikuliert“ (Müller 2012: 131). Poems with a hidden political dimension contain this aspect. Perfect examples in this context are Shelley‟s political odes “Ode to Naples” and “Ode to Liberty” in which the lonesome speaker opens up to political inspiration. John Keats‟ “Ode to a Nightingale” also implicitly contains this aspect. Here the speaker openly laments the fact that unlike the immortal nightingale all humans are “born for death” and that he too belongs to a “hungry generation” (Keats qtd. in Abrams 2006: 903, lines 61-62). Müller (2012: 130) supports this view when he argues: “Der soziale und politische Aspekt tritt in der Klage des Sprechers durch seine Sterblichkeit und soziale Not hervor“.

Summed up, the five criteria or manifestations of subjectivity in Romantic poetry are the self- thematisation of the isolated speaker (1), a highly emotional rendering of the speaker‟s thoughts, actions and his surroundings (2), the identification of the historical author with the explicit speaker (3), the identification with a natural spirit and the desire to unite with nature (4) and the speaker‟s political and socio-critical awareness (5) (cf. Müller 2012: 131). All of the five criteria of subjectivity as defined by Müller add cohesion to a work of art (cf. Jaegle 1995: 84).

“Subjectivity” in Romantic poetry should be seen as a perspective - the perspective of the speaker which is assumed by the historical author. The speaker‟s subjective perspective legitimises his claims and justifies his line of argumentation in the poem. Only in some exceptional cases is subjectivity discussed and thus becomes a theme. Poems in which a meta- poetic discussion about subjectivity is started, differ significantly from those in which subjectivity functions merely as a perspective. An example can be found in Shelley‟s poem “Mont Blanc” in which the speaker becomes aware of the subjectivity of his own perspective. The poem shows in which ways the speaker‟s recognition of his own subjectivity and the fact that he is actively creating meaning signals a new stage in his development as a poet. Hagenbüchle (1998: 41) argues that this stage is one of radical self-reflexivity in which the subject/ author is aware of the fact that he/she is actively creating meaning.

In der Absicht sich im Schreiben seiner selbst vergewissern zu wollen, ist das Subjekt radikal selbstreflexiv geworden. Damit nähert sich das Subjekt den Aporien des Subjektivismus: Denjenigen im Schreiben einholen zu wollen, der sich doch beim Prozess des Einholen- Wollens verändert, bedeutet letztendlich uneinholbar zu bleiben. […] Der Akt der Selbstfindung fällt nämlich mit dem Bewusstsein der Selbstentfremdung in eins zusammen. (Hagenbüchle 1998: 41)

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Here Hagenbüchle points out the impossibility of capturing the essence of the self/ subject when writing poetry because the subject is continuously constructing and deconstructing itself and its environment and therefore can never be defined accurately. The reader has to realize that the speaker‟s impressive descriptions of his environment are nothing but productions of the human mind.

The Romantic subject is a self-creative entity that is continuously striving to define itself but never reaching an end point. Hagenbüchle (1998: 46) further argues “Das Romantische Subjekt ist wesentlich ein Prozess-Selbst, das sich trotz aller Anstrengung nicht selbst zu begründen vermag“. This train of thought is related to Heidegger‟s theory of the subject‟s continuous drive to construct and deconstruct him/herself. Heidegger postulates a “Dialektik von Selbstkonstitution und Selbstentfremdung“ (Breuer 2012: 93). He argues that the subject becomes estranged from him/herself in the attempt to define him/herself because every definition is nothing but a construction of meaning. This explanation becomes understandable when considering that meaning is not inherent in objects but created by the human mind.

The works of many English poets demonstrate that the poets reflected on this deliberate construction of meaning. In particular “The Prelude“, a poem which aims to chart the growth and maturation of a poet‟s mind, by William Wordsworth illustrates that every definition of the self can only be a preliminary definition. Bode (1998: 876-877) argues that Wordsworth‟s beliefs and convictions too are nothing but constructions of the human mind and as such have nothing to do with reality.

„The Prelude“ zeigt die prinzipiell unabschließbare, immer nur vorläufige Selbstkonstituierung des dichterischen Subjekts durch selbstreflexives, autobiographisches Schreiben. […] So scheint Wordsworth‟s Schrift zwar zunächst eine dialektische Bezogenheit von Welt und Bewusstsein zu unterstellen, wie er sie auch explizit aussprach: „man and nature are essentially adapted to each other“. Doch erkennbar, rekonstruierbar ist diese Dialektik immer nur vom Standpunkt des reflektierenden Subjekts aus – sie ist also wiederum nur konstruiert. (Bode 1998: 876-877)

Romantic poetry can therefore be seen as a form of assertion of the self in which the subject legitimises his/her own subjective point of view by constructing meaning and creating relations in his/her own mind that have nothing (whatsoever) to do with actual reality; or as Bode (1998: 872) remarks: “Lacking an objective counterpart, the self is constituted in the perpetual process of re-writing its own history, which, however, it can never fully grasp or understand conclusively”.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

3. Percy Bysshe Shelley as Poet of the Second Generation of Romanticists

Percy Bysshe Shelley belonged to the second generation of English Romantic poets. While the poets of the first generation fervently believed in the ideals of harmony, balance and nature as a source of truth and authentic experience, the poets of the second generation became known for their sensuous aestheticism, revolutionary thinking and their tragically short lives. All three English Romantic poets of the second generation - Percy B. Shelley, Lord Byron and John Keats - died at a very young age. Shelley died aged twenty-nine, Byron thirty-six and Keats when he was twenty-six years old. Their works were marked by an intensity of feeling and passionate ardour that was associated with youth.

What the poets of the second generation of Romanticists had in common is that they acutely felt the gap between their noble Romantic ideals and factual reality. As a poet of the second generation, Shelley also felt this gap. Born in 1792 – during the aftermath of the French Revolution, he experienced the rise and fall of Napoleon. As such, he witnessed first-hand how revolutionary ideals can be turned on their heads. Although Shelley felt that his age was one of despair and disappointment, his attitude nevertheless remained optimistic.31 In contrast to many of his contemporaries who became disillusioned, he managed to retain some of the idealism and boundless aspirations of the early years of the Romantic period.

Shelley considered his own age as a “new birth” of which he regarded himself a herald, a trumpet and a legislator. He even explicitly expressed this conviction in his essay A Defence of Poetry claiming that: “poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration, they are the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire” (Shelley 1821: 34. online).32

In his age, Shelley was particularly known for his revolutionary plans which were idealistic but also unpractical. He openly expressed his view in his literary works claiming that “man only had to will that there should be no evil and there would be none” (Shelley 1821: 28 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 744). Deep inside, Shelley was a pacifist who believed that a violent overthrow of a tyrannical regime would only lead to more violence. He was the first poet of his time to propose passive resistance as a means of protest to deal with despotic conditions

31 Shelley gave expression to this feeling in his letters remarking: “Those who live now have survived an age of despair” (Shelley qtd. in Abrams 2006: 744). 32 This view of the role of the poet as depicted in Shelley‟s literary works will be the main concern of chapter 3.4 The Significance of Poetry and the Role of the Poet in Shelley‟s Literary Works.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

(cf. Abrams 2006: 743). In his opinion the gruesome events that followed the French Revolution gave evidenced that the ends can never justify the means.

In contrast to many other Romantic writers, Shelley was also greatly interested in science. The works of Enlightenment authors such as Locke, Hume and Voltaire particularly awakened his interest (cf. Kitson 1999: 46). He was the closest of all Romanticists to the Enlightenment scepticism which had been rejected by the first generation of Romantic poets. Some of his literary works, in particular his essays The Necessity of Atheism, A Refutation of Deism, On Christianity, are informed by Enlightenment thinking and opposed to the superstitions and irrationalities of Christianity (cf. Kitson 1999: 46).

In his age, Shelley was either seen as an insane radical or a noble idealist by his contemporaries. While he was criticised by many, Shelley‟s close friends and personal acquaintances valued him and praised his poetry. William Wordsworth once remarked that in “workmanship of style” Shelley was one of the best artists of his time and Lord Byron defended Shelley‟s reputation with the words “You are brutally mistaken about Shelley, who was, without exception, the best and least selfish man I ever knew” when critics accused his friend, Shelley, of being an immoralist (Wordsworth and Byron qtd. in Abrams 2006: 743).

Shelley‟s life and his poetry certainly support an understanding of him as a tragic idealist. As a youth, he saw himself as an outcast, rejected by society and his contemporaries. His poems often represent attempts to thematise this alienation and reconcile himself with his situation. Despite harsh reality and serious drawbacks in his private life. Shelley‟s poetry is marked by grand ideals and characterised through an optimistic perspective on life.

Shelley‟s optimism, his faith in humanity and his grand ideals are unique among the Romantic poets. In many ways Shelley was a radical who dedicated his life to fighting against injustice and oppression. In his youth he enjoyed a good education which had early on brought him into contact with radical philosophical beliefs and convictions. One of the most important influences was the radical social philosopher William Godwin, author of Inquiry Concerning Political Justice in which he openly criticised political institutions and spoke in favour of anarchism. Shelley‟s literary works give evidence of his profound education in literature and scripture. 20th century literary scholars have argued that the expression of his feelings and philosophical convictions in his poetry and literary works made him one of the most significant writers of English literature.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

3.1 Shelley‟s Life and Major Works Percy Bysshe Shelley was born into a wealthy Sussex family in 1792. His background was aristocratic and conservative because his ancestors had been Sussex gentry since the early 17th century. The young Shelley was a precocious and sensitive child who was exceedingly fond of his sisters and very early on showed strong traits of imagination (cf. Winstanley 1911: VII).

At the age of 12 the young Shelley entered Eton, a prestigious English boarding school for boys. Although as a young child he often suffered from being bullied by his peers, Shelley became an ardent student. He showed an intense interest in philosophy, politics, society and history. During his schooldays at Eton, he also discovered the works of the philosopher William Godwin, whose passionate and revolutionary thinking inspired him and, to some extent, also helped him to cope with life at the boarding school. Due to the influence of Godwin and other philosophers, the young Shelley turned into an ardent admirer of political revolution who fervently believed in the ideals of freedom and equality for all people, ideals that had been espoused by the French Revolution.

When entering the University of Oxford in 1810, his desire to convince others of the validity of his beliefs eventually culminated in the publication of a controversial pamphlet together with his close friend and companion Thomas Jefferson Hogg (cf. Abrams 2006: 742). This pamphlet, entitled The Necessity of Atheism, openly questioned the existence of an almighty God and scorned Christianity. Shelley‟s co-authorship in the pamphlet ended his Oxford career abruptly. Since the idea of atheism was outrageous in the religiously conservative 19th century England, the university authorities decided that they would severely punish the young Shelley if he refused to renounce the claims he had made in the pamphlet. Idealistic and stubborn as he was, Shelley refused and as a consequence was expelled from Oxford. Shelley‟s expulsion from university marked the end of his academic career and opened a rift between him and his father that would widen over the years.

At the age of eighteen, Shelley moved to London where he got to know Harriet Westbrook, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a tavern keeper. Despite his inherent dislike for the tavern and his conviction that marriage was a tyrannical and degrading social institution, Shelley decided to elope with Harriet and to marry her. After the wedding the couple moved restlessly from one place to another, living on a small allowance that had been granted to them by their families. In the beginning their marriage was a happy one.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

When the young couple decided to move back to London, things were certain to change once again. Back in London the young Shelley made the personal acquaintance of the radical social philosopher William Godwin whom he had admired as a young schoolboy. Shelley became Godwin‟s disciple and started writing his first important poetic work – Queen Mab – which he published privately in 1812 (cf. Winstanley 1911: IX). During this time Shelley felt that he was drifting apart from his wife Harriet and that his marriage was no longer fulfilling to him. It was then that he got to know Godwin‟s daughter Mary Wollstonecraft. The young Shelley felt attracted to the beautiful and intelligent young woman and since this attraction was reciprocated the two of them fell in love. Shelley abandoned Harriet and together with Mary decided to elope to France. The abandonment of his first wife Harriet was one of the reasons why Shelley often had been described as egoistic in his relationships towards women and why he was accused of showing a refusal to let anything stand in the way of his impulses of the moment (cf. Abrams 2006: source 742). Shelley‟s elopement with Mary outraged her father and, when the young couple moved back to England, Shelley had to discover that the general public, his family and most of his friends now regarded him not only as an atheist but also as an immoralist (cf. Abrams 2006: source 742). When Shelley‟s first wife Harriet, who had become pregnant with the child of her new lover, drowned herself in a fit of despair, Shelley was finally was able to marry Godwin‟s daughter Mary.

In 1816 Shelley made a memorable trip to Switzerland during which he wrote several descriptive letters and some of his finest nature poems, among them the poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” and “Mont Blanc”. In these lyric works he explicates his belief that the whole universe is pervaded by a sublime spirit that connects all living beings.

In 1818 the young couple moved to Italy where Shelley assumed his restless way of life. Percy and Mary Shelley spent a considerable amount of time travelling Europe and meeting important literary figures such as Lord Byron, who, back then, was already celebrated as a renowned poet. The young couple and the self-stylized Byron became close friends. Their travels throughout Europe were the most important ones for Shelley‟s literary career as it was during this time that Shelley wrote most of his finest lyric poetry, such as the poems “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark” and “The Cloud”.

Grief over the early death of his children - four of his children with Mary had died in infancy - destroyed the earlier harmony of his second marriage and led to an estrangement between Shelley and his second wife. But the poet never gave up his hopes for a better future. He fervently believed that the good times were still lying ahead and that love would have the

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan power to redeem everything. Shelley was convinced that despite a harsh and cruel reality, people must continue to hope and think positively about the future because by keeping open the possibility of a better future, hope releases the imaginative and creative powers that are the only means of achieving that end (cf. Abrams 2006: 743). Literary scholars have argued that Shelley‟s poetry is an effort to assert hope, even against his own full knowledge of the grounds for despair (cf. Chernaik 1972: 30).

In his later years Shelley was influenced by the ideas of Plato and the Neo-Platonists. His writing also reflects these stages of ceaseless exploration of the self and the things lying beyond the material world. His essays On Life, On Love, Speculations on Metaphysics illustrate this search for meaning and Shelley‟s strife to discover the truth lying beyond. Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in 1822 at the age of 29 while sailing in a storm off the Italian coast.

Shelley lived a turbulent and restless life among fascinating people, from Lord Byron, one of the most famous and controversial poet of the Romantic era, to his wife Mary, the author of the legendary gothic novel Frankenstein. His poetic works are characterised by intense passions, political prophecies and an elaborate use of poetic imagery.

When summing up Shelley‟s work as a whole, it can be said that his pre-eminence lies chiefly in lyric poetry. His most famous lyric poems are “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark” and “The Cloud” as well as his political sonnets “Ozymandias” and “England in 1819”.33 Many of his literary works such as the superb poetic drama Prometheus Unbound on the subject of tyranny and revolution have at their core a relationship of ideas rather than a relationship to actuality (cf. Woodring 1970: 230). As Shelley saw political revolutions fail all across Europe, he shifted his focus from society to the individual mind. Therefore, Shelley‟s later works are marked by a shift from a political to a spiritual revolution.

Many of Shelley‟s literary works contain autobiographical elements such as the poet‟s belief in natural spirits, his interest in politics and his conviction that growth and decay, life and death, past, present and future are inextricably connected with each other. In his works Shelley placed the focus on imaginative sympathy and the ever present reality of change and growth (cf. Woodring: 1970: 327). In many of his lyric poems the speaker, who often can be identified with the author of the poem, explicates a relationship between himself and a

33 Except for “England in 1819”, which presents a superb piece of scorn for the nobility of England, all the other poems will be discussed in detail in the analytical part of my thesis.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan sublime spirit or entity that connects him with the entire universe. 34 A perfect example in this respect is Shelley‟s poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” in which he praises a sublime spirit that connects nature with all living beings.

Shelley was well-read and often used intertextual references in his writing. Interestingly, he also used formal elements to enhance meaning, a good example being that he used the sonnet form to add compression to the content of his political sonnets “Ozymandias” and “England in 1819”. Another remarkable case is Shelley‟s meta-poetic essay A Defence of Poetry in which the poet makes use of poetic language to enforce his message that poetry and poetic language are superior to scientific writing and scientific language.

Literary scholars have argued that from his earliest poems to his last, Shelley sought to mediate the dichotomy between love and revolution (cf. Woodring: 1970: 5). According to Woodring (1970: 5), Shelley could not imagine an art free of political concern. In the view of the poet, poetry meant freeing himself and others of the shackles of social convention and political oppression (cf. Woodring 1970: 5). Chernaik (1972: 9) argues that Shelley‟s lyric poetry analyses the “dark slavery of man” and prophecies the liberation from the chains that bind him (Shelley 1821: 30. online). According to Chernaik (1972: 9), that “dark slavery” is physical, psychological as well as political. It includes man‟s enslavement to time and to his senses, as well as his oppression by kings and priests (cf. Chernaik 1972: 9). In Shelley‟s understanding, liberation, although frequently linked to the breaking of political and social chains, is in the first instance psychological, a freeing of the mind and its imagination (cf. Chernaik 1972: 9).

3.2 Main Themes in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Shelley‟s main thematic concerns largely overlap with the themes discussed in Romantic poetry. Shelley‟s treatment of the theme of nature has to be highlighted in this respect. The main reason is that the relationship of the speaker/poet to his natural environment represents one of the central issues in Shelley‟s poetry. Other important themes are freedom, change and the transience of life, politics and revolution, the power of the imagination, and poetic inspiration. What makes Shelley‟s treatment of these topics unique is his philosophical conviction of an interconnectedness of everything in the universe: old and new, growth and decay, past, present and future.

34 The analyses of the poems presented in chapter 4.1 Presence of a Sublime Spirit as a Core Element of Systemic Thought portray the development of this relationship between the speaker and a sublime spirit in nature.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

3.2.1 Presence of a Sublime Spirit in Nature Like many Romantic poets, Shelley showed a reverence for the beauty of nature and felt closely connected to his environment. In his essay Speculations on Metaphysics – The Mind, he defines nature as “inexpressibly more magnificent, simple and true than accords with the ordinary systems of complicated and partial consideration” (Shelley 1815-1818: 2. online). What has to be mentioned in this context is that Shelley‟s nature poems are not typical nature poems but philosophical poems about man‟s relation to his surroundings and to himself.

In Shelley‟s poetry, it is often not nature itself, but rather a sublime/divine spirit35 in nature that takes centre stage. In the poet‟s view, this sublime spirit has a divine origin for it connects all living entities with each other and serves as the bond between them and their creator. In Shelley‟s poetry often the speaker‟s relationship to this spirit is focused on. The poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark” and “The Cloud” perfectly demonstrate how the poet imagined this bond between himself and the sublime spirit in nature.

In most of Shelley‟s poems, this sublime spirit is admired by the speaker of the poem for its immortality and freedom. It is portrayed as the cause of all human joy, faith, goodness and pleasure. In some poems, it is even pictured as the source of poetic inspiration and divine truth. The poem “To a Skylark” is a perfect example in this respect. Here the speaker addresses a singing skylark as if it were a messenger from heaven.

However, while Shelley insists on the positive qualities of the sublime spirit in nature, he also shows an awareness of the dark sides of nature. A good example in this respect is the poem “Ode to the West Wind” in which the speaker remarks that natural forces destroy just as often as they create. This view is epitomised in the description of the sublime West Wind as a “destroyer and a preserver” bringing regeneration and destruction at the same time (Shelley 1819: lines 13-14).

Chernaik (1972: 121) argues that in his poems, Shelley shows extraordinary empathy for the natural world as he perceives it to be free of society‟s stifling influences. The existence of spirits and seasonal winds, lights and ghosts in many of Shelley‟s poems suggest that the poet believed in the possibility of catching a glimpse of the spiritual world lying beyond the material one by confronting sublime nature. However, it can also be argued that in his poems,

35 The spirit is both sublime and divine, but often one aspect is deliberately foregrounded in Shelley‟s poems. While in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” the spirit‟s divine aspects are highlighted, in “Mont Blanc” the focus is placed on the awe-inspiring but terrifying aspects of the mountain peak.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Shelley‟s subjective perspective invests his natural environment and thereby creates the natural world anew free from all limitations. In other words, the mind creates that which it wants to see.

3.2.2 Change and Transience of Life In some of Shelley‟s poems the themes of change and transience of life take centre stage. A fitting example of this is the sonnet “Ozymandias” in which the speaker communicates the message that every tyranny, no matter how terrible, is temporary. In this work, the idea that time eventually conquers even the most powerful emperors is implied. Another example is the poem “Ode to Liberty” in which the concept of time is portrayed as an ever-changing river. The ode illustrates that in Shelley‟s lyric works the most diversified descriptions of the concept of time can be found. Probably his most remarkable treatment of the theme of change and transience of life is found in the poem “Mutability” in which the speaker proclaims that continuous change is the only thing humans can truly rely on as everything else will eventually fade away one day. Time is depicted as changing everything and eventually conquering everyone.

3.2.3 Freedom, Revolutionary Prophecy and Politics Shelley‟s commitment to political and social issues as well as his vision of freedom for all people found expression in his literary works. As such, it is not surprising that his poetry is pervaded with political ideas and revolutionary thoughts. Examples in this respect are Shelley‟s political sonnets “Ozymandias” and “England in 1819” as well as his odes “Ode to the West Wind”, “Ode to Liberty” and “Ode to Naples”. All of them more or less explicitly convey a prophecy of political change.

The theme of freedom and Shelley‟s belief in revolution as a driving force for political change are particularly foregrounded in Shelley‟s political odes “Ode to Liberty” and “Ode to Naples” as well as in his lyric drama Prometheus Unbound. With these literary works, Shelley‟s intention was to awaken the imagination of the reformers in England. Therefore, the odes can be interpreted as radical political myths of liberation. Imagination serves as the weapon that must oppose society‟s crippling impulses and help create new grounds of hope. Shelley hoped that his art would bring about the birth of a new age and encourage people to believe in political change. He dreamed of the destruction of the rigid old structures and the regeneration of the human race. Therefore, in his lyric poetry he openly expressed the view that a revolution would lead to a renewal of mankind.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

3.2.4 Power of the Imagination and Poetic Inspiration Another theme that characterises Shelley‟s poetry is the deliberate emphasis on the power of the imagination. Although Shelley uses nature as the primary source of his poetic inspiration, he also remarks that nature is transformed through his own imagination. In his meta-poetic writing, he openly expresses the thought that the imagination adds colour and brilliance to the natural environment. As such, in Shelley‟s lyric poetry, the transformative power of the human mind becomes equal to the power of nature. In Shelley‟s view, both nature and the human mind are creative forces that contribute to the creation of a work of art. Therefore, it can be concluded that a dialectic relationship between nature and the human mind is established in Shelley‟s lyric poetry. The experience of beauty and the sublime in the natural world becomes a collaborative act between the perceiving subject and the perceived object.

In addition to this, the poet‟s wish to be inspired is often voiced explicitly in Shelley‟s poems and literary works. Inspiration is often portrayed in the form of a natural spirit or animal. Good examples in this respect are the poems “To a Skylark” and “Ode to the West Wind”. While in the former poem inspiration is located in a singing bird soaring high up into the sky, in the latter the speaker identifies the autumnal West Wind as the inspiring force.

3.2.5 Interconnectedness of Present, Past and Future Shelley‟s conception of history was cyclical (cf. Welleck 1970: 129). From his viewpoint history did not progress in a linear fashion but in cycles that were interwoven with one another. Shelley explicitly expresses his view on the matter in his essay A Defence of Poetry in which he openly states his belief in an interconnectedness of present, past and future.

This belief also found expression in the poet‟s lyric texts. In many of his poems, such as “Ode to the West Wind”, “Chorus from Hellas” and “The Cloud”, Shelley communicates the idea that everything in life is interconnected: growth and decay, life and death, present, past and future. An interconnectedness of these elements means that one without the other is not possible because the existence of the first presupposes the existence of the second. A dialectic relationship between present, past and future, such as the one portrayed in “Chorus from Hellas”, further implies that every action taken in the present will have repercussions on the future.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

3.3 Shelley‟s Philosophical Position Shelley‟s philosophical position is complex and has undergone significant changes in the course of his life. As a young man, Shelley started out as a philosophical materialist but then, driven by scepticism, became a radical idealist. In his essay On Life, the poet explicitly voiced his growing scepticism towards the materialist ideology. He argued that materialism was a system seductive for young and superficial minds. “It allows its disciples to talk, and dispenses them from thinking” (Shelley 1815-1818: 2. online). Shelley believed that materialism36 dazzles young men inducing them to believe that material possessions and physical comfort are more important in life than spiritual values and emotional fulfilment.

Although Shelley had earned himself a reputation as an atheist by publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism, he was not an atheist in the modern usage of the term.37 Deep inside, Shelley believed that human minds are connected with each another and with their environment. He identified what others call “God” with a mysterious, all-encompassing, creative power in the universe and believed that there was a divine bond between all living entities (cf. Kitson 1999: 43). Shelley regarded beauty in nature as being at once the emanation and reflection of a diviner world lying beyond. Although he despised the idea of a Christian God, he believed that the whole universe is pervaded by a sublime/divine spirit that connects all living beings to their divine creator. This spirit is a recurrent element in Shelley‟s poetry. His poem “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” pays tribute to the spirit, describing it as “The Spirit of Intellectual Beauty”. Literary critics have remarked that Shelley‟s belief in the existence of such a divine unifying spirit is akin to Deism, i.e. a philosophical position that acknowledges the existence of a Supreme Being in accordance with Newtonian science but denies any dogma associated with Christian belief (cf. Kitson 1999: 43).

In his poetry Shelley glorified the human ideals of love, freedom and peace. As a young man he fervently believed in the possibility of realizing these ideals in human societies and gave expression to this desire in his poetic works. His moments of darkness and despair almost always resulted from his disappointment at seeing these ideals sacrificed to human weakness (cf. Abrams 2006: 741). Throughout the poet‟s life, the human ideals of love, freedom of

36 Materialism is an ideology postulating that the highest values or objectives lie in material well-being and in the furtherance of material progress (Farlex online dictionary 2017). 37 Today, atheism is defined as a philosophical position characterised by the disbelief in the existence of a God or Gods as well as the rejection of the existence of a spiritual being superior to man (Merriam Webster online dictionary 2017).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan mind and the imagination remained cornerstones of his thinking. Especially, the imagination seemed to hold a pivotal position for the development of Shelley‟s poetic theory.38

In his essays, most notably On Life, On Love, Speculations on Metaphysics and A Defence of Poetry, Shelley deals with profound philosophical questions and challenges the reader to reflect critically on conventionalised notions and beliefs. The following extracts taken from these essays illustrate Shelley‟s opinions and personal views on the issues of love, life and the limits of human perception.

In his essay On Love, written between 1815 and 1818, Shelley eloquently defines the concept of love and challenges contemporary definitions of the concept. Shelley‟s essay begins with the question “What is love?” and then points out the difficulties of finding an adequate definition based purely on rational criteria.

What is love? Ask him who lives, what is life? ask him who adores, what is God? […] Thou demandest what is love? It is that powerful attraction towards all that we conceive, or fear, or hope beyond ourselves, when we find within our own thoughts the chasm of an insufficient void, and seek to awaken in all things that are, a community with what we experience within ourselves. If we reason, we would be understood; if we imagine, we would that the airy children of our brain were born anew within another‟s; if we feel, we would that another‟s nerves should vibrate to our own, that the beams of their eyes should kindle at once and mix and melt into our own, that lips of motionless ice should not reply to lips quivering and burning with the heart‟s best blood. This is Love. (Shelley 1815-1818: 1. online)

What can be inferred from the opening lines of the essay is that explaining love to someone who has never experienced it him/herself is a difficult thing to do. The true nature of love, Shelley argues, cannot be comprehended unless it has been experienced. The description the poet offers here depicts love as passionate and ardent, consuming the minds of individuals. Shelley‟s concept of love is based on the thought that love must be reciprocated with the same intensity. At a later point in his essay he notes: “(Love) is the bond and the sanction which connects not only man with man, but everything which exists” (Shelley 1815-1818: 1. online). He further claims that human beings yearn to feel this bond. “[…] we are born into the world, and there is something within us which, from the instant that we live more and more thirsts after its likeness” (Shelley 1815-1818: 1. online). These lines illustrate Shelley‟s view that

38 For further details see chapter 3.4 The Significance of Poetry and the Role of the Poet in Shelley‟s Literary Works.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan love, just as the Spirit of Beauty, is a synthesising force in the universe – the bond that exists between all living entities.

For Shelley the concept of love was the “great secret of morals” (Shelley 1821: 10. online). In his Defence of Poetry, a meta-poetic essay that aims at defending the position of poetry in an age of utilitarianism and materialism, Shelley defines love as “going out of our own nature” and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in others, thus implicitly hinting at the fact that in order to feel real love one has to show empathy and compassion (Shelley 1821: 10; cf. O‟Neill 1999: 263).

Another piece of writing in which Shelley deals with profound philosophical questions and challenges the reader to reflect critically is the essay On Life written between 1815 and 1818. Other than posing the question What is life? the essay also contains some remarkable considerations on the construction of meaning through the use of language.

What is life? Thoughts and feelings arise, with or without our will, and we employ words to express them. We are born, and our birth is unremembered, and our infancy remembered but in fragments; we live on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life. How vain is it to think that words can penetrate the mystery of our being! Rightly used they may make evident our ignorance to ourselves, and this is much. For what are we? Whence do we come? and wither do we go? Is birth the commencement, is death the conclusion of our being? What is birth and death? (Shelley 1819: 2. online)

Shelley‟s considerations on the issue of life and the individual‟s perception of it also take into account the difficulties of giving a truthful account of reality. These difficulties arise from the fact that every description of reality is a construct because the individual can only perceive the world through his/her own subjective perspective. Bode (1998: 888) argues that Shelley was well aware of the difficulties arising from his own subjectivity. The poet‟s speculations in his essay On Life hint at the fact that he knew that he was continuously constructing meaning and thereby only able to make sense of the world: “Nothing exists but as it is perceived. The difference is merely nominal between those two classes of thought, which are vulgarly distinguished by the names of ideas and of external objects” (Shelley 1815-1818: 4. online). Here the poet argues that nothing can exist outside the human mind and that all meaning, therefore, must be a construction of the human mind.

Shelley also expresses the difficulties arising from the individual‟s subjective consciousness in his meta-poetic essay A Defence of Poetry. “All things exist as they are perceived; at least in relation to the percipient. The mind is its own place, and of itself can make a heaven of

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan hell, a hell of heaven” (Shelley 1821: 30. online). Here Shelley admits that overcoming one‟s own subjective perspective is impossible (cf. Bode 1998: 888).

As one of the few poets of the Romantic age, Shelley dared to question the truthfulness and accuracy of human perception. Bode (1998: 872) argues that in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s idiosyncratic merging of philosophical idealism and materialism, readers find the doomed attempt to subordinate the self to larger evolutionary processes and, at the same time, to hold on to the sublime dignity of subjective consciousness. Bode (1998: 872) further notes that Shelley‟s paradoxical position embraces a sceptical hope for meaning, a meaning, however, that inevitably escapes final definition. This becomes evident in Shelley‟s lyric poem “Mont Blanc” and the essay Speculations on Metaphysics – The Mind. In “Mont Blanc” the speaker, who can be identified with the historical author, reflects on his own subjectivity and has to realize that he himself is the one who is constructing reality. The final lines illustrate this: “And what were thou (Mont Blanc), and earth, and stars and sea,/ If to the human mind imaginings/ Silence and solitude were vacancy? (Shelley 1816: lines 142-144). In his essay Speculations on Metaphysics – The Mind Shelley presents a similar train of thought. Here the poet argues that beyond the limits of perception and thought nothing else can exist.

We can think of nothing which we have not perceived. When I say that we can think of nothing, I mean, we can imagine nothing, we can reason of nothing, we can remember nothing, we can foresee nothing. The most astonishing combinations of poetry, the subtlest deductions of logic and mathematics, are no other than combinations which the intellect makes of sensations according to its own laws. (Shelley 1815-1818: 1. online)

Here again, the idea that all meaning is nothing but a construction of the human mind is put forward. Shelley argues that the prerequisite for creating a coherent train of thought is that the individual must have learned how to perceive the world. Once this skill has been acquired, the mind quite naturally constructs meaning and creates its own subjective version of reality.

3.4 The Significance of Poetry and the Role of the Poet in Shelley‟s Literary Works The core of Shelley‟s aesthetic philosophy can be found in his meta-poetic essay A Defence of Poetry. In this essay, Shelley argues that poetry, aside from creating pleasure, has the power to bring about moral good. The Defence was originally written in response to Thomas Love Peacock‟s pamphlet The Four Ages of Poetry – a rationalistic, cynical, and humorous essay describing the decay and final disappearance of poetry in an age of utility (cf. Wellek 1955:

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

126). In the essay, Peacock claimed that poetry has become a useless anachronism in an age of scientific discoveries. Peacock‟s main argument was that art has become useless in the 18th century and therefore should be regarded as doomed. The Four Ages of Poetry was of a polemical character and Peacock was well aware of the exaggerated nature of his claims.39 However, in an age of materialism and utilitarian philosophy, some poets realized that this essay could develop into a serious threat for poetry and poetic practice because it fiercely attacked the poets‟ achievements and their poetic faculty.

Shelley, who was a close friend of Peacock, responded to this controversial piece of writing with his Defence of Poetry. In this essay, Shelley glorifies poetry and art in an unprecedented way. As such, the Defence is more a manifesto of the principles and beliefs of Romanticism than an essay. The central question underlying Shelley‟s work is whether poetry is still important in an age of utility and materialism.

Shelley‟s original plan was to write a three-partite essay, but due to his early death only the first part was finished. Although the Defence had been written in 1821, it was only published in 1840, 18 years after the poet‟s death. The text was edited by Shelley‟s second wife Mary and passages which referred directly to Peacocks essay were removed. The Defence then became famous in its de-contextualised form. Its core messages are that poetry is figment of the imagination, that the poet is a prophet of change and a seer of divine truths and that poetry not only merges contrasts, but also has the power to improve people morally.

Overall, Shelley‟s essay serves as an apotheosis of poetry and art. It proclaims the social function of lyric poetry and celebrates the role of the poet. First, Shelley describes the origins of poetry and defines its value for society. He contrasts the concepts of reason and imagination and defines poetry as the highest form of human expression. In Shelley‟s view, poetry is the record of the happiest moments of the best minds (cf. Shelley 1821: 28. online). It is therefore not surprising that he defines poets as “men of the most spotless virtue, the most consummate prudence, the most fortunate of men” (Shelley 1821: 28. online).

39 In his essay Peacock had developed the old idea of a golden and silver age of poetry into a cycle of four ages: the age of iron, the age of gold, the age of silver and the age of brass, all four of these repeated in the modern period (cf. Wellek 1955: 127). Originally, the age of iron was the time of the dark origins of poetry, the age of gold was the period of the great writers of Greek antiquity, Homer, Aeschylus, and Pindar, the age of silver was that of the Latin authors Virgil and Horace, and the age of brass was the time in which Latin poetry was already on its decay (cf. Wellek 1955: 127). In Peacock‟s view, these four ages were repeated in English literary history. As he saw it the iron age was equivalent to the Middle Ages, the golden age corresponded to that of Shakespeare, the silver age was the age of Dryden and Pope, and the age of brass was identified with the period of Romanticism. The whole scheme allowed Peacock to ridicule the primitive and medieval on the one hand and to disparage the achievements of his Romantic contemporaries on the other hand.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

According to Shelley, poetry results from the higher imaginative powers of the mind. In his essay, he defines poetry as “something divine” and as the “centre and circumference of knowledge” (Shelley 1821: 28. online). The following extract from the Defence illustrates Shelley‟s view on the matter:

Poetry is indeed something divine. It is at once centre and the circumference of knowledge; it is that which comprehends all science, and that which to all science must be referred. It is at the same time the root and the blossom of all other systems of thought; it is that from which all spring and that which adorns all. [..] All high poetry is infinite; it is the first acorn, which contained all oaks potentially. (Shelley 1821: 28, 48. online)

Here Shelley argues that poetry has a synthesising function, merging even the most contrasting elements with each other. In his opinion, poetry is divine because of its power to merge contrasts.40 Shelley‟s view was that poetry fuses exultation with horror, grief with pleasure, eternity with change. “Poetry […] marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, eternity and change; it subdues to union, under its light yoke, all irreconcilable things” (Shelley 1821: 28. online). He saw poetry as the union of form and content - a thought which is systemic in its nature. Literary scholars of the 21st century have claimed that Shelley saw the fusion of contrasts as the creative principle of Romantic poetry: Breuer (2012: 145) claims: “Die Spannung der Gegensätze ist ein Lebensprinzip (in Shelley‟s Dichtung), ihre Versöhnung ist der Inbegriff des dichterischen Schaffens”.

Shelley‟s intention of praising and glorifying Romantic poetry also becomes evident in his meta-poetic essay. He argues that poetry brings “light and fire” to the natural scenery that surrounds the poet (cf. Shelley 1821: 28). The following extract illustrates the extent to which Shelley glorifies poetry and art.

(Poetry) is the perfect and consummate surface and bloom of all things; it is as the odour and the colour of the rose to the texture of elements which compose it, as the form and splendour of unfaded beauty to the secrets of anatomy and corruption. […] Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which consumes the scabbard that would contain it. (Shelley 1821: 28, 38. online)

In these lines, Shelley describes poetry as the supreme expression of thoughts. The metaphors he uses here to describe poetry are elaborate: poetry is compared to the beauty and sweet fragrance of a blooming rose as well as to a powerful “sword of lightning” that cannot be

40 This view is similar to Friedrich Schlegel‟s who claimed that Romantic poetry had the power to fuse contrasts in his Athenaeum-Fragment.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan restrained. What is interesting in this respect is that Shelley makes use of figurative language when describing the characteristic features of poetry.

While Shelley praises the characteristics of poetic language in his meta-poetic essay, he uses poetic means to describe these in detail. As such, in his Defence Shelley did exactly what he claimed to be desirable in poetry. This fact illustrates the fusion of content and form in Shelley‟s poetry. A dialectic relationship between theory and practice is noticeable. Breuer (2012: 150) summarises the implications of such a fusion of poetic theory and poetic practice.

Shelley greift in seinem meta-poetischen Werk immer wieder zu literarischen Mitteln also zu Metapher, Similes und Allegorien, die anderswo als Wesensmerkmal der dichterischen Sprache genannt werden. Shelley glaubte offenbar seine Dichtungstheorie müsse das in die Praxis umsetzen, was sie für ihren Gegenstand theoretisch fordert. Shelley behauptete, dass die Dichtung, und damit die dichterische Sprache, der Wissenschaft und der wissenschaftlichen Sprache überlegen sei. Somit sah er sich gezwungen die Sprache zu benutzen, die er als wünschenswert beschreibt. (Breuer 2012: 150)

Here Breuer (2012: 150) claims that Shelley‟s Defence of Poetry is an “organic” piece of literature because its form and content interact with one another. In this context, the term “organic” is meant to indicate a fusion of contrasts and opposites, i.e. “die Verbindung von Einzelheiten zu einem Systemganzen“ (Breuer 2012: 144).

Shelley‟s Defence of Poetry was an eloquent and enduring claim for the indispensability of the visionary and creative power of the imagination in all human concerns (cf. Abrams 2006: 744). Wellek (1955: 129) argues that Shelley established poetry as a part of the fabric of society and of the process of history: potent even when scarcely visible. Shelley believed that poetry can improve people morally as it exercises and expands the imagination. To him, the imagination was the source of sympathy, compassion, love and the best means for developing the ability to project oneself into the position of another person. No other poet of the Romantic age emphasised the connection and interrelatedness between poetry and moral goodness as much as Shelley did. Shelley believed that the purpose of poetry was moral and humane, namely “to awake and enlarge the minds of readers to the understanding of man‟s condition as it is and as it might be” (cf. Shelley qtd. in Chernaik 1972: 9). In his view, poetry could help people to improve their capacity to empathise with others. Literary scholars such as Duerksen (1988: XI) have argued that the motivation behind Shelley‟s poetry was his desire to define and enhance humanity which for the poet originated in and was brought into

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan practice by the human mind itself. The following text passage, taken from the Defence, illustrates Shelley‟s view on the matter.

A man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others. The pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting upon the cause. Poetry enlarges the circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thoughts of ever new delight, which have the power of attracting and assimilating to their own nature all other thoughts, and which form new intervals and interstices whose void forever craves fresh food. Poetry strengthens the faculty which is the organ of the moral nature of man, in the same manner as exercise strengthens a limb. (Shelley 1821: 10. online)

What can be inferred from this text passage is that Shelley saw an intricate connection between beauty and goodness. He fervently believed in the ameliorating power of lyric poetry to improve society sensuously, spiritually, and morally, all at the same time. The extract above illustrates that Shelley‟s poetry was suffused with an inspired moral optimism that was rare for his time. In contrast to other poets of the second generation of Romanticists, Shelley believed that poetry helps to conserve and improve the intuitive and empathic faculties of the individual. “Poetry redeems from decay the visitations of divinity in man” (Shelley 1821: 30. online).

In Shelley‟s literary works, the poet is often depicted as a grand, tragic and prophetic hero who shows a profound appreciation for nature. According to Shelley, this intense connection with the natural world gives the poet access to profound cosmic truths. In his understanding, the poet has the power and the duty to translate these truths and make them accessible and comprehensible for his audience. In this way, the poem becomes a kind of prophecy that, if listened to, has the power to change the world for the better. In Shelley‟s opinion this prophecy even has the power to bring about political, social and spiritual change.

Poets […] are not only the authors of language and of music, or of the dance, and architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers, who draw into a certain propinquity with the beautiful and the true, that partial apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world which is called religion. (Shelley 1821: 4. online)

In this extract, taken from the Defence, the poet is depicted as a “prophet”, a “founder of civil society” or as an “institutor of laws” (Shelley 1821: 4. online). Here Shelley enlarges the

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan scope of the term poetry to denote all the creative achievements or imaginative breakthroughs of mankind including non-institutional religious insights. Chernaik (1972: 33) argues that in Shelley‟s poetry the poet‟s function is to experience and to know what cannot be seen, in other words, to create in language the forms his imagination craves.

According to Shelley, the poet was the one who, inspired by a sublime spirit, had the power to awaken a sleeping populace and through his prophecy change the world. This belief is quite prominent in his Defence, as can be seen from the following extract:

Poets were called, in the earlier epochs of the world, legislators, or prophets. A poet essentially comprises and unites both these characters. For he not only beholds intensely the present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which present things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future in the present, and his thoughts are the germs of the flower and the fruit of the latest time. […] (Poets) measure the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive and all-penetrating spirit, and they are themselves perhaps the most sincerely astonished at its manifestations for it is less their spirit but the spirit of the age. […] Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. (Shelley 1821: 4, 8, 33. online)

Here Shelley depicts the poet as a prophetic figure - a “hierophant of an unapprehended inspiration” an “unacknowledged legislator of the world” who “participates in the eternal, the infinite, and the one” (Shelley 1821: 4, 5, 33 online). The poet becomes the link between sublime nature and other human beings. He is a prophet of divine truths who possesses the genius to communicate nature‟s sublime beauty. This sublime beauty is accessible only through his poetic faculty and the special gift that distinguishes him from other humans: his imagination. Interestingly, the identification of a poet as a “prophet” was not Shelley‟s brainchild but had already been expressed by other English authors and poets, most notably the Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney (Shelley 1821: 4. online).41

In Shelley‟s view, the poet was a near-divine saviour, comparable to Christ or the titan Prometheus who stole the divine fire and gave it back to humans in Greek mythology. Like

41 The Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney pointed out that the word for poet in Latin signifies “seer”, “foreseer” and “prophet”. This insight helped him to develop his poetic theory in his Apologie for Poetrie, a meta-poetic essay written in 1579. Although there are some similarities between Sidney‟s and Shelley‟s work, Sidney‟s view was immature as compared to Shelley‟s (cf. Winstanley 1911: XXI). According to Winstanley (1911: XXI) Shelley interprets the function of the poet altogether more finely.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Christ and Prometheus, the poet in Shelley‟s works is doomed to suffer because his visionary power isolates him from others and because he has estranged himself from society. In the end, however the poet triumphs because he manages to establish a connection with the divine spirit running through every living entity in the universe. His art becomes immortal outlasting every tyranny, religious doctrine, and society, thenceforth living on to inspire new generations.

3.5 Systemic Thought in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry The concepts of systemic thought and systemic thinking are defined as “Denken in Wirkungs- und Rückkoppelungszusammenhängen, das die Eigendynamik von Prozessen anerkennt und kurzfristige sowie langfristige Wirkungen, direkte als auch indirekte Einflüsse berücksichtigt” (Breuer 1212: 17). They imply an interdependence between all areas of life.42 Originally, the terms systemic thought and systemic thinking derive from Social Sciences and Systems Theory where they are used to analyse social dynamics and phenomena which cannot be explained using conventional sociological models (cf. Breuer 2012: 17 and Richardson 1991: 1). In this context, systemic thought and systemic thinking will be used to describe the belief that life and death, growth and decay, present, past and future are interconnected and dependent on one another. Although Shelley never explicitly used these terms in his writing, the philosophical views in his essays and poetic works show his awareness of ideas that today would be subsumed under the notion of systemic thought. The fact that some of Shelley‟s literary works express his genuine belief in an interconnectedness of all aspects of life lends support to this.

In Shelley‟s understanding, systemic thought meant interconnectedness. The notion of systemic thought is present in Shelley‟s poetry insofar as the poet proclaims that everything in life is connected: life and death, beginnings and endings, growth and decay, theory and practice, cause and effect, present, past and future. His view implied an awareness of the never-ending interplay of present, past and future actions. The following extract taken from Shelley‟s Defence of Poetry epitomises the poet‟s view on the subject:

The future is contained within the present, as the plant within the seed; and equality, diversity, unity, contrast, mutual dependence, become the principles alone capable of affording the motives according to which the will of a social being is determined to action. (Shelley 1821: 2. online)

42 An interdependence is a dependence of two or more things or elements on each other. These elements might be diametrically opposed to one another; nevertheless there is an intrinsic connection between them.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Here Shelley‟s conviction that all aspects of life are connected with each other becomes evident. The extract evidences Shelley‟s awareness of the interdependence between present, past and future.

Systemic thinking presupposes a different way of perceiving the world. This alternative way of seeing the world and interpreting it becomes manifest in four main areas of Shelley‟s poetry: the poet‟s perception of nature, his concept of history, his understanding of the relationship between subject and object and his awareness of the crucial role of language in determining peoples‟ thoughts.

The first main area in which changes were noticeable was the poet‟s perception of nature. Due to the fact that systemic thinking changed the way Shelley saw the world, his perception of nature changed. Nature was no more regarded as the unimportant background or a menacing opponent, instead it was perceived as an interlocutor with whom the poet could initiate a dialogue. “Die Natur wird nicht mehr länger als Hintergrund oder Gegner gesehen, sondern tritt mit dem Subjekt in einen Dialog“ (Breuer 2012: 104). This new approach to nature was also expressed in the poets‟ lyric works and philosophical writing. Perfect examples in this respect are Shelley‟s poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” and “Mont Blanc” in which the poet‟s relationship with nature is foregrounded.

Interestingly, this first step towards a new understanding of the relationship between poet and nature ultimately led Shelley to develop the idea of an interdependence between perceiving subject and perceived object in nature. According to Breuer, the poet‟s attempt at identification with the object of his admiration ultimately aimed at a unity between lyric persona and nature. “Der Dichter oder besser gesagt das lyrische Ich versucht sich durch Einfühlung dem Gegenstand seiner Bewunderung anzunähern, wenn nicht sogar mit ihm zu einer Einheit zu verschmelzen” (Breuer 2012: 104). In some of Shelley‟s poems this interdependence between subject and object was further refined until a unity between both entities was achieved. The poem “The Cloud” is a perfect example in this respect because it illustrates the poet‟s belief in the unity of all elements despite the ever-changing flow of life.

As such, in Shelley‟s poetry the idea of coincidentia oppositorum – a unity despite the omnipresence of change - is conveyed (cf. Breuer 2012: 43). Breuer‟s considerations on Shelley‟s philosophical position corroborate this interpretation.

Bei Shelley herrscht die systemische Einsicht, dass zwischen den Elementen eines Systems Wechselwirkungen herrschen. Die Elemente bestehen also nicht unabhängig voneinander

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

sondern nur als Aggregate eines Systems. […] Es herrscht eine Einheit in der Vielfalt des Wandels bei stets erneuerter Identität. Gegenwart und Vergangenheit – Leben und Tod - wirken demnach wechselseitig aufeinander ein. (Breuer 2012: 43, 81. online)

The second main area in which major changes can be noticed is the poet‟s perception of history. In times gone past, history was seen as linear following a straight course. This changed in the time period between 1760 and 1830. Shelley regarded history as cyclical - and he was not alone. Many other Romantic authors too believed that the present was interwoven with the past and therefore also interconnected with the future. This new way of looking at history meant that present conditions could only be understood in relation to past actions. When further developing this train of thought, Romanticist writers came to the conclusion that nothing was unchangeable. Breuer elaborates the consequences of this new view of history:

Das neue Geschichtsbewusstsein bedeutet die Erkenntnis, dass Gegenwart und Vergangenheit nur im Bezug aufeinander verstanden werden können. Die Gegenwart ist demnach die Summe der Einflüsse der Vergangenheit. Gegenwart und Vergangenheit sind somit dialektisch miteinander verbunden. (Breuer 2012: 43)

This alternative way of interpreting historical events matched Shelley‟s conviction that political and social conditions were not preordained by God, but that they were the immediate result of certain actions of the past. The poet‟s conviction that the present was caused by the events of the past, ultimately led him to believe that political and social situations could be changed if people were courageous enough to get rid of the constraints that had restrained them for so long.

The third area of change concerns the poet‟s identity. As a result of the dialectic relationship between subject and object in Romantic aesthetic philosophy the poet‟s perception of his own identity changed. Breuer (2012: 43) notes: “Das neue Verständnis des Verhältnisses zwischen Subjekt und Objekt hat Folgen für die Auffassung der Persönlichkeit des Dichters und für dessen Selbsterkenntnis“. Shelley‟s poetry expresses the wish for a unity between perceiving subject and perceived object. Through the deliberate identification with the object the subject constitutes his own identity.

The fourth area of change concerns the relationship between language and thought. In the Romantic age, poets already thought about the construction of meaning through language. Language was no longer seen as the “clothing of thoughts”, but as something inextricably connected with an individual‟s thoughts. In Shelley‟s view, language and thinking - medium

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan and content - thus cannot be separated from one another. Shelley‟s considerations in his essay On Life are remarkable for his time and therefore should be mentioned in this respect.

Pursuing the same thread of reasoning, the existence of distinct individual minds similar to that which is employed in now questioning its own nature, is likewise found to be a delusion. The words, I, YOU, THEY are not signs of any actual difference subsisting between the assemblage of thoughts thus indicated, but are merely marks employed to denote the different modifications of the one mind. (Shelley 1815-1818: 4. online).

Here Shelley proclaims that there are no distinct individual minds. Instead, he argues, there is only one mind and human beings are all connected to one another. It is through language that people create differences. This idea of interconnectedness makes sense when considering that Shelley believed in a connection between all entities in the universe.

Shelley‟s poetry is evidence that he viewed the world as a system of interrelations. The idea of interdependence between present and past as well as the view of a dialectic relationship between theory and practice is at the core of Shelley‟s poetic works and philosophical essays. His conviction was that the old had to die in order to create the basis for the emergence of something new. As such, it is not surprising that the idea of a never-ending circle of growth and decay is conveyed in Shelley‟s poetic works. Breuer (2012: 43) notes: “Shelley zeigte ein Verständnis der Welt als ein System von Wechselbeziehungen. In seinen Werken findet sich die Idee einer wechselseitigen Bedingtheit von Werden und Vergehen”. Müller (1996: 133). describes this idea of a dialectic relationship between growth and decay more like an omnipresent feeling: “das romantische, ozeanische Gefühl einer allumfassenden Bewegung, in der das Innere und das Äußere verschmelzen“.

In conclusion, Shelley believed in the connection between poetry and real life. In his writings, he strove for a unity between form and content. He believed in an interconnectedness of old and new, life and death, rise and decay, violence and counter-violence and an interdependence between present, past and future. Shelley thought of the world as a system of relations. In his view, there was an interdependence between all parts of the system. He cherished the idea of a harmony between poetic theory and poetic practice and explicitly expressed this view in his meta-poetic writing. As such, the notion of systemic thought can be seen as one of the guiding principles in Shelley‟s poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

4. Analysis of Selected Works by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The following chapters contain an in-depth analysis of 12 of Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s literary works. The aim is to show the development of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry by conducting an analysis of his most famous nature poems, hymns, sonnets and political odes. In the literary analysis, the focus will be placed on the following two questions: How does the poet‟s subjectivity affect his perception; and in which ways is the poem infused with systemic thought? In addition to this, I will examine whether the notion of systemic thought conflicts with, or is enhanced by, the subjective perspective of the speaker. Furthermore, a brief summary of the poem as well as an analysis of its title, the position and perspective of the speaker, the main themes, the atmosphere and the core message will be presented.

4.1 The Presence of a Sublime Spirit as a Core Element of Systemic Thought This chapter presents three poems in which the theme of the sublime in nature is given centre stage. “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc” and “To Constantia” express Shelley‟s reverence for a sublime power in nature. What the poems have in common is the central idea of a sublime and unifying spirit that is capable of transcending boundaries and inspires awe and fear at the same time. “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” is addressed to a spirit barely glimpsed at, yearned after and felt in the presence of nature (cf. Chernaik 1972: 34). The spirit is not only a sublime power, but also a synthesising force that connects all living beings on earth. The speaker desires to feel its presence and never be separated from it again. In “Mont Blanc”, the speaker broods upon and tries to encompass imaginatively a power inhabiting the sublime sight of the mountain - Mont Blanc - and its environment. The theme of the sublime is dominating the reflections of the speaker. “To Constantia” is an ode about the power of the human mind inspired by vision and admiration for the song of another human being. The sublime is inherent in the song of the beautiful woman Constantia.

In all three poems, the speaker‟s imagination enables him to transcend reality and get into contact with a sublime power or spirit. Shelley saw all living beings being connected by this sublime spirit, which is referred to as the Spirit of Beauty43 in the first poem, “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”. In all three poems, the speaker asserts several times that this sublime spirit can change the world for the better. The transformative power of nature is focused on

43 The Spirit of Beauty is a recurrent element in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry. The poems “Mont Blanc” and “To Constantia” clearly illustrate this.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan especially in “Mont Blanc”. Here the speaker realizes that there is a destructive side to nature‟s power. Nature is portrayed as both a creative and destructive force, thus, already foreshadowing the themes of Shelley‟s later poems, most notably “Ode to the West Wind”. In all three poems, the romantic idea of nature as a source of truth and authentic experience is incorporated and taken together, they present the young Shelley as a passionate and philosophical poet who refuses to accept authority for belief other than that of his own mind, his own senses as well as his own powers of intuition (cf. Chernaik 1972: 32).

The presence of a sublime spirit in nature can be seen as a core element of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry because of its power/capacity to connect all entities in the universe. With their core element of the sublime - in the form of a sublime spirit or voice that functions as a synthesising force connecting all entities in the universe - the three poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc” and “To Constantia” clearly present a first step in the direction of systemic thought as a guiding principle in Shelley‟s poetry. In Shelley‟s later poetry this sublime spirit not only connects all living beings, but also interconnects all parts of life: old and new, rise and decay, destruction and creation. The presence of the sublime can therefore be regarded as a vital factor in the development of Shelley‟s aesthetic philosophy.

4.1.1 “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” is a prime example of the subjective idealism prominent in the Romantic era. The poem displays how the underlying notion of systemic thought began to develop in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry. Its title “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” already reveals a lot about its form, tone and message. This poem is a hymn, i.e. a longer, stylistically elaborate poem in praise of a divine force called Spirit of Intellectual Beauty with a regular rhyme scheme and a regular metrical pattern44. Here the term “intellectual” means non- material or transcendental, i.e. that which usually is beyond access by the human senses.

The hymn was conceived and written during a boating excursion with Shelley‟s friend Lord Byron on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, in June 1816. The alpine scenery inspired such wonder and awe in the young Shelley that he felt the need to express his feelings in a letter to his close friend Leigh Hunt. In this letter, he confessed that the hymn was "composed under the influence of feelings which agitated me even to tears." (Shelley, 1840: Letters I, 517) He felt himself profoundly moved by a sublime power or spirit which he called Spirit of Intellectual Beauty, which according to the poet, was the ruling principle of the universe.

44 The poem consists of 7 stanzas with 12 lines each. Its rhyme scheme is highly regular: abbaaccddee. The foot of the poem is iamb, but moves between pentameter, hexameter and tetrameter.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

“Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” captures Shelley‟s feeling of awe and fear and communicates the idea that a sublime spirit runs through everything in the universe. The poem moves from description and reflection to confession, prayer and finally to prophecy. Its unity is enhanced by a dominant pattern of natural imagery with recurring contrasts of light and dark images. The central themes in the poem are the sublime in nature, change and the transience of life. As it is one of Shelley‟s earlier poems, the notion of systemic thought is not fully developed. However, since part of the speaker‟s message is that a sublime force connects all entities on earth, outlasting even radical changes, “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” has paved the way for the more consequent systemic thinking of Shelley‟s later poetic works.

In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker offers a multifaceted description of the Spirit of Beauty by using different natural metaphors. According to the speaker, the Spirit of Beauty can be likened to “summer winds that creep from flower to flower”, to “moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower45” and even to “hues and harmonies of evening” or “memories of music fled” (Shelley 1816: lines 5-10 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 766). He then characterises this spirit as an invisible power that is precious for its mysterious grace: “for its grace may be/ Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery” (Shelley 1816: lines 11-12). According to the speaker, this spirit is not to be fully understood by the human mind and this fact once again enhances its divinity and sublimity.

In the second stanza, the speaker addresses the Spirit of Beauty directly: “Spirit of Beauty, that dost consecrate/ With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon/ Of human thought or form” (Shelley: 1816, lines 13-14). Evidently, the spirit‟s presence bestows grace and happiness on humans and animals alike. The speaker then states that the Spirit of Beauty floats among humans, occasionally visiting their hearts. He continues to lament the barren and desolate state the world is in when the spirit leaves it. When the Spirit of Beauty disappears the speaker asks where it has gone – “Where art thou gone?”, and why the world suddenly seems so desolate and forlorn (Shelley 1816: line 15). After bemoaning the spirit‟s inconsistency, the speaker philosophises, asking himself how it is possible that human hearts can feel such hope and love when the Spirit of Beauty is present, whereas they are close to despair and consumed by hatred when it is gone. The imagery of the opening stanzas thus emphasises the flickering inconsistencies of nature as well as the omnipresence of doubt, change and mutability in the speaker‟s life (cf. Chernaik: 1972, 37).

45 “Shower” is used as a verb here.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In the third stanza, the speaker states that no God has ever spoken to poets or philosophers directly: “No voice from some sublime world hath ever/ To sage or poet these responses given” (Shelley 1816: lines 25-26). In these lines, the lyric persona asserts that all religious and superstitious notions of demons, ghosts and heaven referred to by poets and philosophers are nothing more than vain attempts to explain the mystery of life and the afterlife. According to the speaker, man cannot know anything with certainty, doubt is omnipresent, and continuous change is a part of life. In his opinion, all that man hears and sees is “doubt, chance and mutability” (Shelley 1816: line 31). Here the speaker alludes to one of the hymn‟s central themes: change and the transience of life. He then goes on to describe life as an “unquiet dream” which at times can be highly troublesome because of the uncertainty humans feel as to whether there is something more to life than their physical existence. According to the speaker, only the Spirit of Beauty can give “grace and truth to life‟s unquiet dream” and answer this question (Shelley 1816: line 36).

In the fourth stanza, the speaker grows more plaintive, complaining that love, hope, and self- esteem seem to come and go at the whim of the spirit. The speaker then argues that all would be well, “men were immortal or omnipotent”, if only the Spirit of Beauty remained present all the time (Shelley 1816: 39). He then describes the Spirit of Beauty as “unknown”, “aweful” and “glorious”, thereby implicitly characterising it as the divine power coming from “some sublimer world” but which remains unseen and impossible to apprehend for humans (Shelley 1816: lines 25, 40-41).

In stanza five, the focus shifts away from the spirit towards the speaker. The speaker‟s past experiences are rendered and focussed on. The relationship between the speaker and the Spirit of Beauty is focused on. The speaker notes that in his youth he spent a lot of time in nature, running through the forest looking for ghosts and spirits, but he never saw or felt the presence of the spirit until that one day when its sudden appearance changed his life forever: “Sudden, thy shadow fell on me;/ I shrieked, and clasped my hands in extasy!” (Shelley 1816: 59-60). The transcendental experience in the forest changed his perspective and profoundly altered his perception of life. From this point onwards, the speaker was a changed man. He was able to understand the divine truths the spirit communicated to him when he was alone in nature. Convinced that the spirit would always lead him into the right direction if he were attentive enough to follow, he raises the Spirit of Beauty to his personal life guide.

In the sixth stanza, the speaker takes a further step in trying to intensify the connection between himself and the Spirit of Beauty. At this point the relationship between the speaker

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan and the spirit has become even more intimate. As a result of the mind-altering experience in his youth, the speaker obliged himself to dedicate his powers to the Spirit of Beauty: “I vowed that I would dedicate my powers/ To thee and thine” (Shelley: 1816, lines 61-62). He highlights that he has always kept his vow and talks about the efforts he has taken in trying to connect with the spirit that has the power to elevate human beings and free "This world from its dark slavery" (Shelley 1816: line 70). Literary critics have identified these stanzas as an expression of the poet‟s underlying social and political commitment (cf. Chernaik 1972: 36).

The seventh stanza illustrates the subjective idealism that permeates the entire poem. Interestingly, change and transience are for the first time in the poem regarded as something positive in this stanza: “The day becomes more solemn and serene/ When noon is past – there is a harmony/ In autumn, and a lustre in its sky” (Shelley 1816: lines 73-74). The speaker argues that he sees a harmony in autumn which cannot be found in summer. The concept of autumn is ambivalent because of the death and decay inherent in the season. However, it is also the time of beauty - for in no other season nature displays such vivid and brilliant colours and features such violent and magical winds. Hence, in autumn nature shows both its creative and destructive powers.

The connection which is established between the season of autumn and the idea of harmony already foreshadows Shelley‟s ultimate recognition of the importance of systemic thinking for his life and poetry. In the final lines of the poem, the speaker begs the Spirit of Beauty to guide him and to endow him with the mental capacity to comprehend the divine truths of life and nature: “Thus let thy power, which like the truth/ Of nature from passive youth/ Descended, to my onward life supply/ Its calm” (Shelley 1816: lines 78-79). At the end of the poem, there is a shift from images of accidental change to images of change as part of a greater whole. Here change can be interpreted as growth, ripening and perhaps even as an integral part of a divine cycle of life - a train of thought which foreshadows the development of the notion of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

“Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” then ends with a final praise of the Spirit of Beauty “Spirit fair, thy spells did bind/ To fear himself, and love all of human kind” (Shelley 1818: line 84). The speaker is spellbound and stands in awe of the spirit, whose presence compels him to show kindness to all human beings. Consequently, the poem is not only an early attempt at incorporating the Romantic idea of an inherent connection between nature and the poet, but should also be regarded as Shelley‟s first attempt at integrating the idea of continuous change as well as the idea of a sublime spirit as a synthesising force into his own aesthetic

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan philosophy. The message the speaker communicates is to be sceptical of traditional religious doctrines and to listen to him instead since he is one of the chosen poets capable of transmitting the divine truths which the Spirit of Beauty has revealed to him.

In the beginning, the atmosphere of the poem is ambivalent. Rather than praising the spirit, the speaker pleads with it to remain and be less inconstant. The speaker laments the fact that everything fades away and complains about the uncertainties of life and the inconsistency of the sublime spirit. As the speaker goes on to describe his childhood experiences and the pivotal moment when the spirit‟s appearance in the forest changed his perspective on life, the atmosphere becomes more positive. Finally, the poem ends on an optimistic note as the speaker vows to continue to devote his powers to the spirit and to love all humankind. Interestingly, the speaker‟s optimism does not stem from the fact that he has understood how growth and decay work together, but from the faith and confidence he has placed in the sublime spirit to guide him through life. On the whole, the atmosphere can be described as positive, optimistic and visionary.

In this poem, the explicit speaker can be identified with the historical author of the poem, Percy Bysshe Shelley. His perspective is highly subjective. The speaker seems to be one of the chosen poets, prophet-like figures who are able to communicate with the Spirit of Beauty and comprehend the greater truths of the universe. Unlike others, he can see and feel the sublime spirit. Throughout the poem, the speaker demonstrates a great reverence for the beauty of nature, which he sees as a source of truth and authentic experience46. In the poem the description of the speaker‟s feelings when being surrounded by nature is foregrounded. The highly emotional rendering of his thought processes adds to the impression of subjectivity in the poem. Altogether, four of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled.47

The lyric thou of the poem is a spirit. This spirit, which is addressed directly by the speaker in the second stanza, is defined as a sublime force which runs through “each human heart and countenance” (Shelley 1816: line 7). According to the speaker, the Spirit of Beauty is a sublime power that is omnipresent and floats “unseen amongst us” (Shelley 1816: line 2). It is the source of all joy, faith, goodness and pleasure in human life. For the poet, it is also the source of poetic inspiration in his search for divine truth. In the poem, the speaker addresses the Spirit of Beauty with the words “O aweful loveliness”, skilfully highlighting the fact that

46 “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” shows how Shelley incorporated William Wordsworth‟s idea of nature as a source of truth and authentic experience into his own poetry. 47 For a detailed description of Wolfgang G. Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity in Romantic poetry see chapter 2.7 Subjectivity in Romantic Poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan the spirit inspires fear and awe at the same time (Shelley 1818: line 71). As such, the Spirit of Beauty can be seen as a good example of the sublime in Shelley‟s poetry.

What should be mentioned in this respect is that the spirit addressed in this poem can only be perceived by the speaker through his subjective perspective. As such, the spirit is not an object of knowledge, since no one else can perceive it, but rather an entity of visionary revelation. Literary critics have argued that the poet‟s knowledge of its existence is achieved not by intellectual discipline but by prayer, vision and prophecy (cf. Chernaik 1972: 36). This further implies that it is not an independent entity, but should rather be regarded as a responsive capability within the speaker‟s own mind (cf. Chernaik 1972: 36). In other words, without the speaker‟s deliberate construction of meaning in order to explain the world, the spirit would not even exist.

4.1.2 “Mont Blanc” “Mont Blanc” is one of Shelley‟s most famous nature poems in which he thematises the relationship between nature and the human mind. At its core is Shelley‟s conviction that the sublime force of nature manifests itself in breath-taking sights such as the peak of Mont Blanc in Italy.

“Mont Blanc” was written in 1816 and has a memorable history of composition. In a letter to his friend Thomas Love Peacock, Shelley confessed that the poem was composed under the “immediate impression of the deep and powerful feelings” prompted by the highest peak in the Alps and its immediate surroundings (Shelley 1840: Letters I, 730). In this letter, Shelley further remarked that the poem aims to be an imitation of the untameable wilderness of the alpine scenery and functions as an illustration of the inaccessible solemnity from which his fear and awe, feelings excited by the sight of the mountain, originally came. Therefore, the title of the poem serves as a direct reference to the mountain peak and its untouched natural surroundings.

In “Mont Blanc”, Shelley echoes and argues with the poetry of natural description written by poets of the first generation of Romanticists.48 In the poem, Shelley addresses the theme of sublime nature while simultaneously questioning the interchange between nature and the human mind. Other important themes in the poem are the poet‟s own subjectivity, the

48 There are remarkable parallels between passages from the poem and “The Prelude”, William Wordsworth‟s autobiographical poem about the maturation of the human mind. What both lyric works have in common is the description of the alpine landscape as a sublime and breath-taking site and the identification of the mountains as “emblems” of the human mind in their interchange with nature. (cf. Abrams 2006: 763)

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan importance of art, the transience of man‟s power and the continuous interchange between nature and the human mind.

According to literary critics “Mont Blanc” is Shelley‟s first fully realised attempt to give poetic expression to the great whole (cf. Chernaik 1972: 40). What is being referred to here as the “great whole” can be defined as the natural unity of all living beings with nature - an interdependence of systems. Various images and metaphors convey the notion of systemic thought and the idea of an interdependence between life and death. Therefore, the notion of systemic thought is already more refined in this poem than in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”.

In the opening lines of the poem the speaker describes his personal impression of Mont Blanc and the Vale of Chamouni. The speaker seems to be immediately overwhelmed by the “everlasting universe of things” (Shelley 1816: line 1 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 762). The speaker then continues to describe his impression of the sublime site - the mountain peak and its surroundings - by using contrasting images such as “now dark - now glittering - now reflecting gloom” (Shelley 1816: lines 3). The natural scene pictured here is filtered through the speaker‟s subjective perspective.

In the second stanza, the speaker addresses the majestic sight before him: Mont Blanc and its valley. He begins by praising the Ravine of Arve: “Thus, thou, Ravine of Arve – dark, deep ravine – thou many-coloured, many-voiced vale” (Shelley 1816: lines 12-13 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 762). Here the direct address to the lyric thou seems almost like a confession of the speaker who gives utterance to his overwhelmed state of mind. It is as if he were unable to take in the sight of Mont Blanc. The exclamation in line 15 - “awful scene” - powerfully illustrates how awestruck the speaker is in that very moment. Inspired by the sight of the sublime, the speaker then describes the river “bursting through these dark mountains like the flame/ Of lighting through the tempest” (Shelley 1816: lines 18-19). Here Shelley pictures the continuous interchange between nature and the human mind through the metaphor of the river Arve originating in one of the glaciers of Mont Blanc. After a visual and metaphorical description of the forest which surrounds Mont Blanc -“Thy giant brood of pines around thee clinging,/ Children of elder time” (Shelley 1816: lines 21-22) -, the speaker suddenly gives expression to his own overwhelmed state of mind: “Dizzy ravine!” (Shelley 1816: line 34) Here “dizzy” is not meant to describe the ravine, but rather the speaker‟s confounded state of mind. The speaker projects his own emotions on the ravine; hence, the exclamation “Dizzy ravine!” sums up the interaction between his own mind and the external environment.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The focus is then placed on the inner life of the speaker, thus emphasising the fact that everything is filtered through his subjective perspective: “and when I gaze on thee/ I seem as in a trance sublime and strange/ To muse on my own separate phantasy/ My own, my human mind, which passively/ Now renders and receives fast influencings” (Shelley 1816: lines 34- 37). In these lines of the poem, it becomes evident that subjectivity is not only shaping the perspective of the speaker, but it also functions as a main theme. The speaker explains that his poetry is a product of “unremitting interchange” between his own mind and the natural surroundings (Shelley 1816: line 39). This train of thought is highly significant as it can be regarded as the poet‟s acknowledgement of the interdependence between subject and object. The poet needs untamed nature to feel overwhelmed by the sublime, but simultaneously the artistic expression of divine nature could never be engendered if it were not for the subjective perspective of the poetic mind. One depends on the other and vice versa. In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker directs his attention entirely towards his own poetic faculty, remarking that when he starts to forget the grandeur of Mont Blanc, his writing will help him to recall the manifestations of the sublime in nature.

The third stanza starts out with the speaker‟s own musings concerning the soul‟s connection to a “remoter world” (Shelley 1816: line 49). Then the speaker questions whether he is awake or dreaming because he is so overwhelmed by the sight presented to him: “Far, far above piercing the infinite sky, /Mont Blanc appears, – still, snowy, and serene - Its subject mountains their unearthly forms/ Pile around it, ice and rock; broad vales between/ Of frozen floods, unfathomable deeps,/ Blue as the overhanging heaven” (Shelley 1816: lines 60-64). To the speaker, Mont Blanc is unfathomable. From his perspective the sublime power inhabiting the mountain seems omnipresent and eternal. The stanza‟s final lines “Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repeal/ Large codes of fraud and woe; not understood/ By all, but which the wise, and great and good/ Interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel”, which are directly addressed to the mountain peak, celebrate the deep bond between sublime nature and all living beings (Shelley 1816: lines 80-83). What can be inferred from these lines is that Mont Blanc is a symbol of the sublime power of nature.

The fourth stanza begins with the speaker‟s praise of nature and of different natural surroundings: “The fields, the lakes, the forests, and the streams,/ Ocean, and all the living things that dwell within the daedal earth” (Shelley 1816: lines 84-86). While the speaker is praising the beauty of nature‟s creation, he also implicitly hints at the fact that this creation is too grand for human beings to comprehend. The adjective “daedal” is a reference to Daedalus,

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan the alleged builder of the Labyrinth of Knossos in Crete. The expression “daedal earth” is meant to denote that nature is unfathomable.

When the speaker provides an ambivalent description of Mont Blanc‟s glaciers the poem takes on a slightly darker tone. According to the speaker, the sight of Mont Blanc is majestic and awe-inspiring but to some extent also terrifying. Lines 100-103 illustrate this: “The glaciers creep/ Like snakes that watch their prey, from their far fountains/ Slow rolling on” (Shelley 1816: lines 100-103). Here nature‟s terrifying and menacing side is emphasised. The fact that the glaciers are likened to snakes watching their prey emphasises the eerie and fearful side of nature. Nature seems to be scornful of mortal humans. What has to be emphasised in this respect is that this is nothing but a projection of the speaker‟s own convictions and beliefs. It is the speaker‟s subjective perspective that determines how he makes sense of the world.

In line 104, the speaker draws a connection between natural formations of ice and stone and man-made domes, pyramids and pinnacles: “there, many a precipice, Frost and the Sun in scorn of mortal power/ Have piled: dome, pyramid, and pinnacle,/ A city of death, distinct with many a tower/ And wall impregnable of beaming ice” (Shelley 1816: lines 103-106). The memorable description of the mountain‟s glacier as a majestic city takes on a darker note when the speaker remarks that the mountain and its glacier are “Yet not a city, but a flood of ruin” (Shelley 1816: line 107). In the following lines, the speaker contemplates the transience of man‟s power, a theme that should come to predominate many of his later poems. The stanza then ends with another memorable description of sublime nature: “Meet in the vale, and one majestic River,/ The breath and blood of distant lands, for ever/ Rolls its loud waters to the ocean waves,/ Breathes its swift vapours to the circling air” (Shelley 1816: lines 123- 126).

In the fifth stanza, the speaker praises the “still and solemn power” of Mont Blanc, once again highlighting its majestic and everlasting beauty and the unutterable inspiration a poet can derive from a sight as fearsome and awe-inspiring as the one of the mountain peak (Shelley 1816: line 128). In addition to this, he also expresses the thought that via its immortality the sublime mountain connects “much of life and death” (Shelley 1816: line 129). In this way, Shelley already foreshadows one of the most powerful notions of his later poetry: the interdependence between life and death.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In the final lines of the poem, the speaker reflects on a completely different topic: the importance of the subjective perspective of the human mind. The speaker becomes aware of his active role in creating reality. He questions whether the sight of Mont Blanc would be as majestic, breath-taking and sublime if it were not filtered through the subjective perspective of the viewer‟s mind. In other words, if it were not for the poet‟s gift to identify the sublime in nature, a natural sight such as Mont Blanc would not be majestic and breath-taking at all. As such, the lines “And what were thou (Mont Blanc), and earth, and stars and sea,/ If to the human mind imaginings/ Silence and solitude were vacancy?” serve to illustrate the speaker‟s reflection on the subjectivity of the human mind and also hint at the poet‟s active role in creating meaning when writing poetry (Shelley 1816: lines 142-144). In these lines, the speaker realises that the majestic image of Mont Blanc is nothing but a creation of his own mind. Chernaik (1972: 40) argues that the final lines of the poem affirm faith in the human mind and the power of poetry. The rhetorical question presented in these lines reveals a lot about what it meant to be a poet in the age of Romanticism. For Romanticists, being a poet meant being a seer, a hierophant, a prophet of divine truths possessing the genius to communicate nature‟s sublime beauty.

Superficially, the poem‟s message seems to be that there are some sights in nature that simply surpass human limits of understanding. However, when taking a closer look at the last stanza, it becomes evident that the speaker argues for an interdependence between the human mind and nature. In the final lines of the poem the speaker turns his attention to his own subjective perspective. He wonders whether in the end the mountain‟s power might be meaningless, nothing but an invention of human imagination filtered through the limited perspective of his own mind. Shelley‟s letters to his friend Thomas Peacock offer an explanation of the closing lines. In these letters Shelley acknowledges that the images he tried to evoke through his poetry were as much his own as if he had been the creator of such impressions in the minds of others in the first place:

The immensity of these aerial summits excited, when they suddenly burst upon the sight, a sentiment of extatic wonder, not unallied to madness – And remember this was all one scene. It all pressed home to our regard and to our imagination…All was as much our own as if we had been the creators of such impressions in the minds of others, as now occupied our own. – Nature was the poet whose harmony held our spirits more breathless than that of the divinest. (Shelley: 1840, Letters I 497)

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In these lines, Shelley offers a description of the effect the sight of Mont Blanc had on his mind. He captured this effect of the scenery of “wonderful sublimity” on the poet‟s mind and his imagination in his poem. Literary critics have argued that the poet‟s solitude is a key element that raises his awareness of his own subjective point of view and thus enables him to reflect on the creation of meaning by the human mind.

The poem has an explicit speaker who is overwhelmed by the natural sight of Mont Blanc and its environment. Furhermore, the speaker can be interpreted as standing for the historical author of the poem.49 In the poem the speaker‟s/ poet‟s thoughts and emotions are rendered directly and the perspective taken is highly subjective. Throughout the poem, the speaker becomes more and more aware of the subjectivity of his own mind. For this reason, subjectivity does not only shape his perspective, but is also explicitly addressed as one of the main themes. The poem shows in which ways the speaker‟s recognition of his own subjectivity and the fact that he is actively creating meaning signals a new stage in his development as a human being. His reflection process ultimately culminates in his questioning whether the sight of the mountain peak would still be of such magnificence without the subjective lens through which it is filtered. In this poem, three of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled.

The poem has several addressees: a mountain peak, a river, a ravine and the forest in the immediate surroundings of Mont Blanc. The mountain peak is described as unfathomable, eternal and supreme, exciting both fear and fascination in its viewer. As such, Mont Blanc can be identified as a symbol of the sublime power in nature. According to the speaker, this sublime power flows unrestrained through all entities of the universe. Numerous descriptive passages in the poem serve to highlight this aspect.

The atmosphere of the poem is solemn, speculative and ambivalent. Nature is portrayed as unfathomable and infinite, outlasting human history. On the one hand, the speaker seems to praise the grandeur and majesty of the sublime mountain peak, claiming that there are some sights that are simply too overwhelming for the human mind to be understood. On the other hand, he portrays nature as a destructive force which is indifferent to human suffering. Nature is pictured as being unfathomable and infinite, outlasting human history. However, the speaker reconciles himself with nature as he realises that nature can be both destructive AND

49 The main reason is that in 1816, when Shelley composed the poem, he sent a letter to his dear friend Thomas Love Peacock in which he wrote about his feelings of awe and fear when beholding the mountain peak and its immediate surroundings.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan creative.50 As such, the idea of an interdependence between creation and destruction - growth and decay - can be identified within the musings of the poet.

4.1.3 “To Constantia” “To Constantia” is an ode composed in 1817, which on a first reading appears to be a periphrastic love poem. It is devoted to a mortal woman, Constantia, who is elevated to a sublime being by her song. Originally, the poem was addressed to Claire Clairmont, a close friend of Shelley. The poem‟s title, however, is a reference to the musically gifted heroine of Charles Brockden Brown‟s Ormond who is singing and accompanying herself on the piano (cf. Chernaik 1972. 195). In 4 stanzas51 of equal length the speaker describes his personal impressions and innermost feelings when listening to the sublime song.

Literary critics have argued that in this poem Shelley displaced the passion he felt for the woman to her song (cf. Chernaik 1972: 195). In the poem, certain expressions52 implicitly hint at erotic fantasies and passionate feelings of the speaker. However, other interpretations in which the song is seen as symbolic of the sublime in nature are also possible.

In “To Constantia”, the speaker recounts his feelings and thoughts when listening to the song and music of Constantia, a beautiful woman. He is awe-inspired by her enchanting voice and feels connected with all other entities of the universe. Right from the beginning the speaker identifies a sublime nuance in Constantia‟s voice. He describes the woman‟s voice in great detail, using elaborate metaphors to highlight its beauty and exceptionality: “Thy voice, slow rising like a Spirit, lingers/ O‟ershadowing me with soft and lulling wings;” (Shelley 1818: lines 1-2 qtd. in Chernaik 1972: 195). The image of the woman‟s voice as a slowly rising spirit that hovers with soft and lulling wings renders her voice omnipresent and all- encompassing. It is as if a sublime current were running through the speaker, connecting him to all other entities in the universe. Interestingly, the speaker then does not further describe the woman creating the beautiful music, but focuses on the workings of his own mind.

50 This aspect likens “Mont Blanc” to “Ode to the West Wind”, another of Shelley‟s famous poems about sublime nature and change. In both poems, the sublime power resides in nature connecting all living beings with each other. Nature is depicted as a destructive and creative force, thus serving as the prime agent of systemic thought. 51 Each stanza has 11 lines and follows a regular rhyme scheme, known as terza rima: ababcdcedee. 52 Chernaik (1972: 195) argues that lines 5-6 and 11 hint at the speaker‟s erotic fantasies: “My brain is wild, my breath comes quick, […] My heart is quivering like a flame,” as well as the image of the speaker‟s mind being dissolved and consumed by (the song of) Constantia: “I am dissolved in these consuming extacies” (Shelley 1821: lines 5-6 and 11).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The speaker shows physical symptoms of infatuation such as quick breathing, wild thoughts, tears and a fast heartbeat which illustrate that his mind and body are entirely captured by Constantia‟s song. In this way, Shelley once more enhances the subjectivity of the speaker‟s perspective in the poem. The ideas and thoughts presented in the first stanza clearly illustrate this fact: “My brain is wild, my breath comes quick,/ The blood is listening in my frame and thronging shadows fast and thick/ Fall on my overflowing eyes,/ My heart is quivering like a flame;/ As morning dew, that in the sunbeam dies,/ I am dissolved in these consuming extasies” (Shelley 1818: lines 5-11). In these lines, the speaker places the emphasis on his own subjective state of mind. He seems to be floating in his ecstasy. His attention is focussed on himself, not on the outward source that has triggered this joy.

In the second stanza, the speaker feels consumed by Constantia‟s song. He confesses: “I have no life, Constantia, but in thee” (Shelley 1821: line 12). He likens her song to a spirit, which in its characteristics closely resembles the Spirit of Beauty from “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”. According to the speaker, Constantia‟s song “Flows on and fills all things with melody” (Shelley 1818: line 14). Constantia‟s song is described as mysterious and powerful, rising free, flowing and filling all things with melody. The speaker then claims that Constantia‟s voice has sublime qualities: “now is thy voice a tempest, swift and strong” (Shelley 1818: line 15). The song fills the speaker with awe and fear at the same time. Just as in the first stanza, the focus suddenly shifts to the mental state of the speaker, who describes his state of mind by using elaborate metaphors such as: “I sweep/ Rejoicing, like a cloud of morn” (Shelley 1818: line 18)

In the third stanza, the speaker continues to describe his innermost feelings when listening to the beautiful song: “A deep and breathless awe, like the swift change/ Of dreams unseen, but felt in youthful slumbers” (Shelley 1818: lines 23-24). To the speaker, Constantia‟s voice is something close to the divine. He feels awe-inspired and blessed to hear something so immensely beautiful. He praises Constantia‟s “wild, sweet, yet incommunicably strange” voice and then goes on to describe in which ways natural phenomena lose their fascination when they are compared to her voice (Shelley 1821: line 25). Literary scholars have argued that the admiration of the woman is here transferred to her voice, thus making the poem less sexually explicit (cf. Chernaik 1972: 38). However, a more philosophical perspective allows interpreting Constantia‟s voice as akin to the Spirit of Intellectual Beauty – an important concept in Shelley‟s poetry. At this point, it has become evident that the subjectivity of the speaker‟s perspective shapes his perception.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In the fourth stanza, the atmosphere changes dramatically. The speaker at first rejoices in the blissful sounds and describes Constantia‟s music in fantastic images as if her song were capable of rising beyond the limits of space and time, past all earthly experience. However, the speaker suddenly begs Constantia to stop singing because he cannot bear the sweet voice anymore - “Cease, cease - for such wild lessons madmen learn”- only then to implore Constantia to turn (to him) (Shelley 1972: line 34). In an epiphany-like moment, the speaker exclaims: “Yes! in thine eyes a power like light doth lie”, implicitly confessing that his mind is totally captivated by Constantia‟s song and her powerful gaze (Shelley 1818: line 37). In the remaining lines the speaker ponders over his experience.

Constantia‟s song has ended but the speaker passionately affirms that the power of his vision continues to exist lingering on as if it were a fragrance in the air. The lines “Even tho‟ the sounds its voice that were/ Between thy lips are laid to sleep –/ Within thy breath and on thy hair/ Like odour it is lingering yet –/ And from thy touch like fire doth leap” demonstrate that the speaker feels as if Constania were still present (Shelley 1818: lines 38-42). The sounds of her angelic voice linger on. The next two lines of the stanza indicate that a time-shift has occurred and that the speaker is merely remembering his past experience. He is trying to cope with it by writing poetry: “Even while I write my burning cheeks are wet –/ Such things the heart can feel and learn, but not forget!” (Shelley 1818: lines 43-44) For the speaker, the memory is so intense that it still triggers tears in his eyes. In these last lines of the poem the process of writing is thematised, thus giving the poem a meta-poetic dimension. The final lines of the poem suggest that not only Constantia, but also the speaker is an agent of the sublime power/spirit that runs through the entire universe and connects all living being. This power possesses him and is mediated through his poetry.

The message of “To Constantia” is that the experience of the sublime in human nature is mind-altering. The speaker expresses this thought explicitly in the last stanza when he states that the heart can never forget moments in which it felt the presence of the sublime spirit: “Such things the heart can feel and learn, but not forget!” (Shelley 1818: lines 43-44).

The atmosphere of the poem is positive and ecstatic. The speaker‟s tone is passionate; he expresses his feelings in powerful metaphors. “To Constantia” is a very immediate poem. Only in the last stanza it does become clear that what the reader has believed to be an immediate account is in fact a recollection of and reflection on past experiences.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In this poem, the speaker can be identified as the historical author. He explicitly refers to himself by using first person pronouns and renders his impression of Constantia‟s song. The speaker is overwhelmed by Contantia‟s voice. When listening to Constantia‟s song, he feels so overjoyed that he is moved to tears. Interestingly, in the poem Constantia‟s voice is presented as if it were a spiritual entity the speaker strives to identify with. What can be inferred from the information presented in the poem is that the speaker is a poet who comes to terms with the mind-changing experience of listening to Constantia‟s song by writing about it. His subjective perspective shapes his perception. As such, subjectivity permeates the entire poem. Since the sublime in Constantia‟s voice can only be perceived by the speaker, “To Constantia” shows in which ways an individual‟s subjective perspective can influence his perception of reality. The poet‟s subjectivity is a filter through which the world and its agents are perceived. As in “Mont Blanc” and “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” reality is mediated, its significance created through the subjective perspective of the human mind. Altogether, four of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled in this poem.

In this poem, Constantia‟s song functions as the explicit lyric thou. Some literary critics have argued that the song stands for Constantia herself, thus making the woman the primary object of praise of the speaker (cf. Chernaik 1972: 37). However, Constantia‟s song can also be interpreted as a symbol for a sublime spirit that in Shelley‟s understanding is connecting the speaker with his divine creator.

“To Constantia” can be seen as an important step in the development of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry. Constantia‟s song is the synthesising force that connects all entities with their divine creator. The main themes of the poem are admiration, passion and the presence of a power/spirit symbolised by Constantia‟s song. The effect of the song is similar to the ameliorating effect of the Spirit of Beauty in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”. Both, Constantia‟s song and the Spirit of Beauty elevate the speaker‟s mind. In the view of the author, both have the power to connect all living beings with their divine creator.

The poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc” and “To Constantia” exemplify Shelley‟s belief in Deism, i.e. the philosophical position that a divine unifying spirit runs through everything in the universe. Deism accepted the existence of a Supreme Being in accordance with Newtonian science but denied any dogma associated with Christian belief (cf. Kitson 1999: 43). The idea of a sublime spirit in nature closely resembles the idea of the “good” in platonic thought (cf. Chernaik 1972: 32).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

What the three poems presented in this chapter further have in common is that in each poem a detailed description of the sublime spirit in nature is followed by a dramatic presentation of the poet who is driven by intense desire. In all three poems, the speaker reflects on his role as a mediator of divine truths and in two of three poems he also puts forward some highly interesting meta-poetic considerations. These two poems are “Mont Blanc” and “To Constantia”. In the final stanza of both poems, the speaker, having meditated on the power of nature and the sublime beauty originating from it, turns his attention to the workings of his own mind.

The subjectivity of the speaker‟s perspective is evident in all three poems. However, it is only in “Mont Blanc” that the speaker openly questions his subjective perspective. This reflection process ultimately leads to a novel view on matters and encourages the speaker to regard the sublime spirit in nature as a manifestation of the workings of his own mind. The last stanza in the poem thus represents a return to the speaker‟s self and his imaginative powers.

4.2 Continuous Change as the Key Moment for the Development of Systemic Thought This chapter presents two, at first glance, quite different poems, which when taking a closer look, are united by their theme of continuous change. What “Mutability” and “Ozymandias” have in common is their speaker‟s subjectivity as well as his awareness of the transience of life. Shelley‟s consequent belief in change as the driving moment of the universe is expressed in these poems. The poet believed that if the old dies, it will naturally be replaced by something new. He was convinced that continuous change is the necessary prerequisite for any sort of development. The poem “Mutability” thematises the fact that nothing ever remains the same. In the poem the speaker expresses the thought that eventually everything fades away, and therefore the only thing human beings can rely on is mutability. “Ozymandias” is a sonnet that presents an exceptional meditation on human power and its ephemeral nature. As many of Shelley‟s poems, it has a political and a philosophical message depending on the perspective from which it is interpreted.

The idea of continuous change can be regarded as the key moment for the development of the notion of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry because change is inherent in every dynamic system in life. Systems are never stable – in fact they are always characterised by some element of change. Systemic thinking and reasoning takes account of this fact. Therefore, while Shelley‟s first step towards a philosophy of systemic thought was to assume that

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan everything is connected to a sublime spirit in nature, the second step was to presuppose that everything is transforming continuously in a dynamic way. Change is absolutely necessary for the growth and development of a system. Stagnation would mean regress and death.

4.2.1 “Mutability” “Mutability” is a short poem composed between 1814-1815. It consists of four stanzas of equal length, written in iambic pentameter53. As the title of the poem suggests, the main themes are the continuity of change and the transience of life. The idea of mutability as the only reliable constant in human lives dominates the entire poem. Other themes in the poem are the power of time, the futility of life and the insignificance of man. Subjectivity permeates the poem and shapes the speaker‟s view of the world around him.

The first stanza of the poem begins with a simile in which the speaker compares himself and the rest of mankind to restless clouds in the night sky. The image evoked is a rather negative one: “We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon;/ […] - yet soon/ Night closes round, and they are lost for ever” (Shelley 1816: lines 1, 4 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 744). Here humans are compared to fading clouds. This image already hints at the message of the poem which is that everything changes continuously and there is nothing humans can be sure of except for this fact.

The image presented in the second stanza is similarly bleak. Here the speaker likens human beings to “forgotten lyres54 whose dissonant strings/ Give various response to each varying blast” (Shelley 1816: lines 5-6 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 744). The fact that the lyres‟ strings are “dissonant” indicates that they are out of harmony and that something must be wrong with them (Shelley 1816: line 5). In this poem, the lyres stand for humans whose life-balance is disturbed. In the following lines, the speaker reflects on the manifold problems and challenges human life presents. He indirectly hints at the feebleness and frailty of human beings.

In the third stanza, the speaker expresses the thought that for the greater part life is quite futile. The lines “we rest, […]/ We rise, […]/ We feel or conceive reason, laugh or weep,/ Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away;/ It is the same!” describe human activities and simultaneously give the impression that the speaker has resigned in trying to find some deeper meaning in life (Shelley 1816: lines 9-13). It seems as if he has accepted the futility of all his actions as well as the actions of others.

53 All stanzas have a regular rhyme scheme that follows the pattern abab. 54 A lyre is a musical instrument that was formerly used to accompany poetry.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In the fourth stanza, this train of thought is reiterated and enforced. The exclamation of the speaker “It is the same! – For be it sorrow,/ The path of its departure is still free” refers back to the previous stanza in which the futility of various human activities had been described (Shelley 1816: line 13-14). In the opinion of the speaker, it does not matter whether human beings rest, rise, feel joy or sorrow. He is convinced that in the end, everything will fade inevitably. The final line of the poem summarises this conviction perfectly: “Nought may endure but Mutability” (Shelley 1816: line 16). Right before uttering this final statement the speaker‟s awareness of the transience of life is foregrounded in line 15 of the poem: “Man‟s yesterday may never be like his morrow” (Shelley 1816: line 15). Again the idea of continuous change is emphasised here.

The poem‟s message is that everything can change in the wink of an eye. The speaker argues that the only thing human beings can rely on is mutability; nothing else endures. Hence, the certainty of change is the core of the poem. Shelley himself believed that everything developed in a dynamic way and that the death of one organism means that there is room for the growth of another. This idea of continuous change combined with the awareness of the transience of life provides the basis for the third step in the development of the notion of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

The atmosphere of the poem is negative. Many expressions with negative connotations such as “speed restlessly”, “quiver”, “lost for ever”, “varying blast”, “poison sleep”, “pollute the day”, “fond woe” contribute to this impression (Shelley 1816: lines 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12). Interestingly, the poem also contains some remarkable poetic images such as human beings likened to clouds that veil the sky but are all too soon dissolved and forgotten.

In this poem, the explicit speaker refers to himself by using the personal pronoun “we”. What can be inferred from this is that the speaker identifies himself with the whole of mankind. In the poem, he mainly generalises and claims to assert universal truths. His language is highly emotional. Although he wants to make others believe that his perspective is objective, the emotional descriptions in the poem indicate that this is not the case. The truth of the matter is that the speaker‟s perspective is highly subjective and that this subjectivity permeates every line in the poem. Only one of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity, namely the highly emotionalised rendering of the speaker‟s thoughts and actions, is fulfilled in the poem.

As one of Shelley‟s earliest poems “Mutability” does not yet contain the notion of systemic thought. Only the idea of continuous change, which is expressed most explicitly in the final

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan lines of the poem - “Man‟s yesterday may ne‟er be like his morrow;/ Nought may endure but Mutability” -, is indicative of the future development of systemic thinking in Shelley‟s poetry (Shelley 1816: lines 15-16).

4.2.2 “Ozymandias” Composed in 1817, “Ozymandias” reflects on the ephemeral nature of human power. In its form “Ozymandias” is a Petrarchan sonnet written in iambic pentameter55. The sonnet exemplifies in which ways Shelley uses formal patterns to support thematic aspects in his lyric works. In this poem, he uses the octave to describe the setting and frame, while using the sestet to communicate the core message. In addition to this, the sonnet form adds compression to the speaker‟s contempt for the emperor Ozymandias.

The title of the poem “Ozymandias” is a reference to Pharaoh Ramses II who ruled Egypt in the 13th century before Christ. His Greek name was Ozymandias. He was the 3rd pharaoh of the 19th dynasty in the New Kingdom and is considered to be the greatest and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire.

The poem starts out with the explicit speaker reporting that he met a traveller from an ancient land who told him about the ruins of a statue he saw on one of his journeys to Egypt. It is the statue of Ozymandias, a powerful Egyptian pharaoh known in his native country as Pharaoh Ramses II. The traveller‟s account is rendered directly. Lines 2-8 are devoted to a detailed description of the pharaoh‟s statue from the traveller‟s viewpoint: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/ Stand in the desart… Near them, on the sand,/ Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,/ 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;” (Shelley 1818: lines 2-8 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 768). The image of two vast legs of stone without a body, and a massive, crumbling stone head is evoked. This passage provides a description of the landscape and the monumental statue dominating the scene. The traveller‟s account also foregrounds the pharaoh‟s arrogance as well as the power of time and change. In these lines, some expressions require explanation. The “hand” referred to in line 7 is the sculptor‟s hand that mocked the passions of the mighty and arrogant pharaoh (Shelley 1818: line 8). The sculptor imitated and satirised these passions in the act of creating the monumental statue. The “heart” is the pharaoh‟s heart which has fed his “passions” and

55 The sonnet consists of an octave and a sestet. Its rhyme scheme follows an intricate pattern in which old rhymes are gradually being replaced by new ones: ababacdcedefef.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan nourished his arrogance (Shelley 1818: 6,8). Taken together these lines form the octave of the poem.

In the sestet the speaker reads out the words that were written on the pedestal of the pharaoh‟s statue, thus directly rendering Ozymandias‟ thoughts: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,/ look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” (Shelley 1818: lines 10-11). Pharaoh Ramses II wanted to addresses the mighty rulers of other countries at his lifetime. He commands them to look at the great monuments that have been constructed to his honour during his lifetime. On the one hand, these lines express the power and control of the pharaoh, while on the other hand, they illustrate his arrogance and hubris. Hubris is defined as extreme pride or exaggerated self-confidence (Merriam-webster: online). Its characteristics are an overestimation of competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person in question is in a position of power. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one‟s own competence (Encyclopaedia: online).

Ozymandias‟ conceitedness and hubris become even more evident when analysing the final lines of the poem: “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/ Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare/ The lone and level sands stretch far away” (Shelley 1818: lines 12-14). Here the speaker remarks that from the pharaoh‟s seemingly everlasting and absolute power nothing remains but the colossal wreck of his statue which is slowly but inevitably covered in sand. The “lone and level sand” in line 14 of the poem symbolises the inevitability of change and the power of time (Shelley 1818: line 14).

The message conveyed in this poem is that time conquers everything and everyone. The poet communicates the idea that no matter how mighty a king or emperor is, time will conquer him. As such, important themes in the poem are the power of time, the transience of life, the inevitability of change and the arrogance of man.

The atmosphere of the poem is unemotional. The reason is that the speaker of the poem keeps his thoughts to himself. He communicates with a traveller he has met and who gives an account of his travels in Egypt. The traveller‟s description is unemotional as if he were indifferent to the matter.

In this poem, the explicit speaker engages in a conversation with a traveller whose account is rendered directly, though with temporal distance. Since there are two speakers in the poem whose perspectives are represented, “Ozymandias” falls into the category of conversational poems. The language of both speakers is relatively neutral and their perspectives are more

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan objective than in most of Shelley‟s poems. As already indicated, the poem has a conversational frame in which the traveller‟s experiences are communicated. By framing the poem as a story told to the speaker by a traveller, Shelley adds another layer (of obscurity) to the poem. The sight of the statue, rather than being experienced by the speaker, is mediated by a traveller with a temporal distance. The framing of the traveller‟s story has a distancing function in the poem. Interestingly, apart from the speaker and the traveller, the powerful Egyptian king is also given a voice when the lines on the pedestal are read out loud by the traveller. The poem also conveys an implicit political message. However, since this message is not communicated directly by one of the speakers only one of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity - namely the one of the presence of an explicit speaker - is fulfilled.

The statue of Ozymandias is the central image of the poem. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the statue is an intricate symbol. Depending on the perspective taken, there are different interpretations. From a historical perspective, it stands for political tyranny. Ozymandias was a powerful pharaoh, but he was also cruel to his enemies. The broken monument can also be seen as a symbol of the insignificance of human beings compared to the passage of time. The pharaoh‟s shattered visage serves as the ultimate evidence that nature outlasts art. From a psychoanalytical perspective, it stands for man‟s arrogance and hubris. “Ozymandias” is a sonnet with a hidden political dimension. The message communicated in this poem is that time conquers everyone, even the most powerful pharaoh. Shelley conveys the idea that all earthly power is ephemeral in the face of eternity. He implicitly argues that even the most tyrannical regime, just as the most impressive high culture, will fade away one day. The irony in the poem is that although the Egyptian pharaoh claims that no one will ever conquer him, time eventually does. This is proven by the fact that the pharaoh‟s former empire has succumbed and his awe-inspiring statue has become a colossal wreck. Apart from its political message, the poem also conveys a philosophical train of thought.

The idea of all-encompassing and continuous change raises the question as to what comes after a tyrannical regime has come to an end. Although Shelley does not answer this question in his poem, history has taught us that the Egyptian empire was replaced by another, equally impressive one: the Persian Empire. Even if nothing lasts for ever, there still must be something that replaces its loss. The belief in the inevitability of continuous change is the prerequisite for conceiving such a train of thought. The idea of continuous change is therefore just the second step in a more complex development of systemic thinking that will come to prominence in Shelley‟s later works.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

As has been shown in the literary analysis of “Mutability” and “Ozymandias”, the idea of continuous change constitutes the key moment for the development of systemic thought. The subjectivity of the speaker and his awareness of the transience of life in these two poems have laid the foundation for the development of systemic ideas in Shelley‟s later poetic works. In “Mutability” the message transmitted is still rather negative because the idea of transience of life is not yet contrasted with the idea of a better and brighter future. However, this idea of continuous change will eventually lead the poet to believe in a dynamic interplay between rise and decay, growth and death, present, past and future. This thought will be at the core of the poems in chapter 4.3 The Belief in an Interdependence between Present, Past and Future as a Constituent Element of Systemic Thought and 4.4 Prophecy of (Political) Change and the Belief in an Interdependence between Growth and Decay as Constituent Elements of Systemic Thought.

4.3 The Belief in an Interdependence between Present, Past and Future as a Constituent Element of Systemic Thought The two poems presented in this chapter further develop the idea of change as a key moment of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry. “Chorus from Hellas” and “Ode to Heaven” explore the idea of a dynamic interplay between present, past and future. What the poems have in common is their speaker‟s belief in the interconnectedness of present, past and future. “Chorus from Hellas” is a chorus taken from the verse drama Hellas which celebrates the birth of a new age of love and benevolence after the overthrow of the tyranny of the Turk regime. The idea of an interdependence between present, past and future is pronounced explicitly. Throughout the poem the speaker continuously remarks that history repeats itself as if it were progressing in cycles. “Ode to Heaven” is a conversational poem in which three different voices offer their definition of heaven in terms of a particular epistemology (cf. Chernaik 1972: 122). Each voice represents a different perspective which allows for a different focus in the description of heaven. In the ode man‟s preconceived beliefs of heaven are questioned.

The belief in an interdependence between present, past and future can be regarded as a constituent element of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry because it presupposes an interconnectedness of all present and past actions and events. Shelley firmly held the belief that everything is interconnected. From this viewpoint, history does not progress in a linear fashion but in cycles that are interwoven with one another. Furthermore, a dialectic

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan relationship between present, past and future implies that everything happens for a reason because every action was caused by an event in the past and inevitably will cause a reaction in the future.

4.3.1 “Chorus from Hellas” “Chorus from Hellas” is a chorus that is part of the verse drama Hellas56. Its title “Chorus from Hellas” is a reference to the verse drama Hellas which was written in 1821 and was first performed a year later in 1822. The drama was inspired by the Greek insurrection against the Turks. Shelley‟s motivation for composing the drama was his wish to raise money for the Greek war of independence. As a radical poet supporting revolutionary tendencies he fervently hoped for a Greek victory. Shelley declares that in his view the revolution in Greece will mark the final overthrow of all tyranny in the preface of his drama Hellas. The drama foretells that after the terrors of this final war a period of regeneration and happiness will follow.

With Hellas, Shelley created a myth about an actual revolution in progress. Shelley‟s personal view of the futility of war resurfaces in the drama and becomes especially prominent in the choruses sung by formerly enslaved Greek women. The visionary perspective of a future without warfare and hatred, emphasised especially in the last chorus of the drama, gives Hellas an optimistic note. Shelley describes this vision in remarkable images and emphasises his view of the futility of war. Since this final chorus of the drama contains numerous elements that are symbolic of the interdependence between old and new and present and past, I chose it for my literary analysis.

“Chorus from Hellas” serves to express Shelley‟s pacifist view of the futility of war and the interdependence between past and present. The poem has a highly regular rhyme scheme and metrical pattern57. Important themes addressed in the poem are the power of time, change, the transience of a political era and the powerful notion that present and past are inextricably connected with each other. Since the poem explores ideas that suggest an interconnectedness of present, past and future, it can be seen as an important step in the development of the notion of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

56 Hellas is a reference to Greece. It is the name Greeks use for their native country. 57 It is a poem that consists of 7 stanzas, each of which is composed of 6 lines written in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme follows a regular metrical pattern: ababcc

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The poem begins with a cheerful exclamation of the chorus of women58 who proclaim that the “world‟s great age begins anew” (Shelley 1821: line 1 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 821). The chorus prophesies that since the war is over now, the “golden years” will return (Shelley 1821: line 2). The “golden years” are a reference to Greek mythology (Shelley 1821: line 2). In Greek Myth, the golden years were the first period in history. It was the time when the great titan Saturn reigned before the overthrow of the Titans by the Olympians.

The chorus of women then goes on to describe the reborn country. They state that the earth will renew her surface just as a snake renews its skin: “The earth does like a snake renew her winter weeds outworn” (Shelley 1821: line 3-4). This image is highly interesting as it contains an uncommon poetic comparison. The process of the earth renewing herself after the destruction of war, is compared to a snake‟s sloughing off its skin. The simile presents both the snake and the earth in a positive light. The chorus then goes on to remark that “heaven smiles” on Greece and that its inhabitants feel a renewed faith (Shelley 1821: line 5). The earth seems as if reborn in a brighter and better day: “Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam” (Shelley 1821: lines 5-6).

In the second stanza the chorus of women continues to elaborate on the image of a bright future in a revitalised land: “A brighter Hellas rears its mountains/ From waves serener far,/ A new Peneus rolls its fountains” (Shelley 1821: lines 7-9). Peneus is the name of the main river of the Thessalian plain in northeast Greece. It flows through the Vale of Tempe, a valley with cliffs that are nearly 500 metres high, which the chorus describes as being filled with flowers and blessed with sunshine. The image of the revived earth and river creates the impression of a rebirth of Greece out of the ashes of the old tyrannical regime. The prerequisite for the chorus‟ prophecy of a brighter and better future is that the old has to die. The chorus acknowledges the fact that only through the death of the old a brighter and better future can lie in store for Greece. This thought already hints at the idea of an interconnectedness of present and past.

In the next two stanzas, the chorus of women refers to figures and sites famous in Greek culture and history. They mention Orpheus, the legendary musician who was torn to pieces while he was mourning the death of his beloved wife, Ulysses, the most famous explorer of Greek history and Calypso, the beautiful nymph deserted by Ulysses when he decided to sail back to his native island Ithaca: “Another Orpheus sings again,/ And loves and weeps and dies;/ A new Ulysses leaves once more/ Calypso for his native shore” (Shelley 1821: lines 15-

58 The chorus was originally sung by Greek women in the drama.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

18). These references to Greek mythology do not only serve to present Greek culture, but they also contribute to developing ideas of systemic thought in the poem. Present and past seem to be interwoven with one another. History seems to be given the chance to start anew this time taking a different course.

However, despite this optimistic outlook into the future some of the mythological figures presented in the poem have to suffer the same fate again. In Greek Mythology Calypso is said to have kept Odysseus prisoner at Ogygia for seven years. Ulysses finally left her to sail back home. What the chorus‟ argumentation in line 18 suggests is that history does not necessarily have to take a different course. On the contrary, things can develop in the same way as they did in the past. In other words, history can also repeat itself, if people make the same mistakes again.

In the fourth stanza, the chorus then refers to the tale of Troy - the monumental city that was conquered by the Achaeans (Greeks) with a cunning trick devised by Ulysses - and the story of Oedipus who accidentally fulfilled the prophecy of killing his own father. The image presented in the final lines of the fourth stanza once more illustrates Shelley‟s belief in the interdependence between present and past: “[…] a subtler Sphinx renew/ Riddles of death Thebes59 never knew” (Shelley 1821: lines 23-24). The Sphinx was a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of al lion and the wings of a bird. In Greek legend, this mythical creature devoured all travellers who could not answer her riddle. It was Oedipus who finally solved it and caused the Sphinx‟s death.

In the fifth stanza, a remarkable poetic image is presented. The chorus of women describes the rise of another city of Athens, Greece‟s capital city: “Another Athens shall arise,/ And to remoter time/ Bequeath like sunset to the skies/ The splendour of its prime” (Shelley 1821: lines 25-28). Just as the splendour of the sunset that is bequeathed to the skies, the chorus argues that also the former splendour of the city of Athens shall be bequeathed to this new era in the history of Greece.

Stanza six begins with a reference to the God Saturn. The line “Saturn and Love their long repose/ Shall burst, more bright and good/ Than all who fell” is a reference back to the first stanza (Shelley: 1821, lines 31-32). This in turn creates the impression of formal and thematic closure. Again, the chorus of women reiterates the promise of a brighter and better future foretelling that the renewed reign of Saturn shall bring about a new era of devotion and

59 Thebes is a city in central Greece.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan benevolence. Love will rule and prosperity and material riches will not be of great importance anymore. This thought is explicitly expressed in the following lines: ”Not gold, not blood their [Saturn‟s] altar dowers/, But votive tears and symbol flowers” (Shelley 1821: lines 35- 36). Here the chorus remarks that the gifts for the gods of this new era would not be made of gold and no blood would ever be shed in their name. Faith and devotion would be the only gifts bestowed to the gods and flowers would decorate their altar.

In the seventh stanza, a different tone is adopted. The chorus of women realises that the birth of a new era must inevitably also entail the return of death and hatred. Intuitively, they implore some divine force not to allow the return of hate and death: “O cease! must hate and death return?/ Cease! Must men kill and die?” (Shelley 1821: lines 37-38). Then the chorus of women exclaims that the world is weary of its past cruelties and the endless warfare. The final lines of the poem again express the chorus‟ vision for a better future: “The world is weary of the past,/ O might it die or rest at last!” (Shelley 1821: lines 41- 42). The wish of a brighter future is uttered here despite the realization of the dialectic relationship of life and death. At this point the chorus of women seems to have become aware of the illusory character of this wish. They are aware of the fact that their wish can impossibly be fulfilled. They acknowledge that if a new age is to begin, also death and hate must eventually return. This thought is systemic in its nature and epitomises the theme of the interdependence between growth and decay – present and past.

The atmosphere of the poem is visionary and positive. On the surface, “Chorus from Hellas” provides an optimistic outlook into the future. When taking a closer look, it becomes clear that despite its positive atmosphere the speaking instance of the poem also shows an awareness of the dialectic relationship between life and death. Hence, no matter how bright the outlook might seem at first, the reader becomes aware of the fact that one day even this bright era will come to an end.

The message of the poem is that a new age has begun. The chorus of women praises the beginning of this new and bright era of peace, love and benevolence for Greece. The chorus also seems to acknowledge that the new era can only begin because the old has died before and this has created the necessary space for the new to develop. The underlying train of thought seems to be that life without death is not possible. At this point the idea that growth and decay are interconnected in Shelley‟s poetry becomes evident. In the final lines of the poem, the chorus acknowledges that even in a renewed golden age hatred, illness and death are certain to return. Here the gap Shelley felt between his ideals and reality becomes visible.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

“Chorus from Hellas” has an implicit speaker. Although the speaking instance – which in the original drama Hellas was represented by a chorus of women - is implicit in this poem, the subjective perspectives of the chorus shapes the poem‟s atmosphere. On the whole, the subjective perspective supports the ideas expressed in the poem. In addition to this, the descriptions are highly emotional. Throughout the poem, the chorus of women expresses the idea that present and past are intricately connected and that rise and decay depend upon each other. Their subjectivity is never openly thematised and thus simply corroborates the ideas and themes expressed in the poem. The poem also has a hidden political and socio-critical dimension. As such, two of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled.

“Chorus from Hellas” does not only present the idea that growth and decay are interrelated, but also conveys the powerful notion that present and past are inextricably connected with each other. This interdependence between present and past which is recurrent in the entire poem can be regarded as the third step in the development of the notion of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

4.3.2 “Ode to Heaven” Written in 1819 “Ode to Heaven” is an ode praising the imaginary place of human afterlife: heaven. In the poem, Shelley depicts this place from three different perspectives. Each perspective allows a different focus in the description of heaven. According to Chernaik (1972: 122) each definition is a variation on the notion of heaven overhanging and hence containing the earth. The title of the poem is a reference to heaven as it is usually imagined by human beings. The ode consists of 6 stanzas of equal length. Each stanza has 9 lines and follows a regular rhyme scheme60.

“Ode to Heaven” is a conversational poem with three different speakers61: a “chorus of spirits”, a “remoter voice” and a “louder and still remoter voice”. As such, the ode can be structured into three different sections. Stanzas one to three are spoken by the “chorus of spirits”, stanza four is spoken by the “remoter voice” and stanzas five to six are spoken by the “louder and still remoter voice”. The main subject-matter discussed by the three speakers is an accurate definition of heaven as the place of human and spiritual afterlife. The chorus of spirits represents the perspective commonly held by mortal human beings who conceive

60 The rhyme scheme in all six stanzas of the poem follows the following pattern: aabcbcddd. 61 All of them are implicit speakers and do not refer to themselves by using first person pronouns. Their accounts are subjective and highly emotional. However, since no speaker explicitly refers to himself by using first person pronouns only one of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity – namely the one of an emotional rendering of the speaker‟s thoughts and ideas – is fulfilled. The ode has no explicit lyric thou.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan heaven as being a bright and celestial place of eternity. The remoter voice confronts the chorus with its preconceived ideas and misconceptions about heaven arguing that these are nothing but shadows of the sublime glories waiting beyond the grave. The louder and still remoter voice is the most authoritative one. It questions man‟s significance rebuking him – the “Atom-born” – for his narrow-mindedness (Shelley 1820: 1972: line 39 qtd. in Chernaik 1972: 220).

The first stanza is spoken by the chorus of spirits. As already mentioned, the characterisation of heaven conforms to the human idea of an unchanging, infinite and bright place: “Palace- roof of cloudless nights!/ Paradise of golden lights!/ Deep, Immeasurable, Vast” (Shelley 1820: lines 1-3 qtd. in Chernaik 1972: 220). The chorus of spirits communicates the thought that there is a relation between the stars and heaven itself. Here the notion that the earth and the sky are forever connected to one another is communicated. In these lines heaven is described as it is usually imagined by humans, similar to a majestic palace tinged in golden lights, grand and glittering in the night sky. This definition assumes that it is a place of eternity, always the same, forever existing. The following lines corroborate this interpretation: “Which art now, and which wert then;/ Of the present and the past,/ Of eternal Where and When” (Shelley 1820: lines 4-6). It can be argued that in these lines the idea that present, past and future are intertwined into one is implicitly communicated. The chorus of spirits affirms this train of thought in the last line of the stanza: “Presence chamber/ Temple, Home,/ Ever- canopying Dome/ Of acts and ages yet to come!” (Shelley 1820: lines 7-9). In these lines heaven is associated with a series of regal and religious images. The impression created here is that heaven is a “presence chamber”, “temple” of past and present and a “dome” of the future. It is pictured as an eternal place that connects the present with the past and the future.

In the second stanza, the chorus of spirits emphasises the fact that heaven is joined by the moon, the stars and the planets of the solar system as well as everything that lies beyond: “Glorious shapes have life in thee,/ Earth and all Earth‟s company […]/ And green worlds that glide along,/ And swift stars with flashing tresses,/ And icy moons most cold and bright,/ And mighty suns, beyond the Night,/ Atoms of intensest light!” (Shelley 1820: lines 10, 14- 18). In these lines, the chorus of spirits portrays heaven all-encompassing and immeasurable. Heaven seems to be the place where everything has its origin. The chorus of spirits remarks that “green forests”, “swift stars”, “icy moons” and “swift suns” were designed according to a plan devised by God. Christian belief holds that nature comes alive according to this divine plan.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In the third stanza of the poem, the chorus of spirits alludes to a commonly held Christian belief: “Even thy name is a God,/ Heaven! for thou art the abode/ Of that Power which is glass/ Wherein man his nature sees” (Shelley 1820: lines 19-22). In these lines the idea that God made man mirroring his own image is implicitly questioned. The lines that follow this remarkable poetic image corroborate this interpretation: “Generations as they pass/ Worship thee with bended knees-/ Their unremaining Gods and they/ Like a river roll away-/ Thou remainest such- away!-” (Shelley 1820: lines 23-27). The train of thought expressed here is that generations of men seem to worship blindly, inventing their own Gods without ever, not even for one moment, seeing the truth. The third stanza marks the contrast between the eternal dome and the “living globes” that people heaven (Shelley 1820: line 12). The chorus of spirits argues that heaven remains the same while human generations and their “unremaining gods” pass away (Shelley: 1820: line 25).

In the fourth stanza the chorus of spirits recedes into the background and the remoter voice takes the floor. This voice remarks that society‟s ideas and assumptions about heaven are incredibly shallow because of the limited perspective and restricted imagination of mortal human beings: “Thou art but the mind‟s first chamber,/ Round which its young fancies clamber/ Like weak insects in a cave” (Shelley 1820: lines 28-31). In these lines, the voice states that the description of heaven as presented by the chorus of spirits in the first and second stanza offers but a glimpse of the sublimity of that place where immortal spirits reside. Heaven, as it is imagined by mortal human beings, is not a “presence chamber” but simply the “mind‟s first chamber” (Shelley 1820: lines 7, 28). The voice then hints at the fact that the truth about heaven is incomprehensible for mortal humans: “But the portal of the grave,/ Where a world of new delights/ Will make thy best glories seem/ But a dim and noonday gleam/ From the shadow of a dream” (Shelley 1820: lines 32-36). Here the voice states that death will finally open man‟s eyes and make him realise that all he ever dared to imagine in his life was but a shadow of the sublime beauty he is experiencing now that his life has come to an end. The thought presented here is that the shadow world of life is but a dim prelude to the glories waiting beyond the grave.

In the fifth stanza, the louder and still remoter voice takes the floor and remarks that all previously presented conceptions of heaven were nothing but delusions: “Peace! the abyss is wreathed with scorn/ At your presumption, Atom-born!” (Shelley 1820: lines 36-37). The expression “abyss” in these lines refers to the place mortals go when they die (Shelley 1820: line 36). The divine force that has created the universe seems to scorn humans for their

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan preposterous assumptions of what life after death might look like. It seems almost as if the louder and still remoter voice condescends to explain how vain human ideas and conviction of their afterlife actually are.

The louder and still remoter voice then asks a series of rhetorical questions challenging commonly held assumptions about life and the role humans play in it: “What is Heaven? and what are ye/ Who its brief expanse inherit?” (Shelley 1820: lines 39-40). With the presentation of these rhetorical questions the voice implicitly argues that human beings are just a tiny part of nature‟s creation. What must be highlighted at this point is that, in Shelley‟s view, God resided within nature. The poet was convinced that a divine force was running through all entities in the universe. As such, the line of argumentation presented here becomes understandable. Nature‟s mighty heart has given life to humans and is now driving through their veins: “Drops which Nature‟s mighty heart/ Drives through thinnest veins. Depart!” (Shelley 1820: lines 44-45). These final lines encourage the reader to ponder over the immensity of the sublime power residing in nature. Additionally, they create an image of mortal human beings that is dominated by frailty and ignorance.

In the sixth stanza, the louder and still remoter voice vaguely characterises heaven after repeating one of the rhetorical questions posed in the fifth stanza: “What is Heaven? a globe of dew/ Filling in the morning new/ Some eyed flower whose young leaves waken/ On an unimagined world” (Shelley 1820: lines 46-49). The description presented in these lines is vague and difficult to comprehend. Heaven is described as a “globe of dew”, yet unimagined by human minds (Shelley 1820: lines 46, 49). In the final lines of the ode the character of that celestial place is rendered even more obscure: “Constellated suns unshaken,/ Orbits measureless, are furled/ In that frail and fading sphere,/ With ten million gathered there/ To tremble, gleam, and disappear!” (Shelley 1820: lines 50-54). The description of heaven presented in these lines is extremely vague for it seems as if the image had deliberately been blurred. This impression is exactly what the louder and still remoter voice aims to recreate when it remarks that this place of immortal spirits is unimaginable for human beings. The phrase “ten million gathered there” refers to the souls and spirits waiting in heaven to “tremble, gleam and finally disappear” (Shelley 1820: lines 53-54).

In the final lines of the poem, Shelley counters the delusion of permanence with an image of eternal flux (cf. Chernaik 1972: 135). The spirits are in continuous motion; they tremble and gleam until they finally disappear. However, their disappearance does not mean that they are gone forever. On the contrary, it just means that they have passed into another form of

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan existence. This idea implies an organic view of life and sheds light onto the poet‟s conviction of an interdependence between life and death. Other interpretations suggest that the ode ends with an image of (human) life as a brief flash of light (cf. Chernaik 1972: 125). According to Chernaik (1972: 124) the ultimate twist in the final lines is given to the notion that mortal life, finite and temporal, is contained in the infinite. In her view the final perspective of the louder and still remoter voice does not deny the joy of creation, but also sets it in relation to the abyss of afterlife and to that sublime spirit of which all entities are but just a part (cf. Chernaik 1972: 123).

The message of the poem is that human beings cannot grasp the sublimity and scope of heaven. In the poem, Shelley argues that once humans have fixed their minds on a specific picture of heaven they are unable to imagine anything else that might not fit into this picture. Their perspective is limited and as such they are confined to the “mind‟s first chamber” (Shelley 1820: line 28). The main themes of the poem are the limits of human imagination, the interdependence between present, past and future, the transience of life and the presence of a sublime spirit in nature connecting all living beings.

The atmosphere of the poem is mainly positive. The description of heaven by the chorus of spirits in the first three stanzas evokes awe and fascination. The imagery of the fourth, fifth and sixth stanza is vague and abstract. Here heaven is no more portrayed as an all-enclosing dome but as a portal or entrance to some place beyond. The images presented are not concrete but blurred and ambivalent. Lines 30-31 “Like weak insects in a cave,/ Lighted up by stalactites” in which heaven is likened to a cave lit by stalactites where spirits buzz around like insects is a perfect example in this respect (Shelley 1820: lines 30-31).

Systemic aspects about the poem are the notion of an interdependence between present, past and future, the idea of continuous change and the dialectic relationship between life and death. The idea of an interdependence between present, past and future is most prominently voiced in the first stanza: “(Heaven) Which art now, and which wert then;/ Of the present and the past,/ Of the eternal Where and When”, while the idea of continuous change highlighted in the final lines of the poem “(human spirits) tremble, gleam and disappear”(Shelley 1820: lines 4-6, 54). In the ode, the subjective perspectives of the three speakers serve to legitimate their claims and corroborate the ideas put forward in the poem.

The poems “Chorus from Hellas” and “Ode to Heaven” exemplify Shelley‟s belief in a dialectic relationship of present, past and future. The speaker explores the idea of continuous

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan change and expresses his belief in the interconnectedness of present, past and future in both poems. What the poems further have in common is that they show the author‟s critical attitude towards human ideas and preconceptions. This is particularly evident in “Ode to Heaven” because man‟s implicit assumptions about heaven are questioned here.

4.4 Prophecy of (Political) Change and the Belief in an Interdependence between Growth and Decay as Constituent Elements of Systemic Thought Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry is pervaded with political ideas and revolutionary thoughts. His commitment to political and social issues as well as his vision of freedom for all people clearly contributed to the composition of many of his literary works. The three poems presented in this chapter - “Ode to the West Wind”, “Ode to Liberty” and “Ode to Naples” - are good examples of his political concern and revolutionary thinking. In all three odes the speaker utters a prophecy of political change. The odes “Ode to the West Wind”, “Ode to Liberty” and “Ode to Naples” praise different sublime entities that, according to Shelley, can help to renovate the present and bring about a brighter future. In “Ode to the West Wind” the speaker prays for the awakening of a sublime and strong wind that will bring about natural and social regeneration. The West Wind is a symbol for political and seasonal change. In “Ode to Liberty”, the speaker predicts that if mankind follows the revolutionary Spirit of Liberty, people will have the power to change the oppressive system that exploits them. In “Ode to Naples”, the speaker praises the city of Naples and prays to the Spirit of Beauty to protect the city and its inhabitants from their enemy – the Austrian empire.

What the odes presented in this chapter further have in common is their speaker‟s consequent belief in an interdependence between growth and decay and his prophecy announcing the onset of a new age. An important part of this prophecy is the idea of (political) change coming from within, thus breaking up the outward structures. What is important in this respect is that except for the speaker‟s revolutionary prophecy that encourages people to believe in change no external factors cause these changes. According to Shelley, change in the political and social sphere must be initiated by the people so that the system can rebuild itself from within. “For Shelley the true revolution was not in social structures but in the spirit of men” (Chernaik 1972: 84). Chernaik (1972: 84) argues that Shelley views oppression as not only caused from without but also created from within. In this view, human beings have to overcome their own confining impulses before they can be truly free. Through its character of

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan prophecy of change, Shelley‟s poetry foretells the liberation of man.62 This view is particularly prominent in “Ode to Liberty”.

Prophecy of (political) change and the belief in an interdependence between growth and decay are two constituent elements of systemic thought because they imply that life is ever-changing and that life and death are intricately related to one another. This in turn suggests an organic view of the world implying that the world is characterised by dynamic relationships which are self-regulating and self-organising and in this way reproducing the system they are contained in. Since the three odes presented in this chapter contain both key aspects it can be argued that they represent an important step in the development of the notion of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

4.4.1 “Ode to the West Wind” Written in 1819, “Ode to the West Wind” can be regarded as an important hallmark of Shelley‟s poetry.63 Fundamental philosophical ideas and political propositions were diffused through the poem. As the title suggests, “Ode to the West Wind” is an ode that celebrates the regenerative powers of a sublime wind or spirit: the West Wind. In the poem, the West Wind is a powerful symbol standing for sublime nature, poetic inspiration, freedom, and, if viewed through a political lens, revolutionary change. It is an active and dynamic force, destructive and creative at the same time. Even as it destroys, the wind encourages new life on earth. The wind chases away the old and makes room for the new to thrive; it stands for the coming of a new era. The underlying idea of an interdependence between old and new is what distinguishes the ode from Shelley‟s earlier poems that celebrate the sublime in nature.64 The subject matter of the ode is serious and its language and style are elevated.

“Ode to the West Wind” consists of 5 cantos, written in iambic pentameter. Each canto contains five stanzas (four tercets and one heroic couplet). The rhyme scheme is consistent and follows the pattern: aba bcb cdc ded ee. This stanzaic structure and rhythmic pattern is

62 According to Chernaik (1972: 84) this liberation is spiritual and physical. Chernaik postulates that Shelley conceived of liberation as a real and secular event that implies the overthrow of kings and priests and is caused by the impulse of the peoples (cf. Chernaik 1972: 84). Shelley thought of this revolution not as a forceful overthrow of the political system, but as a nonviolent movement motivated by the philosophical insight that only a non-violent change can truly guarantee peace. 63 Shelley‟s letters testify to the history of the poem‟s composition. “Ode to the West Wind” was conceived in a forest near the river Arno in Italy. That day in autumn 1819 a tremendous wind was blowing through the forest, shaking the trees and inspiring the poet to compose an ode devoted to the wind‟s destructive and regenerative power. 64 An example of such a poem in praise of sublime nature is “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”. (see chapter 4.1.1 “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”)

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan known as terza rima. It was first used by the Italian author Dante Alighieri in his epic poem Divine Comedy. In contrast to Dante‟s tercets which form thematic blocks, Shelley‟s tercets are semantically and syntactically interwoven with one another which creates the impression of a dynamic flow that runs through the entire poem. The rhyme scheme is important for the purpose of my analysis because in this ode thematic aspects are enforced by formal patterns. The interdependence between old and new not only constitutes a dominant thematic aspect, but is also expressed in the formal structure of the poem. In each tercet the first line (a) expresses an aspect that is already known, while the second line (b) stands for the new information.

“Ode to the West Wind” can be interpreted from two different perspectives and depending on the perspective taken either a political reading or a natural/philosophical reading are possible. From a political dimension the poem can be interpreted as a revolutionary prophecy. From a philosophical perspective, “Ode to the West Wind” can be interpreted as a praise of the sublime in nature and a reflection on the growth and decay of life. In the following analysis of the poem, the philosophical perspective will be prominent.

“Ode to the West Wind” begins with a passionate invocation of the West Wind.65 The speaker addresses the sublime wind directly, describing its features and powers: “O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn‟s being,/ Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeting” (Shelley 1819: lines 1-3 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 772). Right from the beginning, the speaker seems excited and filled with reverence for the wind which he likens to the breath of autumn. The season of autumn and the wind are personified here as if they were spiritual entities. The opening lines of the poem also present a remarkable poetic comparison: the dead leaves of the trees are likened to ghosts that are fleeing from a sorcerer. These lines are followed by a detailed description of the West Wind speeding across the countryside whirling up all the colourful leaves in the air and covering the flying seeds in the earth: “Yellow, and black, and pale and hectic red, pestilence-stricken multitudes: O Thou,/ Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed/ The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,/ Each like a corpse within its grave” (Shelley 1819: lines 5-6). The earth is described as a dark, wintry bed in which the wind beds the plants‟ seeds as if they were cold corpses in their graves.

65 An interesting aspect is that there are recurrent thematic blocks in the ode. At the end of the first, second and third canto the speaker invokes the West Wind. Altogether, the speaker invokes the wind four times: once at the beginning of the first canto and at the end of the first, second and third canto. These repetitions serve to enforce the idea of the speaker‟s longing to be heard by the wind.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

In memorable poetic images, the speaker then describes the workings of the West Wind‟s sister: “Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow/ Her clarion over the dreaming earth and fill/ […] With living hues and odours plain and hill” (Shelley 1819: lines 7, 10-12). Here the speaker prophesies that the Spirit of Spring will awaken the sleeping seeds again. The speaker states that Spring‟s clarion shall fill the air with scents and vivid colours. The season of spring is personified here as if it were a living entity. This fact is evidence that Shelley believed that there was more to the seasons and the wind, than just their phenomenal side. He perceived them as if they were spirits or living entities.

The first canto ends with another praise and invocation of the West Wind: “Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;/ Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!” (Shelley 1819: lines 13-14). This time the speaker addresses the West Wind as a wild spirit, implicitly likening him to the divine Spirit of Beauty in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”. In these lines, the speaker acknowledges the omnipresence and sublime power of the wind. The wind is described as a destructive AND creative force. On the one hand, it shakes the trees and scatters their dead leaves, but on the other, its sister is the regenerative power that awakens nature again in spring. The description of the West Wind as a destroyer and preserver already hints at the underlying notion of systemic thought.

In the second canto, the speaker continues to praise the West Wind. He addresses the wind directly and glorifies its messengers the “angels of rain and lightning” that it “shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean” (Shelley 1819: line 17-18). Here the speaker argues that the West Wind has the power to control natural phenomena such as rain and lighting. The poetic comparisons presented in the following are some of the most elaborate ones in the entire poem. The speaker compares rain and lighting to the bright hair of a Meanad , a woman dancing frenziedly in the worship of the Greek God Dionysos66: “Angels of rain and lighting: there are spread/ On the blue surface of thine aery surge,/ Like the bright hair uplifted from the head/ Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge/ Of the horizon to the zenith‟s height,/ The locks of the approaching storm” (Shelley 1819: 18-23). This simile enhances the impression of the wind‟s fast, uncontrollable movements. According to Göller (1968: 49), the comparison of the wind‟s messengers to the hair of the Maenad suggest that there is a mythical element to the West Wind. In these lines, the speaker skilfully uses an ancient myth in an extremely concise and powerful manner.

66 Dionysos is the Greek god of wine and vegetation.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

After this elaborate poetic comparison, the speaker emphasises once more the West Wind‟s ominous side as a herald of winter and death. He compares the wind to a dirge, a sad and melancholic song usually sung at a funeral: “Thou Dirge/ Of the dying year, to which this closing night/ Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre” (Shelley 1819: 23-25). The likening of the sublime wind to a dirge foregrounds once more its ambivalent nature. In these lines, the speaker also equates the blowing of the wind with the coming of winter. Here winter is meant to symbolise death. Expressions such as “dying year”, “closing night”, “vast sepulchre” corroborate this interpretation (Shelley 1819: 23-25). In the closing lines of the canto, the speaker once more highlights the destructive side of the wild spirit when describing how it stirs up violent storms: “Black rain and fire and hail will burst: O hear!” (Shelley 1819: line 28). Finally, he implores the wind to listen to him.

The description of the West Wind‟s powers continues in the third canto. The speaker focuses his attention on the wind‟s control over the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean: “Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams/ The blue Mediterranean [….]/ Thou/ For whose path the Atlantic level powers cleave themselves into chasms” (Shelley 1819: lines 29-30, 36- 38). Here the speaker states that the West Wind stirs the usually placid Mediterranean Sea from its calmness and causes violent storms in the Atlantic Ocean. The detailed description of the sea-weed offers another memorable illustration of the sublime powers of the West Wind: “The sapless foliage of the ocean, know/ Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,/ And tremble and despoil themselves” (Shelley 1819: lines 40-42). With this description the speaker wants to prove that the wind inspires both fascination and fear at the same time. By focussing his attention on the external environment that seems to feel the wind‟s presence just as he does, the speaker corroborates his own hypothesis of the existence of a sublime wind or spirit. Seen from a critical point of view, it becomes clear that the speaker‟s subjective perspective is influencing his perception. He is so consumed by his own convictions that he is unable to perceive reality objectively. The speaker‟s subjectivity shapes his thoughts and in a way creates the proof for his own claim that there truly exists a sublime wind or spirit that is capable of destroying and creating at the same time. The canto ends with another invocation of the West Wind.

The fourth canto marks a clear break in the thematic structure of the poem. The speaker now directs his attention away from nature. Instead, he focuses on the relationship between himself and the West Wind.67 In a moment of wishful thinking, he exclaims: “If I were a dead leaf

67 Therefore, it is not surprising that the fourth canto is characterised by the frequent use of first person pronouns.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan thou mightiest bear;/ If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;/ A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share/ The impulse of thy strength, only less free than thou, O Uncontrollable!” (Shelley 1819: lines 43-47). These lines show the speaker‟s dreams about becoming a dead leaf, a swift cloud or a wave only to be close to the sublime wind. 68 He wishes to become part of the wind and share the impulse of his strength. The West Wind is described here as an uncontrollable spirit that has the power to connect the speaker with nature and all other entities in the universe. Therefore, it can be argued that the West Wind functions as a synthesising force just as the Spirit of Beauty in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”.

At the end of the canto, the speaker admits that he is in “sore need” of a guiding spirit (Shelley 1819: line 52). He begs the wind to take him with him: “Oh! Lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!” (Shelley 1819: 53) The speaker likens himself to a wave, a leaf, a cloud. This identification with nature is a common motif in many of Shelley‟s poems. Suddenly he has an emotional outburst: “I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!” (Shelley 1819: 54). Here the speaker seems to thrust himself into a moment of prophetic despair. He then explains why he feels so desolate and forlorn: “A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed/ One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud” (Shelley 1819: lines 55-56). In these lines the speaker, feeling imprisoned in his own body, reproaches society arguing that it has stifled his youthful impulses. He argues that years ago he felt just as free and wild as the wind, but society has subjugated and enslaved him. In his present state the speaker feels as if a heavy weight is lying on his shoulders. This weight has accumulated over the years and the speaker‟s personality has undergone changes because of it. He claims that inevitably society‟s manacles will tame even the wildest spirit. In addition to giving important information about the speaker‟s past, these lines also serve to further characterise the West Wind as a spirit that is “tameless, swift, and proud” (Shelley 1819: line 56).

In the last canto, the speaker implores the West Wind to make him his lyre and companion just as he has made the forest: “Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is” (Shelley 1819: line 57). A lyre is a musical instrument that was used in ancient Greece to accompany lyric poetry. By identifying himself with an Eolian lyre the speaker projects his union with the sublime spirit. These lines express the speaker‟s wish to accompany the West Wind and never be separated from him again. The lyric persona identifies with the West Wind and begs him to become a part of him: “Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!”

68 Certain thematic elements in the fourth canto (“leaf”, “cloud”, “wave”) refer back to the first, second and third canto and in this way create the impression of coherence and closure (Shelley 1819: 43-45).

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

(Shelley 1819: lines 61-62). In these lines, the speaker appears to be praying (for a controlling impulse from the uncontrollable strength of the wind) to be possessed by the wind. The speaker implores the wind to unite with his own spirit and inspire his imagination so that he will be capable to prophesy the future. The idea of becoming part of the West Wind and unite his soul with the powerful spirit lifts the speaker and makes him believe that he is akin to the spirit. Literary critics have argued that in these lines the speaker transforms the wind into an inspiration for his own art (cf. Woodring 1970: 234).

At the end of the last canto, the lyric persona implores the wild spirit to spread his thoughts and ideas: “Drive his dead thoughts over the universe/ Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! / And by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth/ Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!” (Shelley 1819: lines 63-67). These lines express the speaker‟s cry for action. The lyric persona wants the spirit to spread his message to places where his prophecy of a new birth has not yet been heard. 69 The final lines of the poem - “Be through my lips to unawakened Earth/ The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,/ If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” (Shelley 1819: lines 68-70) - not only convey the idea that the speaker is connected with nature, but also prophesy the onset of a new age. Here spring is not just a season; it is a metaphor for the regeneration and the rebirth of life indicting a new era of human consciousness and freedom. Shelley‟s belief in a renewal of social structures is indicated here with the idea that destruction is necessarily followed by regeneration being implicitly communicated here. These lines evidence that the idea of an interdependence between growth and decay is central to the poem.

“Ode to the West Wind” is a poem full of hope for a better future. The poem‟s message is that after a period of tyranny and decay a time of regeneration and growth will follow. The rhetorical question in the last line of the poem - “If winter comes can spring be far behind?” – expresses the thought that spring always follows winter. Here the speaker utters his prophecy of a new birth. The poet wanted his readers to know that if mankind hearkens to his prophecy, regeneration will come. This final line signals optimism and a restored confidence on the side of the speaker. It may refer to the seasons and the circle of life, but it could also refer to the political and social situation in Britain.

69 The phrase “unawakened Earth” in line 68 refers to places where the speaker‟s prophecy has not yet been heard. From a political perspective the speaker refers to countries in Europe where revolutionary tendencies have not yet caused social upheavals.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

The atmosphere of the poem is ambivalent. Despite the poem‟s optimistic message there are some elements that evoke the impression of ambivalence. First, nature is no longer depicted as being benevolent and caring. Second, the poetic images in the first three cantos indicate death and decay. Third, there are some expressions in the poem that suggest suffering and pain.

“Ode to the West Wind” has an exceptional poetic quality resulting from its elaborate poetic imagery and symbolic language. An example in this respect is the poetic comparison in line 11 when the buds of trees and the heads of flowers are likened to herds of cows grazing in the air. Its remarkable poetic images enhance one another. This in turn creates the impression of a unique mosaic overloaded with metaphors, symbols and poetic comparisons.

The ode has an explicit speaker who refers to himself by using first person pronouns. In this poem, the speaker can be identified with the historical author of the text. The main reason is that in the poem the speaker appears to be a poet who just like Shelley, wants to spread his revolutionary prophecy. As such, the speaker also shows political and socio-critical awareness. He longs to partake in the wind‟s power of change and renewal (cf. Berns 2015: 234). According to Woodring (1970: 271), the speaker casts himself as a saviour-like figure upon whom the salvation of the entire world depends. In the ode, the speaker builds up a relationship with the West Wind and he strives for unity between nature and himself. His perspective is highly subjective and this subjectivity leads him to postulate a kinship between his soul and the wind. In addition to this, the description of his thoughts, environment and actions is highly emotional. For these reasons, it can be argued that all five of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled.

The lyric thou of the poem is a tempestuous wind whose temperature is at once mild and animating. In the first three stanzas, the character of the wind is only seen in its effects on earth, sky and sea. The speaker describes the West Wind as strong, free, uncontrollable and wandering over heaven. He further characterises the wind as a cosmic power that is simultaneously the “destroyer” and “preserver”. This tension of destruction and creation, fertilising and killing, life and death pervades the entire poem and contributes to the impression of an interdependence between growth and decay.

As already mentioned above, the West Wind is a complex symbol, standing for sublime nature, a renewal of the earth, poetic inspiration, freedom, and, if viewed though a political lens, revolutionary change. It is the epitome of uncontrollable power and freedom. According

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan to Göller (1968: 56), the wind embodies Shelley‟s innermost impulses. It is revolutionary, free, unrestrained and detached from everything else. According to Abrams etal. (2006: 773), it is a correspondent in the external world to an inner change. Hence, the wind can be interpreted as standing for a burst of creative power similar to the inspiration (cf. Abrams 2006: 773).

Systemic thought is at the core of the ode for a number of reasons. First of all, the poem‟s message suggests an interdependence between growth and decay. The rhetoric question asked in the final line of the poem corroborates this interpretation: “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” (Shelley 1819: line 70). In addition to this, the idea of an interdependence between growth and decay is reiterated throughout the poem. The second reason is that the West Wind is both a destructive AND creative force. In autumn, it foreshadows winter and death, whereas in Spring it is the awakener of life and bloom. The third reason why systemic thought pervades the poem is that the interdependence between old and new is not only discussed on the thematic level, but is also displayed in the formal patterns of the poem‟s rhyme scheme. The ode consists of a memorable sonnet sequence (cf. Berns 2015: 234). Five sonnets are presented in a fluently interlocking terza rima rhyme scheme which is closed by a rhyming couplet. Berns (2015: 234) argues that this intricate blend of formal features shapes the meaning of the ode to a crucial degree since it suggests contrasts and continuities between the cantos and introduces distinct frames of reference.

“Ode to the West Wind” exemplifies in which ways the speaker‟s subjectivity legitimises his claims, no matter how bold they might be. In the poem, the speaker does not reflect on his own subjectivity. His subjective perspective permeates every thought and filters all his impressions. Since the speaker‟s subjectivity legitimises all his claims, his arguments never get into conflict with one another. As such, subjectivity and systemic thought complement each other.

4.4.2 “Ode to Liberty” “Ode to Liberty” is one of Shelley‟s longest poems. It is an ode devoted to the praise and reverence of freedom. Written in 1820, the ode celebrates the conflict-ridden progress of liberty in the course of history (cf. Berns 2015: 234). It portrays a sublime spirit, called Spirit of Liberty, rising triumphantly in Spain, Greece and France, spreading its message of revolutionary change all across Europe. “Ode to Liberty” has a specific political focus. In the ode the speaker prays for the spark of revolution to be lit in Italy and England. The speaker appeals to his audience to take action and strive for freedom. He argues that if people are

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan courageous enough to follow the Spirit of Liberty and take action, political change will lead to the transformation of the old system. The ode is therefore not only concerned with the human spirit, but also addresses the individual‟s responsibility towards society.

In the ode, Shelley challenges the received mythologies of history and theology that back in the 18th century were oftentimes used to deceive people and oppress them. The most important themes discussed in the ode are the importance of freedom, the concern for political change and the existence of a sublime spirit. The ode epitomises Shelley‟s belief in the power of change and his conviction of a better future if mankind listens to his prophecy. The radical nature and anti-Christian sentiment of the ode‟s message and its tone were among the main points of criticism by Shelley‟s contemporaries.70

“Ode to Liberty” is infused with the idea of revolutionary change. The prophecy of change leading to an improvement of the social situation is repeated throughout the poem. The ode shares certain elements with two other poems composed by Shelley: “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” and “Ode to the West Wind”. Just as in “Ode to the West Wind”, the speaker utters a prophecy of a brighter and better future if mankind listens to the poet‟s message. The absence of the Spirit of Liberty causes the same desolation as the sudden disappearance of the Spirit of Beauty in the “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”.

The 19 stanzas of the ode form sections of three to four stanzas each. The first section (stanzas 1-3) is devoted to a detailed description of the regenerative powers of the Spirit of Liberty as well as an illustration of the terrible consequences of the spirit‟s absence. In the second section (stanzas 4-6), the speaker shifts his focus to a specific location, namely Greece. The rule of the Spirit of Liberty in Athens and its positive impact on humanity are described in detail. In the third section (stanzas 7-9), the speaker focuses on the devastating

70 Henry Crabb Robinson for example described “Ode to Liberty” as a poem which directly displayed Shelley‟s “polemical hatred of Christianity” (Robinson 1896: 200). Other reviews such as the one published in the London Magazine in March 1821, present Shelley‟s ode in a more favourable light: “No one can read Shelley‟s magnificent 'Ode to Liberty' without a sensation of the deepest astonishment at the stupendous mind of their author. The mental visions of philosophy contained in them are the most gorgeous that can be conceived, and expressed in language well suited to the sentiments. They soar with an eagle's flight to the heaven of heavens, and come back laden with the treasures of humanity.” (Barcus 1975: 282) Here the reviewer expresses his admiration at the poet‟s use of elaborate metaphors and poetic imagery. However, even in this overly positive review, literary critics remarked that in their view Shelley would never become a popular poet: “With all the combined attractions of mind and verse, we feel that Mr. Shelley can never become a popular poet. He does not sufficiently link himself with man; he is too visionary for the intellect of the generality of his readers, and is ever immersed in the clouds of religious and metaphysical speculations.” (Barcus 1975: 282) The critical reactions of Shelley‟s contemporaries can be easily explained when considering that Shelley lived in a society that considered his idealistic visions and revolutionary thinking as utopian, extravagant and even dangerous.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan effects of the spirit‟s absence in Italy. The speaker charts the degeneration of moral values in the city of Rome after it has been subjugated by tyrants. The fourth section (stanzas 10-12), alludes to a real historical event and its aftermath: the French Revolution. Here the speaker‟s disappointment is highlighted. He disparages Napoleon‟s reckless abuse of power after the execution of the King of France, Louis XVI. In the fifth section (stanzas 13-16) the speaker makes a passionate case for the struggle for freedom. He beseeches the English and Italians to take action. The poem‟s climax is reached when the speaker passionately denounces the unspeakable abuse of power of kings and priests. In the sixth and final section (stanzas 17- 19), the speaker expresses his disillusionment at the state of the world. He reports feeling a gap between his noble ideals and harsh reality. The speaker acknowledges that despite the power bestowed on man to overcome and defeat his oppressors he willingly becomes a slave. The final section too portrays the consequences of the interdependence between good and evil. Shelley believed that for every natural impulse towards good, there is an equally natural impulse towards making good ineffectual or turning it to evil.

The ode begins with a quotation by a contemporary of Shelley, Lord Byron, who praises freedom as a strong and invincible power: “Yet, Freedom, yet thy banner torn but flying,/ Streams like a thunder-storm against the wind” (Shelley 1820: 0-1 qtd. in Dowdon 1891: 545) Here the idea that freedom is so strong that nothing can defeat it is expressed. The concept of freedom is personified and presented as if it were a living being holding a torn banner, ready to master every challenge. The quote also presents an interesting poetic comparison: freedom is compared to a powerful and energetic thunder storm that dares oppose the wind.71 This quote serves to establish the mode and atmosphere of the ode. By placing it right at the beginning, Shelley cleverly hints at his core message of revolutionary prophecy and political change.

The first stanza begins with a celebration of the return of liberty to Spain. The historical event referred to here is the Spanish revolution72 against King Ferdinand VII that took place in January 1820. The speaker uses this historical event as a starting point to initiate a discussion about the significance of the Spirit of Liberty for the rest of Europe. As he presents a memorable description of a nation of people rejoicing in the feeling of freedom, the speaker expresses the idea that Liberty is a spirit that can ignite passion in peoples‟ hearts: “Liberty/ From heart to heart, from tower to tower, o‟er Spain/ Scattering contagious fire into the sky/

71 In this context, the “wind” may stand for the dominant political course in Shelley‟s lifetime. 72 The revolution took place at Cadiz, Spain when Spanish troops who had assembled for an expedition to America mutinied under the leadership of Colonel Rafael del Riego y Nunez.

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan

Gleamed” (Shelley 1820: lines 2-5). In these lines, the speaker describes the fascination the Spirit of Liberty inspires and foreshadows its possible significance for political changes in the future. The metaphor presented here powerfully illustrates the spirit‟s omnipresence. It seems as if the Spirit of Liberty is capable of travelling across large distances spreading its message of “contagious fire” among different nations and peoples (Shelley 1820: line 4). Here “contagious fire” refers to the prophecy of revolution, change and freedom.

The speaker then shifts the focus onto himself and his first encounter with the Spirit of Liberty: “My soul spurned the chains of its dismay, […]/ As a young eagle soars the morning clouds among,/ Hovering in verse o‟er its unaccustomed prey;/ Till from its station in the Heaven of fame/ The Spirit‟s whirlwind rapped it” (Shelley 1820: lines 5, 8-11). In these lines, the speaker expresses his fascination for the sublime and claims that a strong impulse is coming from the Spirit of Liberty. He compares himself to a “young eagle” soring aloft in the sky while he is actually preparing to write poetry (Shelley 1820: line 8). When the spirit‟s whirlwind catches him and helps him to rise even higher into the sky, he feels elevated and capable of great visionary deeds. The poetic simile presented here is important because it shows in which ways the speaker conceives of his own role as a poet. The expression “Heaven of fame” in line 10 is a reference to the Empyrean, the highest part of heaven, thought by the ancients to be the realm of pure fire. In these lines, the Spirit of Liberty is described as if it were capable of assuming the shape of a powerful whirlwind. This portrayal of the Spirit of Liberty supports the interpretation that the speaker perceives (the concept of) liberty as an omnipresent spirit. The final lines of the stanza seem to echo a prophecy of biblical revelation: “there came/ A voice out of the deep: I will record the same” (Shelley 1820: 14-15). Here the impression that the speaker‟s prophecy is inspired by some divine power is created.

In the second stanza, the speaker describes the consequences of the spirit‟s absence for the universe and its inhabitants. “The Sun and the serenest Moon sprang forth: / The burning stars of the abyss were hurled/ Into the depths of Heaven. […] But this divinest universe/ Was yet a chaos and a curse,/ For thou wert not” (Shelley 1820: lines 16-18, 21-23). Here the speaker laments the forlorn state the world is in when the Spirit of Liberty is not present. He claims that the absence of the spirit causes chaos in the universe. The speaker then directs his attention towards the detrimental effects of the spirit‟s absence on living beings: “but, power from worst producing worse,/ The spirit of the beasts was kindled there,/ And of the birds, and of the watery forms,/ And there was war among them, and despair/ Within them, raging

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan without truce or terms” (Shelley 1820: lines 23-27). In these lines, the speaker describes the querulous behaviour of beasts, birds and fish when the Spirit of Liberty has abandoned them. These lines are reminiscent of the descriptive passages in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” where the speaker describes the forlorn and desolate state the world is in once the Spirit of Beauty has disappeared. In both poems, the result of the absence of the divine/sublime spirit seems to be that the animals and humans have become either enraged or desperate.

The speaker then draws a connection between the aggressive state of wild animals and the rage and despair of men in his society: “for beasts warred on beasts, and worms on worms,/ And men on men; each heart was as a hell of storms” (Shelley 1820: lines 29-30). In these lines, the speaker emphasises the fact that just like wild beasts, also man suffers as he feels his hatred being amplified and ultimately directed towards himself. For the speaker, the consequences of a prolonged absence of the Spirit of Liberty are clear. As he sees it, the spirit‟s eclipse will lead to an abuse of power and on the long term result in warfare and suffering.

In the third stanza, the speaker introduces the image of society as a curse and pictures its inhabitants as brutal and dehumanised. He compares them to ravenous “mountain-wolves”, an image that is recurrent throughout the poem, and likens their palaces, pyramids, temples and prisons to “ragged caves” (Shelley 1820: line 35). The comparison of human beings to wolves is highly significant in this respect because it foregrounds the beastly and power-hungry character of humans. The speaker then explicates the brutal and fierce ways of man which come to dominate his personality without the ameliorating power of the spirit: “This human living multitude/ Was savage, cunning, blind and rude,/ For thou (Liberty) wert not” (Shelley 1820: lines 36-38). Here the speaker describes the vileness of man caused by the spirit‟s absence and portrays man as a savage creature, blind with rage and hatred for himself and others.

The speaker‟s portrayal of the evil ways of man culminates in his recognition of the fact that the only regime to arise from a prolonged absence of the Spirit of Liberty is tyranny: “but o‟er the populous solitude,/ Like one fierce cloud over a waste of waves,/ Hung Tyranny” (Shelley 1820: lines 38-40). What is interesting here is that society‟s state is pictured as a “populous solitude” (Shelley 1820: line 38). In these lines, the speaker compares the regime of tyranny to a “fierce cloud” hanging over the people of a nation abandoned by the Spirit of Liberty (Shelley 1820: line 39). Although the number of people living on Earth has been increasing steadily, many feel forlorn and lonely. This fact is remarked explicitly by the speaker in the

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan lines 31-32 when he states: “Man, the imperial shape, then multiplied/ His sensations under the pavilion” (Shelley 1820: lines 31-32). According to the speaker, the reason for mankind‟s despair and loneliness is the absence of the Spirit of Liberty. He then portrays the abuse of power in a tyrannical regime: “Anarchs and priests, who feed on gold and blood/ Till with the stain their inmost souls are dyed,/ Drove the astonished herds of men from every side” (Shelley 1820: lines 43-43). In these lines, human beings are compared to helpless and dumb sheep that tolerate even the most exorbitant form of abuse. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the speaker implicitly denounces the injustice taking place every day in European societies. In his opinion, “anarchs and priests who feed on gold and blood” are the perpetrators of the unspeakable exploitation of the working classes (Shelley 1820: line 43).

The fourth stanza opens with an explicit reference to Greece: “The nodding promontories, and blue isles,/ And cloud-like mountains, and dividuous waves/ Of Greece, basked glorious in the open smiles of favouring Heaven” (Shelley 1820: lines 46-49). Here Greece is presented as a picturesque island with soft hills and valleys blessed by the presence of the Spirit of Liberty. The idyllic and harmonious description of a country at peace, its inhabitants completely at ease because of the ameliorating presence of the spirit, is then continued in stanza five.

In the fifth stanza, the glory of the city of Athens is described: “o‟er the Aegean main/ Athens arose: a city such as vision/ Builds from the purple crags and silver towers/ Of battlemented cloud, as in derision/ Of kingliest masonry: the ocean-floors/ Pave it; the evening sky pavilions it” (Shelley 1820: lines 60-65). These lines evoke some remarkable poetic images: The floor of the ocean is compared to the basement on which the celestial city is built. The speaker seems to be so overwhelmed by his breath-taking vision that he exclaims: “A divine work! Athens, diviner yet,/ Gleamed” (Shelley 1820: lines 69-70). These lines are evidence for the speaker seeing the city of Athens as being a divine work, gleaming and shining in the spirit‟s splendour. The speaker then reveals the actual reason for the city‟s breath-taking appearance: “For thou (Liberty) wert, and thine all-creative skill/ Peopled, with forms that mock the eternal dead/ In marble immortality, that hill/ Which was thine earliest throne and latest oracle” (Shelley 1820: lines 72-75). Here the speaker argues that only because of the spirit‟s presence, the city of Athens shines in all its glory. In line 72, the speaker attributes an “all-creative skill” to the spirit (Shelley 1820: 72). Here the fact that the Spirit of Liberty is not only a revolutionary spirit, but also a creative power is highlighted. The “hill” in line 97 is a reference to the Acropolis with its monumental temple - the Pantheon. In these lines, the

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan resemblance created between the Spirit of Liberty and a god is striking. The description of the Acropolis as the spirit‟s earliest throne and latest oracle strongly supports this interpretation.

The sixth stanza presents the key to understanding Shelley‟s systemic thinking. In the opening lines of the stanza, a remarkable image is presented: “Within the surface of Time‟s fleeting river/ Its wrinkled image lies, as then it lay/ Immovably unquiet, and for ever/ It trembles, but it cannot pass away!” (Shelley 1820: lines 76-84). The abstract concept of time is personified and compared to a “fleeting river”. The metaphor presented here is systemic in its nature: time is an ever-changing river. The speaker expresses the thought that time is fluid and, just like a river, it alters its appearance continuously. Nevertheless, time is capable of outlasting these changes. The speaker expresses this thought explicitly in line 79 when he exclaims: “thou cannot pass away” (Shelley 1820: line 79).

After presenting this memorable poetic image of time as a river capable of transforming itself from one state to another, omnipresent and ever-changing, the speaker then shifts the focus back onto the interactions of the Spirit of Liberty with his messengers - the poets. He describes the reactions of poets and wise men when they feel the presence of the sprit: “The voices of thy bards and sages thunder/ With an earth-awakening blast/ Through the caverns of the past:/ (Religion veils her eyes; Oppression shrinks aghast:)/ A winged sound of joy, and love and wonder,/ Which soars where Expectations never flew,/ Rending the veil of space and time asunder!”(Shelley 1820: lines 80-86). Here the speaker describes the powerful urge of poets and wise men to spread the spirit‟s message of freedom. The concepts of oppression and religion are personified. Both are portrayed as opposing powers of the spirit, eager to take over control. However, they are intimidated by the prophecies of the spirit‟s messengers. According to the speaker, people can overcome oppressive regimes and strip religious doctrines off their power when they are inspired by the powers of the Spirit of Liberty even though they might have never believed it to be possible in the first place. This is what the speaker wants to express in line 84 when he talks about the “winged sound of joy, and love and wonder” soaring where people‟s “expectations never flew” (Shelley 1820: 84-85).

In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker describes the spirit‟s regenerative powers and its renewing effect on nature: “One ocean feeds the clouds, and streams, and dew;/ One Sun illuminates heaven; one Spirit vast/ With life and love makes chaos ever new” (Shelley 1820: lines 88-89). In these lines, the idea of an interdependence between growth and decay is implicitly communicated. Chaos is depicted as something positive because it provides the opportunity for a restructuration of the system. In the view of the speaker, the chaos resulting

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan from the destruction of the old provides the necessary conditions for the new to take shape. The last line of the stanza - “As Athens doth the world with thy delight renew” - evokes once more the image of Athens as a celestial city sprawling with life and love, blessed by the presence of the Spirit of Liberty (Shelley 1820: line 90). With this explicit reference to the first stanza of the section, the second section is concluded.

In the seventh stanza, the speaker describes the slow but inevitable degeneration of morals in Rome after the Spirit of Liberty has left the city: “But when tears stained thy robe of vestal- whiteness,/ And gold profaned thy Capitolian throne,/ Thou didst desert, with spirit-winged lightness,/ The senate of the tyrants” (Shelley 1820: lines 99-102). The images presented here are mostly negative. This affects the atmosphere of the stanza and causes the impression of a more sombre and dark world. The expression “Capitolian throne” in line 100 refers to the throne of which just and righteous leaders who ruled under the observant eye of the spirit (Shelley 1820: line 100). Until the Spirit of Liberty was driven from the throne, people were living good lives. However, the moment when the spirit left and power-hungry rulers ascended the throne, everything changed. They exploited the people and brought war and suffering into their lives.

In the eighth stanza, the speaker laments the fact that people seem to have forgotten the importance of the spirit‟s message: “Of that sublimest lore which man had dared unlearn” (Shelley 1820: line 108). Here the speaker refers to the spirit‟s message as something that is sublime and awe-inspiring. The speaker then describes the spirit‟s anguish and mute rage when he notices that cruel tyrants and hypocritical priests are slowly regaining power in Italy:” for thou didst groan, not weep/ When from its sea of death, to kill and burn,/ The Galilean serpent forth did creep,/ And made thy world an undistinguishable heap” (Shelley 1820: lines 112-115). In these lines, the speaker describes not only Liberty‟s but also his own anguish and destroyed hopes. The expression “sea of death” in line 113 is meant to symbolise the negative impact of society that finally contributed to the development of the world into an “undistinguishable heap”, deformed and marred by tyranny (Shelley 1820: lines 113, 115). The “Galilean serpent” in line 114 is a reference to Christian religion and is meant to illustrate Shelley‟s conviction that religious doctrines were a form of institutionalised poison numbing people‟s minds and destroying their ability to think critically (Shelley 1820: 114).

The ninth stanza opens with an exclamation of the speaker on behalf of the enslaved Italian populace: “A thousand years the Earth cried, „Where art thou?‟” and ends with a description of the return of the Spirit of Liberty to Italy (Shelley 1820: line 116). The direct rendering of

Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan the exclamation in the opening lines of the stanza enhances the impression of immediacy and gives the stanza a certain dramatic quality. In emotional language and visionary images, the speaker describes Italy‟s longing for the return of Liberty. The speaker then describes the return of the sublime spirit to Italy: “And then the shadow of thy coming fell/ […] Whilst from the human spirit‟s deepest deep/ Strange melody with live and awe struck dumb/ Dissonant arms; and Art, which cannot die, / With divine wand traced our earthly home/ Fit imagery to pave Heaven‟s everlasting dome” (Shelley 1820: lines 117, 126-130). In these lines, the speaker states that the very moment when the spirit returned to Italy a strange melody filled people‟s hearts. Awestruck and inspired by these sublime tunes, they were encouraged to take action for their own freedom. The speaker argues that love and awe “struck dumb dissonant arms” and thus without harming anyone the Italian people were freed (Shelley 1820: line 127). These lines exemplify Shelley‟s belief in non-violent resistance as a means to achieve revolution from within.

In the tenth stanza, the speaker focuses once more on the character of the Spirit of Liberty and the way it is perceived by human beings. He offers an elaborate characterisation the spirit: “Thou huntress swifter than the Moon! thou terror/ Of the world‟s wolves! thou bearer of the quiver,/ Whose sunlike shafts pierce tempest-winged Error, / As light may pierce the clouds when they dissever/ In the calm regions of the orient day!” (Shelley 1820: lines 131-135). Here the Spirit of Liberty is personified. Liberty is described as if it were a human being chasing the “world‟s wolves”, i.e. vile priests and tyrants who exploit others for their own profit. The speaker praises the spirit as a sublime power with “sunlike shafts”, capable of piercing the clouds and chasing bad influences away. The speaker then refers to the evangelic reformer Martin Luther and claims that Martin Luther felt the spirit‟s presence as he “caught the Spirit‟s wakening glance;/ Like lightning” (Shelley 1820: lines 136-137). Just as Luther did, English poets and writers also felt the presence of the spirit and “hailed thee (Liberty) as their queen” (Shelley 1820: line 140).

The eleventh stanza recounts the return of the Spirit of Liberty to Europe: “When like heaven‟s Sun girt by the exhalation/ Of its own glorious light, thou didst arise” (Shelley 1820: lines 154-155). In these lines, the speaker presents Liberty‟s return as if it inaugurated the onset of a new millennium. The Spirit of Liberty is presented as the redeemer of the human race chasing tyrants and oppressors: “Liberty! […] chasing thy foes from nation unto nation/ Like shadows” (Shelley 1820: lines 156-157). With these lines, the speaker expresses the thought that the Spirit of Liberty has the power to drive away cruel tyrants and oppressors.

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The speaker describes the spirit as if it were bringing light to the dark. The climactic moment of the spirit‟s return therefore initiates a process of regeneration. In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker describes people‟s reactions to the return of the spirit: “Man started, staggering with a glad surprise,/ Under the lightnings of thine unfamiliar eyes” (Shelley 1820: lines 159-160). Here humans are described as bewildered and astonished because of the spirit‟s lightning. From a historical perspective, these lines can be interpreted as an allusion to the French Revolution.

The twelfth stanza traces the eclipse of the Spirit of Liberty after the revolution has failed. This stanza can be seen as a direct reference to the events that happened after the execution of King Louis XVI. The speaker inquires what has caused the disappearance of the spirit: “Thou Heaven of earth! what spells could pall thee then/ In ominous eclipse?” (Shelley 1820: lines 161-162). The speaker then evokes an apocalyptic vision: “a thousand years/ Bred from the slime of deep Oppression‟s den./ Dyed all thy liquid light with blood and tears.” (Shelley 1820: lines 162-164). Here the speaker again alludes to the history of France. After centuries of oppression and exploitation by the aristocracy, French society was so filled with rage and despair that when they finally had the opportunity to be free, they thwarted their own efforts. The spirit‟s “liquid light” was stained with blood and tears of the aristocrats that had been killed in the name of freedom.

In the following lines, the speaker describes the aftermath of the revolution and the Napoleonic conquest in memorable poetic images: “How like Bacchanals of blood/ Round France, the ghastly vintage, stood/ Destruction‟s sceptre slaves, and Folly‟s mintred blood”/ When one, like them, but mightier far than they,/ The Anarch of thine own bewildered powers,/ Rose” (Shelley 1820: lines 166-171). Here the speaker pictures the horrors of the bloody massacres and the madness of the revolutionary leaders. The “Anarch of Liberty‟s powers” is a reference to Napoleon who had seized the chaotic situation after the execution of the king to ascend to power. According to the speaker, the spirit‟s powers have led Napoleon astray and once on the wrong track, he continued leading thousands with him into battle and doom.

In the thirteenth stanza, the speaker urges his fellow Englishmen to take action. He describes the political situation in England using the metaphor of Sleeping Beauty: “England yet sleeps: was she not called of old?” (Shelley 1820: line 176). Here England is personified and pictured as if she were Sleeping Beauty, totally unaware of the changes happening around her. The speaker remarks that “Spain calls her now”, thus alluding to the fact that the revolutionary

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan spirit of the Spanish Revolution might infect England as well (Shelley 1820: line 177). The speaker then draws a comparison between the revolution that took place in Spain and his vision of an upcoming revolutionary change in England. He juxtaposes the difficult conditions under which the revolutionary Spirit of Liberty thrived in Spain with the comparably favourable ones in England: “her (England‟s) chains are threads of gold, she need but smile,/ And they dissolve; but Spain‟s were links of steel,/ Till bit to dust by virtue‟s keenest file./ Twins of a single destiny!” (Shelley 1820: lines 134-137). In these lines, the speaker describes England and Spain as “twins of a single destiny” – both struggling against tyrannical regimes, both longing for freedom. While the Spanish people had to strive hard against adverse influences, the opposition the English society faces is nothing in comparison. The speaker uses the images of “links of steel” and “(dissolving) threads of gold” to emphasise the contrast. The stanza closes with a final praise of the Spirit of Liberty and its sublime powers: “All ye have taught and done! Time cannot dare conceal” (Shelley 1820: line 190).

In the fourteenth stanza, the speaker passionately expresses his innermost conviction that freedom must be embraced no matter at which costs: “Why do we fear or hope? thou art already free!/ And thou, lost Paradise of this divine/ And glorious world! thou flowery wilderness!/ Thou island of eternity!” (Shelley 1820: 198-201). Here the speaker expresses the thought that there is no reason to be afraid since the Spirit of Liberty is already free. The description in these lines illustrates the speaker‟s belief in the beauty of the world when the Spirit of Liberty is present.

In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker appeals directly to the Italian people to free themselves: “O Italy,/ Gather thy blood into thy heart;/ repress/ The beasts who make their dens thy sacred palaces” (Shelley 1820: lines 203-205). In these lines, the speaker encourages the Italians to stand up for their own freedom. As such, the final lines of the 14th stanza express a concrete call for action.

In the fifteenth stanza, this call for action is repeated once more: “Oh, that the free would stamp the impious name/ Of KING into the dust!” (Shelley 1820: lines 206-207). The message communicated in the opening lines is loaded with emotion. The speaker appeals to the people living in freedom to take action and strip the king of his authority with the speaker‟s revolutionary ardour being evident in these lines. The remainder of the stanza presents some elaborate and unusual metaphors. The name “KING” is compared to a “serpent‟s path” in the sand and the aristocracy‟s promises are likened to a “foul Gordian

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan word” (Shelley 1820: lines 205 - 206, 209). These metaphors imply a double tyranny of the body and the mind. It seems as if the speaker‟s prophecy aims at the liberation of man from false tyrannies without and within (cf. Chernaik 1972: 84). Literary critics have argued that in Shelley‟s works kings are usually identified as the perpetrators of the tyranny of the body, while priests are the tyrants of the mind (cf. Chernaik 1972: 101). This pattern is particularly evident in the fifteenth stanza of the ode. Here the speaker also argues that kings and priests need to be stripped off their power and that the Spirit of Liberty shall take their place. This tain of thought is then continued in the sixteenth stanza.

In the sixteenth stanza, the speaker postulates the importance of the light of reason in the struggle against religious fanaticism. The speaker prays for the spark of reason to be kindled in the minds of the people: “Oh, that the wise from their bright minds would kindle/ Such lamps within the dome of this dim world,/ That the pale name of PRIEST might shrink and dwindle/ Into the hell from which it first was hurled” (Shelley 1820: lines 221-224). In these lines, the speaker‟s opinion of the clergy becomes evident. He is convinced that the church‟s religious practices and doctrines are evil and regards priests as vile manipulators. This interpretation is corroborated by the description of priests as “fiends impure” in line 226 (Shelley 1820: line 226). In the final lines of the stanza the speaker alludes to the Day of Judgement: “Till in the nakedness of false and true/ They stand before their Lord, each to receive its due! (Shelley 1820: lines 234-235). Here the speaker expresses the thought that when the Day of Judgement arrives even priests will have to step in front of God, confess their sins and be judged for their hypocrisy.

The seventeenth stanza marks the beginning of the last section of the ode. In this stanza, the speaker provides some memorable philosophical insights. The lyric persona claims that the great gifts of God are in vain since man willingly becomes a slave: “He who taught man to vanquish whatsoever/ Can be between the cradle and the grave/ Crowned him the King of Life” (Shelley 1820: lines 236-238). In these lines, the speaker puts forward the claim that God has given man the capacity to overcome every obstacle that restrains him mentally or physically. God is depicted as a benevolent and kind creator having bestowed man with the gift of mental and physical freedom. Departing from this positive image, the speaker then goes on to lament the fact that, although man would have the capacity to free himself from oppression, he willingly becomes a slave: “Oh, vain endeavour!/ If on his own high will, a willing slave,/ He has enthroned the oppression and the oppressor” (Shelley 1820: lines 238- 240). In these lines, the speaker bemoans the “vain endeavour” of God trying to empower

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan man by granting him the capacity to overcome every obstacle in order to reach his freedom (Shelley 1820: line 238). The speaker argues that man, despite having so much power at his disposal, still makes an enemy of it. The speaker puts forward a series of hypotheses. He asks the rhetorical question of what would happen if thoughts and ideas of change could be translated into action: “What if earth can clothe and feed/ Amplest millions at their need,/ And power in thought be as the tree within the seed?” (Shelley 1820: lines 241-243). It can be argued that these lines convey an implicit revolutionary message.

In the final lines of the seventeenth stanza, the speaker addresses the importance and power of art: “What if Art, an ardent intercessor,/Driving on fiery wings to Nature‟s throne, /Checks the great mother stooping to caress her” (Shelley 1820: lines 244-246). These lines illustrate the poet‟s conviction that art can function as a mediator between man and his divine creator. In these lines, Shelley communicates the view that art can encourage people to take action and strive for their own freedom. Chernaik (1972: 78) argues that these lines exemplify Shelley‟s view that art and poetry can penetrate the mysteries of life.

In the eighteenth stanza, the speaker implores the Spirit of Liberty to lead mankind to freedom: “Come thou, but lead out of the inmost cave/ Of man‟s deep spirit, as the morning star/ Beckons the Sun from the Eoan wave” (Shelley 1820: lines 251-253). In these lines, the Spirit of Liberty is portrayed as a guiding force leading mankind to freedom and salvation. The speaker then grows more and more emotional as he describes Liberty as the great judge bringing justice and peace to the people. The stanza ends with an emotional outcry by the speaker: “O Liberty” if such could be thy name” (Shelley 1820: line 261). This passionate invocation of the Spirit of Liberty illustrates the speaker‟s highly emotional state when praying for Liberty‟s return.

The last stanza of the ode presents an interesting paradox. Despite the fact that the speaker feels an overriding melancholy and yearns to escape this dim world, he still has an eerie premonition of the existence of some light beyond the ephemeral world. The reason for the speaker‟s melancholy is a renewed eclipse of the Spirit of Liberty. It seems as if the speaker is allowed a momentary glimpse of the divine, but at last has to return to earth: “The solemn harmony/ Paused, and the Spirit of that mighty singing/ To its abyss was suddenly withdrawn/ Then as a wild swan, when sublimely winging/ Its path athwart the thunder-smoke of dawn,/ sinks headlong through the aereal golden light/ On the heavy-sounding plain,/ When the bolt has pierced its brain” (Shelley 1820: lines 265-272). Here the speaker compares himself to a wild swan that is the victim of greater forces. This is interesting for in the first stanza, the

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan speaker likened himself to an eagle hovering over its accustomed prey. These lines illustrate how sharply Shelley felt the gap between his noble ideals and harsh/bitter reality.

The atmosphere of the ode is ambivalent. While there are many expressions loaded with negative connotations, there are also passages in which the speaker conveys a sense of ecstasy and breathless joy. The speaker‟s message of revolutionary change, no matter at what cost, contributes to the impression of ambivalence.

The ode‟s style is elaborate and its language rich with poetic imagery. In the opening stanza Shelley uses verbs that denote strong, swift and decisive actions such as “scatter”, “spurn”, “soar” and “flung” (Shelley 1820: lines 4-6, 13). The changes from one topic to another are rather abrupt. All in all, the ode is dense with allusions to history and impassioned rhetoric.

“Ode to Liberty” has an explicit speaker who refers to himself by using first person pronouns. In this poem, the speaker‟s role as a poet has not been drawn attention to. Nevertheless, the lyric persona can be identified with the historical author of the poem. In the ode, the speaker‟s inner convictions and subjective perspective shape his perception. The speaker‟s subjectivity also determines which aspects of society are portrayed as abominable and which ones are praiseworthy. At various points, the question arises whether the speaker perceives the spirit‟s impact on nature or whether his convictions lead him to interpret his environment in a way that it fits his prefixed conceptions. Certain passages of the ode, such as the 18th stanza, are particularly emotional as the speaker gives expression to his immediate feelings. The poet‟s wish for political regeneration and revolution is explicitly stated in the poem. As such, his political and socio-critical awareness are evident. Altogether, the poem fulfils four of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity in Romantic poetry.

The explicit lyric thou of the ode is a spirit, called Spirit of Liberty. This spirit is an embodiment of freedom and justice and is presented as a spiritual entity and as such shares many traits with the West Wind. Just as the West Wind, the Spirit of Liberty is a “trumpet of a prophecy”73 (Shelley 1820: 69). The Spirit of Liberty can be interpreted as a herald of change, causing a restructuration of the system from within. In the ode, it can either be interpreted as a symbol standing for political change or for the unconquerable will that brings order into the universe.

73 In “Ode to the West Wind” Shelley describes the West Wind as the “trumpet of a prophecy” and asks him to scatter his words among mankind (Shelley 1819: line 69). This metaphor of the wind as a trumpet highlights the fact that the speaker wants to use the wind‟s powers to spread his prophecy of change and instigate a revolution that should lead to the overthrow of the old system and inaugurate a new age.

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“Ode to Liberty” represents an attempt to inspire a vision or prophecy of change that is politically motivated, revolutionary, optimistic and systemic at the same time. Since the ode is mainly political, systemic ideas do not take centre stage. The idea of an interdependence between growth and decay is only discussed twice in the ode, most notably in the 6th stanza. Here the idea that chaos, resulting from the destruction of the old, may provide the necessary conditions for the new to take shape, turns the ode into an important contribution for the development of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry.

In the ode, the Spirit of Liberty is pictured as being creative and destructive at the same time. As such, it seems strangely akin to the West Wind, which is portrayed as a destroyer and a preserver in “Ode to the West Wind”. The idea of the spirit as a synthesising force creating an interdependence between growth and decay is highlighted in the 6th stanza: “Spirit vast/ With life and love makes chaos anew” (Shelley 1820: lines 88-89). The idea of chaos and destruction is presented as having a positive and regenerative effect on society and nature. In addition to this, a systemic notion is present in the idea of change coming from within, thus, restructuring and reshaping the entire system. Furthermore, the personifications of time in the 6th and 13th stanza also convey the idea that time is a fluid, transforming itself from one state to another, ever-changing but, paradoxically, outlasting all changes.

4.4.3 “Ode to Naples” "Ode to Naples" was composed in 1820 at San Juliano di Pisa during Shelley‟s sojourn in Italy. The poem displays Shelley‟s conviction that his lifetime was a revolutionary age. It is a visionary celebration of an important historical event: the Neapolitan revolution in July 1820. When composing the ode, Shelley tried to incorporate the revolutionary atmosphere during his lifetime to create a political poem that would encourage the Italians to stand up for their own freedom and overcome the tyranny of the Austrian empire. As such, the poem has an explicit political focus.

“Ode to Naples” is a variation of a Pindaric ode74. It consists of 10 stanzas that can be divided into three parts: two introductory epodes75 that describe the ruinous but impressive city of

74 A Pindaric ode is a longer ceremonious poem with a regular rhyme scheme and a fixed metre. The genre was named after the Greek writer Pindar who lived in the 5th century B.C. Pindaric odes are defined by their triadic structure. They usually consist of triads, i.e. sections that are composed of 3 stanzas. The form of the first stanza (strophe) is repeated in the second stanza (antistrophe) and followed by a third stanza (epode) that introduces variations. This structure is usually repeated throughout the poem. In “Ode to Naples” Shelley uses a variation of the traditional form of the ode. 75 The two introductory stanzas are epodes.

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Pompeii and portray the onset of the poet‟s vision, a main part76 praising the birth of freedom in Naples and two concluding epodes77 in which the speaker warns of the lurking threats lying ahead and prays for freedom. The ode contains many references to Italian and Roman history.

“Ode to Naples” is characterised by the speaker‟s revolutionary fervour and the urgency of his prayer for freedom. From a political perspective, the ode can be interpreted as a prophecy of the onset of a new political era after the defeat of the invading enemy. Literary scholars, such as Carl Woodring (1970: 4), have argued that the ode‟s ideological lyricism manifesting itself in remarkable poetic images and similes represents Shelley‟s characteristic way of harnessing political impulse. The ode displays some of the remarkable poetic imagery which Shelley‟s poetry became famous for and presents a fusion of secular and religious metaphors. Most poetic comparisons suggest an intricate connection between nature and beauty. In addition to this, the ode also presents unconventional poetic imagery such as the anthropomorphisms of prestigious Italian cities in the seventh stanza.

The ode also reveals some of Shelley‟s innermost beliefs such as the conviction that the forces of evil are to be defeated by setting a peaceful example rather than through violence. The idea that only bloodless victories are real victories is elaborated on in the fifth stanza. There, the poet‟s innermost belief that the real battles are fought by the spirit rather than the flesh becomes evident.

The first stanza (1st epode) begins with a memory from the speaker, who describes the impressive sight of the city of Pompeii: “I stood within the City disinterred/ And heard the autumnal leaves like light footfalls/ Of spirits passing through the streets” (Shelley 1820: lines 1-3 qtd. in Chernaik 1972: 210). In these lines, other than describing the disinterred city of Pompeii, the speaker also presents an elaborate poetic comparison. The “autumnal leaves” which are scattered on the ground are likened to spirits moving swiftly through the deserted streets of the ruinous city (Shelly 1820: line 3). This simile is reminiscent of the poetic comparison in Shelley‟s “Ode to the West Wind” where dead leaves are likened to ghosts fleeting from a wizard. The speaker then continues to describe the environs of the once so glorious city, starting with the volcano that was responsible for its destruction: “(I) heard/ The Mountain‟s slumberous voice at intervals/ Thrill through those roofless halls:/ The oracular

76 Shelley organised the main part as a sequence of alternating stanzas – strophes and antistrophes - that answer one another in their final lines. An interesting formal aspect is that at the end of every strophe and antistrophe the speaker praises the city of Naples with the words: “Hail, hail, all hail!”. This pattern mirrors the invocation of the West Wind at the end of every stanza in Shelley‟s “Ode to the West Wind”. 77 From a formal point of view, the two concluding stanzas are epodes just as the two introductory stanzas.

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan thunder penetrating shook/ The listening soul in the suspended blood” (Shelley 1820: lines 3- 7). The speaker seems to feel awe and fear when remembering the sound of the mountain‟s “oracular thunder” (Shelley 1820: line 6). In these lines, the expression “mountain” is meant to refer to Mount Vesuvius, the volcano whose eruption in 79 AD destroyed the city of Pompeii burying most of its 20,000 inhabitants under a layer of volcanic ash and rock. The speaker remembers that upon hearing the fearful sound he felt his soul shudder and his blood freeze. Although he felt as if his blood was freezing in his veins, his soul seems to have been allowed to get a glimpse of the sublime. In that very moment, it seemed as if all his other senses would fail: “I felt that Earth out of her deep heart spoke –/ I felt but heard not” (Shelley 1820: lines 8-9).

The speaker then describes Pompeii as if it were a celestial city of pure beauty: “A plane of light between two Heavens of azure!/ Around me gleamed many a bright sepulchre/ Of those pure beauty, Time, as if his pleasure/ Were to spare Death, had never made erasure” (Shelley 1820: 11-14). These lines emphasise the stillness of the scenery and the city‟s splendour. The impression the speaker creates is one of an ancient city gleaming “in a plane of light”, adorned with “stony myrtle, ivy and pine”, lying there in the “chrystal silence of the air” (Shelley 1820: lines 11, 17, 20). In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker remarks that he can feel a divine power emanating from the ruins of Pompeii.

In the second stanza (2nd epode), the speaker remembers the moment when he conceived his prophetic vision: “Then gentle winds arose,/ With many a mingled close/ Of wild Aeolian sound and mountain odours keen” (Shelley 1820: lines 23-25). Here the speaker describes the atmospheric conditions “gentle winds”, sounds “wild Aeolian sound” and smells “mountain odours keen” when he conceived his prophecy of change78 (Shelley 1820: 23-25). In these lines, the “gentle winds” stand for a sublime power that inspires the poet and fuels his imagination.

The speaker then shifts the focus onto his role as a poet and hierophant of divine truths. He recounts his state of mind when he first felt the influence of the sublime power that made him envision how the world could be different if it were liberated from tyranny and oppression: “It bore me, like an Angel, o‟er the waves/ Of sunlight, whose swift pinnace of dewy air/ No storm can overwhelm-/ I sailed where ever flows/ Under the clam Serene/ A spirit of deep emotion […]” (Shelley 1820: lines 32-37). In these lines, the speaker describes his mental

78 The nature of the poet‟s vision as a prophecy of political change is not mentioned explicitly. This only becomes clear at a later stage.

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan state when he had his prophetic vision. He felt as if he were lifted up into the sky like an angel over the waves of sunlight. Just as in “Ode to Liberty”, the speaker feels “rapped” or borne aloft by some sublime power (Shelley 1820: line 11). He is filled with poetic inspiration and awe for the sublime power that inspires him.

The speaker recounts being filled with a deep emotion liberating his mind and in that moment his premonition of some deeper truth in life grows more concrete. In the final lines of the stanza, he remarks that he is now able to share his vision: “Whilst from all the coast/ Louder and louder gathering round, there wandered / Over the oracular woods and divine sea/ Prophesyings which grew articulate -/ They seize me, - I must speak them: - be they fate!” (Shelley 1820: lines 47-51). The speaker believes that by articulating his prophecy his words will be turned into fate and his prophecy will be fulfilled. This is exactly what is expressed in line 51 “- be they fate” (Shelley 1820: 51). Here the personal pronoun “they” refers to the poet‟s prophetic words. With this visionary prophecy, the second stanza comes to an end, thus, concluding the introduction of the ode.

The third stanza (1st strophe) inaugurates the main part of the ode. While in the introduction the speaker focused on the ancient city of Pompeii and his own state of mind, now attention is placed on the city of Naples. The setting and time have shifted to the present. The stanza starts out with an impassioned invocation of the city of Naples: “Naples! thou Heart of men, which ever pantest/ Naked beneath the lidless eye of Heaven!” (Shelley 1820: lines 52-53). In these lines, the speaker addresses Naples as the “Heart of men”, thus, attributing courage and fervour to the city and its inhabitants. The speaker recounts that the city of Naples is panting and struggling in the sun.79 These lines present a clear contrast to the opening lines of the ode in which the speaker glorifies the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii.

The speaker further characterises Naples as the “Elysian City” and the “Metropolis of a ruined Paradise” (Shelley 1820: lines 54-57). These expressions imply that once Naples was a glorious city. In classical mythology, the Elysium was the paradise reserved for the heroes that because of their bravery and courage were immortalised by the Gods. This idea was taken up by Shelley and cleverly integrated into the poem. The lines that follow shed light on the present situation and explain why the speaker states that the city is ruined and has lost its former splendour: ”(Naples) long lost, late won, and yet but half regained” (Shelley 1820: line 58). What these lines imply is that after Naples was lost to foreign conquerors, it was won back but could be only half regained. This interpretation is corroborated when the speaker

79 The “lidless eye of Heaven” is a metaphor standing for the sun (Shelley 1820: lines 53).

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan refers to the victory Naples celebrated and the short-lived freedom it could attain: “Thou which wert once, and then didst cease to be” (Shelley 1820: lines 62). Here the speaker addresses the city of Naples, arguing that it was free once but that this state ceased to be. The stanza ends with a final praise to the city of Naples: “Hail, hail, all hail!” (Shelley 1820: line 65).

The fourth stanza (1st antistrophe) is mainly devoted to a memorable description of the millennial city: “Thou youngest Giant birth/ Which from the groaning Earth/ Leap‟st, clothed in armour of impenetrable scale” (Shelley 1820: lines 65-68). In these lines, the city is likened to a giant jumping out of the earth in shining armour. Here the speaker creates the image of a city that is animated and alive. This interpretation is corroborated when the speaker argues that Naples is the only city that still stands up against the “proud Transgressors” that threaten Italy (Shelley 1820: line 70).

In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker indirectly reveals that Naples suffers from oppression: “Nor let thy high heart fail/ Though from their hundred gates the leagued Oppressors/ With hurried legions move!-/ Hail, hail, all hail!” (Shelley 1820: lines 73-76). Here the speaker tries to encourage the city and its inhabitants not to give up when facing the threat of oppression. The stanza ends with a final praise of the city.

In the fifth stanza (2nd strophe), the speaker hails Naples as the city is prepared for battle defending itself bravely against the enemy and re-establishing the rule of freedom, equality and truth in the whole of Italy. The speaker tries to answer the question of how Naples can successfully defend its freedom. Instead of encouraging the Neapolitans to fight and defeat their enemies in battle, he proposes to beat them with their own weapons: “(Naples) thy shield is as a mirror/ To make their blind slaves see, and with fierce gleam/ To turn this hungry sword upon the wearer” (Shelley 1820: lines 78-80). The speaker then further exclaims that the enemy that has dared to attack Naples shall be “devoured by their hounds” (Shelley 1820: line 82). These lines are evidence of Shelley‟s inmost belief that the forces of evil are to be defeated by example rather than violent actions. The speaker of the ode proposes passive resistance as a means of overcoming the oppressive regime. This is explicitly stated in lines 85 and 86: “Gaze on Oppression, till at that dread risk/ Aghast, she pass from the Earth‟s disk” (Shelley 1820: lines 85-86). In these lines, the speaker urges Naples to have faith in the mirror-shield of Minerva rather than the sword (cf. Chernaik 1972: 117). This implies no active fighting, only self-defence and passive resistance.

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At the end of the stanza, the speaker renews his own faith in justice and truth and states: “If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail/ Thou shalt be great. All hail!” (Shelley 1820: lines 89- 90). Here the speaker implicitly utters a prophecy. He prophesies that if people continue to have hope and believe in truth and justice, the city of Naples will regain its former splendour. However, the conditional form used in these lines indicates that the speaker is not entirely confident. As such, the final lines of the stanzas are just as much an incentive to courage as they are a celebration of the glorious city of Naples.

In the sixth stanza (2nd antistrophe), the speaker continues to praise the city of Naples. What is remarkable in this respect is that for the first time the speaker addresses Naples as if it were the embodiment of some sublime force: “O‟er Ruin desolate,/ O‟er Falsehood‟s fallen state/ sit Thou sublime, unawed; be the Destroyer pale!/ And equal laws be thine,/ And winged words let sail/ Freighted with truth, even from the throne of God” (Shelley 1820: lines 96-99). In these lines, the concepts of ruin and falsehood are personified. The speaker hails Naples as the hope of all Italy. The speaker presents the Italian city as if it were capable of defeating all adverse impulses, its sublime power causing “the destroyer” to turn pale (Shelley 1820: line 96). Here the expression “destroyer” is a reference to the Austrian monarchy that was threatening to invade Naples during Shelley‟s lifetime. The speaker praises the city and claims to foresee that justice and truth will reign once Naples has returned to its former splendour. The stanza then ends with a final praise of the city: “All hail!” (Shelley 1820: line 101).

In the seventh stanza (3rd strophe), the speaker presents an interesting historical reference. He refers to the Spanish revolution and sets it up as an admirable example to follow for Italy: “Didst thou not start to hear Spain‟s thrilling Paean/ From land to land re-echoed solemnly/ Till Silence became music?” (Shelley 1820: lines 102-104). In these lines, the speaker asks the Italians whether they can hear and feel the revolutionary spirit that has been ignited in Spain and now seems to be passing all over Europe. The speaker then appeals to Italy to be inspired by the revolutionary ardour of other European nations. He presents Italy as if it were an immortal being capable of hearing the revolutionary spirit: “From the Aean/ To the cold Alps, eternal Italy/ Starts to hear thine!” (Shelley 1820: 104-106).

In the following lines, the speaker personifies prestigious Italian cities. Venice, Genoa and Milan are described as if they were human beings: “The Sea/ Which paves the desart streets of Venice, laughs/ In light and music; widowed Genoa wan/ By moonlight spells ancestral epitaphs,/ Murmuring, “where is Doria”; fair Milan,/ Within whose veins long ran/ The

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Viper‟s palsying venom, lifts her heel/ To bruise his head” (Shelley 1820: lines 106-113). Here Genoa is presented as a male who has lost his beloved Doria. However, “Fair Milan”, the femme fatale, has no mercy and aims to injure Genoa by “bruising his head” (Shelley 1820: lines 110-114). Venice only “laughs” and seems indifferent (Shelley 1820: line 107). These anthropomorphisms hint at some hidden power play between the cities and serve to render the power struggles more concrete. The final lines of the stanza - “If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail,/ Art thou of all these hopes. All hail” - present a variation of lines 89 and 9080 (Shelley 1820: lines 115-116). Just as in the fifth stanza, once again the importance of hope, truth and justice is stressed; however, the meaning is slightly different. The speaker seems to have changed his line of argumentation. In contrast to the fifth stanza the speaker now argues that hope, truth and justice are guaranteed exclusively in the glorious city of Naples. The stanza ends with a final praise of the city of Naples.

In the eighth stanza (3rd antistrophe), the speaker starts out with praising two other famous Italian cities. Again, he personifies them in terms of their long history of oppression and attributes typical human features to them: “Florence, beneath the Sun,/ Of cities fairest one,/ Blushes within her bower for Freedom‟s expectation;/ From eyes of quenchless hope/ Rome tears the priestly cope,/ As ruling once by power, so now by admiration” (Shelley 1820: lines 116-121). The first anthropomorphism presented in these lines describes the city of Florence as a fair girl blushing at the thought of what freedom could change for her inhabitants. In more concrete terms, this means that the Florentians secretly dream of the prospect of freedom but dare not take action. The city of Rome, on the other hand, is pictured as more active and trying to force priests to step down from their position because they have started to abuse their power. Here the speaker alludes to the abusive practices of the church and puts forward the argument that priests have lost their rightful claim to power and now only try to keep the façade intact. Unfortunately, both cities do not seem to be successful in regaining their freedom. The final lines of the stanza present another variation of lines 89-90: “If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail/ Thou shalt be great. All hail!” (Shelley 1820: lines 89-90). This time, however, the message is quite different: “As then Hope, Truth, and Justice did avail,/ So now may Fraud and Wrong. All hail!” (Shelley 1820: lines 125-126). In these final lines of the eighth stanza, the conditional form is no longer used. The speaker states that hope, truth and justice truly “did avail”, alluding to the fact that they continued to exist (Shelley 1820: line 125). However, he also mentions that fraud and wrong have survived with them. Here Shelley implies that good without evil is impossible - the existence of the one

80 Lines 89-90: “If Hope and Truth and Justice can avail/ Thou shalt be great. All hail!”

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The ninth stanza (3rd epode) inaugurates the concluding part of the ode. In this stanza, the speaker grows more sombre as he reflects on the imminent threat that might ultimately destroy his prophetic vision of freedom for Italy. He argues that “(d)issonant threats kill Silence far away” hinting at the threats and dangers not yet visible but lurking in the distance (Shelley 1820: line 134). Then the speaker‟s vision of the dangers lying ahead becomes more concrete: “The Anarchs of the North pour forth their legions/ Like Chaos o‟er creation, uncreating;/ An hundred tribes nourished on strange religions/ And lawless slaveries” (Shelley 1820: lines 137-140). In these lines, the speaker identifies the “Anarchs of the North” which stand for the Austrian Empire, as the lurking threat he had felt before. He then goes on to define the direction from which the Austrian troops are going to attack: “Down the aerial regions/ Of the white Alps, desolating,/ Famished wolves that bide no waiting, -/ Blotting the glowing foodsteps of old glory,/ Trampling our columned cities into dust” (Shelley 1820: lines 140-144). These lines lend support to the interpretation that the “Anarchs of the North” mentioned in line 137 truly stand for the Austrian leaders trying to conquer Italy. Here Shelley employs an interesting discursive strategy: he dehumanises Naples‟ enemies by describing them as “famished wolves”, as if they were vile beasts (Shelley 1820: line 142).

In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker uses the same discursive strategy of debasing human beings by attributing animalistic features to them. He portrays the Austrians as if they were subhuman creatures: “Their dull and savage lust/ On Beauty‟s corse to sickness satiating,/ They come; the fields they tread look black and hoary/ With fire: from their red feet the streams (of blood) run gory” (Shelley 1820: lines 145-148). In these lines, “Beauty” stands for the country of Italy which the Austrian troops have already invaded. The landscapes and fields they pass are marred with the signs of destruction and death. The description of the invading troops is deliberately gory and bleak as the speaker intends to depict the enemy as inhuman and debased.

The tenth and final stanza (4th epode) is addressed to the Spirit of Beauty, a spiritual entity that according to the speaker connects all living entities in the universe.81 The speaker describes the spirit‟s rule in Italy from his perspective: “Great Spirit! deepest Love,/ Which rulest and

81 For further information see chapter 4.1 The Presence of a Sublime Spirit as a Core Element of Systemic Thought.

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The speaker then shifts his attention away from the imminent threats such as the danger of an invasion by the Austrian empire. In the lines that follow, the speaker devotes himself fully to an ardent prayer: “with thine harmonizing ardours fill/ And raise thy sons, as o‟er the prone horizon/ Thy lamp feeds every western wave with fire./ Be Man‟s high hope and unextinct desire/ The instrument to work thy will divine!” (Shelley 1820: lines 165-169). Here the speaker prays to the Spirit of Beauty begging for a positive influence on his kinsmen. He argues that the sons of the Italians are also the sons of the spirit and therefore deserve the spirit‟s blessing. In addition to this, the speaker appeals to the spirit to be “Man‟s high hope” and “The instrument to work thy will divine!” (Shelley 1820: lines 168-169). Here the speaker‟s argumentation is brilliant. He argues that if the spirit becomes man‟s hope and has a positive influence on him, then man will become the spirit‟s instrument and will just execute the spirit‟s wishes.

The stanza ends with a final prayer for freedom: “Whatever, Spirit, thou from thy sphered shrine/ Thou yieldest or withholdest, yet let be/ This City of thy worship, ever free!” (Shelley

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1820: lines 174-176). In these lines, the speaker identifies Naples as the city of the spirit‟s worship. It seems as if the speaker has arrived at a point at which he would accept every fate if he and his kinsmen were set free. With this final prayer for freedom addressed to the Spirit of Beauty, the ode ends.

All in all, the atmosphere of the ode is positive. Although there are some passages that evoke negative emotions, since they present images with a negative connotation82, the overall impression is a positive one. Thanks to the speaker, who does not give up his optimistic stance, the ode ends with a positive outlook into the future.

The message of the ode is that no matter how bleak the situation looks like, hope, trust and justice must abide. According to the speaker people should praise the glorious city of Naples and pray to the Spirit of Beauty. The main themes of the ode are the strife for freedom, the harmony between nature and man and the wish for political change in the face of oppression and subjugation.

“Ode to Naples” has an explicit speaker who refers to himself using first person personal and possessive pronouns. Even in the first stanza, he makes use of the first person pronoun “I” to refer to himself: “I stood within the City disinterred” (Shelley 1820: line 1). In this poem too the speaker can be identified with the historical author. Shelley‟s view that the usurpation of Italy by the Austrian empire was one of the most abominable and unjust acts in history is implicitly underlying all of the speaker‟s claims in the poem. The speaker‟s perspective is highly subjective and this influences his description of the two opposing nations in the ode: Austrians vs. Italians. He describes the Austrian troops as vile and base wolves, whereas the Italians are portrayed as noble and sincere. The language used to describe the warring opponents is highly emotional. Following from this, four of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled. The missing criterion is the speaker‟s identification with nature or a sublime spirit in nature.

In the first eight stanzas the lyric thou of the ode is the city of Naples which at times appears more like a living being rather than a real city. The city is pictured as powerful, with a guarantee for freedom, truth and justice. However, in the tenth stanza the speaker addresses a different lyric thou. This time he directs his prayer towards the omnipresent and sublime Spirit of Beauty.

82 A good example in this respect is the loathsome description of the enemy in the ninth stanza.

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“Ode to Naples” is important for the development of the notion of systemic thought for two reasons. First, the idea of an interdependence between good and evil. Lines 125-126 in the 8th stanza present the thought that wherever there is good there must be also evil. The second reason is that the interdependence between past and present is hinted at in the first and third stanza. In the first stanza, the speaker focuses on the ancient city of Pompeii, while in the third stanza his attention has shifted to the city of Naples. The city of Pompeii stands for the frozen beauty of the past, whereas the city of Naples stands for the exuberant vitality and revolutionary ardour of the present. Past and present seem interrelated, with the past informing the poet‟s vision of the present.83 Therefore, from a systemic viewpoint the introduction represents the past, whereas the main part of the ode represents the present and the concluding epodes stand for the future.

As in “Ode to the West Wind” and “Ode to Liberty” as well as in “Ode to Naples”, the speaker utters a prophecy of political change. He foresees a revolution by Naples‟ inhabitants and a regeneration of the whole of Italy. Literary critics have argued that, as in all of Shelley‟s political odes, even in “Ode to Naples”, history is conceived as cyclical (cf. Chernaik 1972: 115). Chernaik (1972: 115) further claims that in Shelley‟s poetry the task of the poet is to reaffirm the eternal principle of freedom that must survive the repeated triumphs of tyranny. In addition to this, the poet‟s role is that of a hierophant who prophesies the eventual breaking of the cycle of tyranny and liberation - the final triumph of liberty.

The three political odes “Ode to the West Wind”, “Ode to Liberty” and “Ode to Naples” illustrate some of Shelley‟s most important beliefs and convictions. They reveal the poet‟s belief in the existence of natural spirits. Shelley‟s philosophical stance made him perceive nature differently. His political odes evidence that he conceived of seasons, winds and lights as powerful spirits capable of transforming themselves from one state to another, omnipresent and ever-changing. This is evident not only in “Ode to the West Wind” but also in “Ode to Naples” when the speaker prays to the Spirit of Beauty to liberate Italy. Interestingly, in “Ode to Liberty” also the concepts of time and liberty are personified and portrayed as powerful spirits.

Another aspect worth mentioning is the relationship between speaker and society. In Shelley‟s political odes, the speaker‟s solitude is the necessary prerequisite for the conception of his

83 This is shown by the recurring imagery of the ode. Poetic images from the opening stanzas are echoed in later stanzas. The theme of harmony which permeates the introduction of the ode is for example embodied in the metaphor of musical harmony in the 7th stanza.

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4.5 Identification with a Sublime Spirit and Unity of Poet and Nature as Final Steps towards a Philosophy of Systemic Thought The two poems presented in this chapter - “To a Skylark” and “The Cloud” - are united by their optimistic view of life. In both poems the speaker strongly identifies with a sublime/divine entity or spirit in nature. While the speaker‟s attempt at identification is successful in both poems, it is only in “The Cloud” that the identification process eventually culminates in the poet‟s unity with nature/ the sublime sprit. “To a Skylark” is a musical poem in which the speaker praises a small bird as if it were a sublime spirit. The lyric persona prays for poetic inspiration and envies the singing bird for its capability to comprehend the truth that lies beyond. “The Cloud” is one of Shelley‟s greatest evocations of the sublime in nature. With this lyric text the poet gave expression to his impassioned drive to be absorbed into elemental forces that are both destructive and creative at the same time. The distinction between subject and object is blurred and ultimately cancelled.84 “The Cloud” is a stylistically elaborate poem in which the unity of poet and nature comes to its completion. In the poem, Shelley also incorporates the idea of an interdependence between life and death as well as past, present and future. What makes the poem so special is that its speaker is an immortal and ever-changing entity - a cloud. The poem therefore epitomises the notion of systemic thought.

The poet‟s identification with a sublime spirit and the unity of poet and nature are the final steps towards a philosophy of systemic thought. The speaker‟s deliberate identification with the sublime spirit results in the unity of poet and sublime entity. This unity cancels the opposition between subject (poet) and object (nature). The speaker is no more the mouthpiece transmitting the message of the sublime spirit, but rather he is the spirit! This development is alluded to in “To a Skylark” and “Ode to the West Wind” and is fully refined in “The Cloud”. Here the speaker becomes the sublime spirit and vice versa. This is the final step to Shelley‟s philosophy of systemic thought.

84 This identification with a sublime spirit has already been foreshadowed in one of Shelley‟s earlier poems “To Constantia”.

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4.5.1 “To a Skylark” “To a Skylark” has for a long time been read as a classic statement of Romanticism (cf. Chernaik 1972: 125). It was written in 1820 and owing to its endless optimism and elaborate poetic imagery became one of Shelley‟s most widely read poems. The poem praises a skylark - whose sublime song inspires the speaker and encourages him to identify with the bird.85 The title of the poem is a direct reference to the bird.

On the surface, the poem is a miniature narrative of a poet watching a skylark flying higher into the sky. On a deeper level, the poem is a glorification of poetic inspiration above knowledge. Literary scholars have argued that the poem is a poetic rendering of the power of joy, charting that spontaneous lightness of the human heart which Shelley saw as the essential condition for creating poetry (cf. Chernaik 1972: 125).

“To a Skylark” has a song-like quality. Its 21 five-line stanzas follow a regular rhyme scheme and metrical pattern.86 This creates the impression of a musical flow originating naturally from the poet‟s mind while the content of the poem mirrors this musical quality.

The poem starts out with a cheerful exclamation by the speaker: “Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!/ Bird thou never wert” (Shelley 1820: line 1-2 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 817). In the opening lines, the speaker invokes a skylark. Here the speaker addresses the bird as a “blithe spirit” and it seems as if he were speaking to a spiritual entity. He then states that the skylark‟s origins are close to heaven: ”That from Heaven, or near it,/ Pourest thy full heart/ In profuse strains of unpremeditated art” (Shelley 1820: lines 3-5). These lines corroborate the interpretation that the speaker does not see the skylark as a bird, but as a spiritual entity. The speaker then compares the skylark‟s song to human art. The skylark‟s song is so passionate and overflowing with emotions that it seems as if the bird were pouring forth its heart.

In the second stanza, the speaker continues to describe the singing bird and its flight: “Higher still and higher/ From the earth thou springest like a cloud of fire/ The blue deep thou wingest,/ And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest” (Shelley 1820: lines 6-10). In these lines, the skylark‟s ascent to heaven is portrayed. Higher and higher it flies until it is barely visible. The speaker presents an interesting metaphor: the skylark is likened to a cloud of fire burning brightly. The expression “blue deep” refers to the deep blue sky surrounding

85 The fact that the speaker is inspired by the bird‟s song likens the poem to Shelley‟s “To Constantia” in which the speaker is inspired by the beautiful song and music of Constantia. 86 Each stanza contains 4 lines of trochaic trimeter and a final line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme follows the pattern ababb.

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan the bird (Shelley 1820: line 8). The idea the speaker wishes to express here is that the skylark soars high up into the deep blue sky and while ascending, it starts singing. The flight of the bird can be interpreted as symbolic for the poet‟s flight from society into nature. His innermost wish seems to be to accompany the bird in its flight high up into the sky and away from the stifling influences of society.

In the third stanza, the environment of the cheerful bird is described in detail: “In the golden lightning/ Of the sunken Sun-/O‟er which clouds are brightning/ Thou dost float and run;/ Like an unbodied joy whose race just begun” (Shelley 1820: lines 11-15). In these lines, the sun‟s rays are compared to “golden lightnings” (Shelley 1820: line 11). The skylark is portrayed as flying and floating in the air. The speaker describes the bird as an “unbodied joy”, a spirit of joy and happiness without a physical form.

In the fourth stanza, the speaker continues his description of the skylark‟s natural surroundings. Once again, the speaker‟s description contains many poetic images and metaphors: “The pale purple even87/ Melts around thy flight,/ Like a star of Heaven/ In the broad day-light” (Shelley 1820: lines 16-19). Here the speaker states that when the skylark flies, the colours of the evening “melt” around it and create an extraordinary sight (Shelley 1820: line 17). Amidst this incredible atmosphere, the skylark is compared to a “star of Heaven” in broad daylight (Shelley 1820: line 18). Here the speaker suggests that just like the evening star, the skylark is invisible during the day, but the speaker intuitively knows that its presence is absolutely certain. He then remarks that the skylark is “unseen” even though its song can still be heard: “Thou art unseen, -but yet I hear thy shrill delight” (Shelly 1820: line 20). The bird‟s song can be heard, but the bird itself cannot be seen. The idea communicated here is that the highest certainty is not of the eye, but of the emotions - not visible but invisible and intuitive. This idea is similar to the image of the evening star presented previously. According to Chernaik (1972: 127), both the evening star and the skylark serve as the physical evidence for the objective reality of that which can be known only through intuition.

In the fifth stanza, the speaker claims that the skylark‟s presence cannot be rationally understood, it can only be felt intuitively: “Until we hardly see – we feel that it is there” (Shelley 1820: line 25). Here the speaker explicitly states that he trusts his intuition more than his senses. The speaker has lost sight of the bird but is still able to hear its “shrill delight”

87 Here the expression “even” stands for evening.

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(Shelley 1820: line 20). He reports that he can still hear the earth and air ring with the skylark‟s beautiful song.

In the sixth stanza, the skylark‟s song is portrayed as if it were capable of surpassing all limits: “All the earth and air/ With thy voice is loud” (Shelley 1820: lines 26-27). The speaker states that the bird‟s song is capable of travelling across large distances, transcending everything. He then compares the skylark‟s song to the moonbeams that cover the sky at night: “As when Night is bare/ From one lonely cloud/ The moon rains out her beams – and Heaven is overflowed” (Shelley 1820: lines 28-30). In these lines, the speaker personifies the concept of “night”, portrays the moonlight as “raining” on the earth and deliberately uses the term “heaven” for “sky” (Shelley 1820: lines 28, 30).

In the seventh stanza, the skylark‟s symbolic significance is highlighted. The speaker muses on the disposition of the singing bird: “What thou art we know not;/ What is most like thee?” (Shelley 1820: lines 31-32). He has problems finding a suitable comparison to characterise the bird. He comes to the conclusion that the skylark is too enigmatic to be defined. In the final lines of the stanza, the speaker once again praises the beautiful song of the skylark and compares the soothing melody to a rain shower: “From rainbow clouds there flow not/ Drops so bright to see/ As from thy presence showers a rain of melody” (Shelley 1820: lines 33-35). Just as in the third and fourth stanza, the poetic imagery used here is mainly drawn from the semantic field of weather phenomena.

In the stanzas eight to eleven, the speaker‟s comparisons become more concrete as he likens the skylark to different people and animals. Each stanza presents one poetic image that serves to characterise the skylark. Together, they recreate an elaborate picture of the bird.

In the eighth stanza, the speaker compares the skylark to a hidden poet: “Like a poet hidden,/ In the light of thought,/ Singing hymns unbidden” (Shelley 1820: lines 36-37). According to the speaker, the skylark is similar to a poet because both skylark and poet create works of art without an outward incentive. Furthermore, just as the poet‟s lyrics, the skylark‟s song is capable of inspiring hope, sympathy and awe in its listeners.

In the ninth stanza the speaker compares the skylark to a high-born maiden in a palace tower: “Like a high-born maiden/ In a palace tower” (Shelley 1820: lines 41-42). In the view of the speaker, the skylark is similar to a high-born maiden because both are unreachable and alone; both express the sweet longings of their soul by their passionate song. According to the speaker, just as the skylark the maiden is “[s]oothing her love-laden/ Soul in secret hour,/

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With music sweet as love-which overflows her bower” (Shelley 1820: lines 43-45). What they have in common is that their song is passionate and overflowing with emotions.

In the tenth stanza, the speaker compares the skylark to a golden glow-worm: “Like a glow- worm golden/ In a dell of dew” (Shelley 1820: lines 46-47). Here the speaker argues that the poet is similar to a glow worm because both the poet and the insect glow from within. The glow-worm emanates a golden light, while the poet‟s imagination lights up his mind and with his poetry inspires others.

In the eleventh stanza, the speaker likens the skylark to a rose hidden in grass and leaves: “Like a rose embowered/ In its own green leaves/ By warm winds deflowered” (Shelley 1820: lines 51-53). The comparison is based on the similar effect of the rose‟s scent and the skylark‟s song. Both have an overwhelming influence on the speaker, overpowering him and eventually making him faint: “the scent it88 gives/ Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy winged thieves” (Shelley 1820: lines 54-55). In these lines, the speaker argues that listening to the sublime melody of the skylark has the same enchanting effect as the sweet fragrance of the deflowered rose.

In stanzas twelve, thirteen and fourteen, the speaker argues that the joyful song of the skylark surpasses all other works of art created by human beings: “All that ever was/ Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass” (Shelley 1820: lines 59-60). He also likens the skylark‟s melody to a springtime shower of rain that leaves the grass twinkling and glittering.

In the thirteenth stanza, the speaker then characterises the skylark‟s song as a “flood of rapture so divine”, thus implying that the bird must be the reincarnation of some heavenly creature (Shelley 1820: line 65). In this stanza, the speaker also implores the bird to teach humanity how to be fully happy and without worries: “Teach us, Sprite, or Bird,/ What sweet thoughts are thine; I have never heard” (Shelley 1820: lines 61-63).

In the fourteenth stanza, the speaker expresses the idea that when compared with the skylark‟s song all earthly music would seem lacking in originality and beauty: “Matched with thine would be all/ But an empty vaunt,/ A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want” (Shelley 1820: lines 68-70).

In the fifteenth stanza, the speaker inquires what could be the secret of the bird‟s happiness: “What objects are the fountains/ Of thy happy strain?/ What fields or waves or mountains?/

88 Here the pronoun “it” refers to the rose.

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What shapes of sky or plain?/ What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?” (Shelley 1820: lines 71-75). In these lines, the speaker asks the question of what makes the skylark so happy. In the view of the speaker the skylark is the uncorrupted and pure connection between God and nature. It is the bird‟s sacred bond with nature that makes the difference. According to the speaker, the skylark feels nature‟s harmony and is capable of seeing the truth that really matters.

In the sixteenth stanza, the speaker elaborates on the difference between the human state of mind and the skylark‟s view of the world: “With thy keen joyance/ Languour cannot be-/ Shadow of annoyance/ Never came near thee; Thou lovest- but ne‟er knew love‟s sad satiety.” (Shelley 1820: lines 76-80). Here the speaker claims that in contrast to human beings the skylark does not feel languor, annoyance or love‟s satiety.

In the seventeenth stanza, the speaker claims that the skylark is capable of seeing the truth that lies beyond. Unlike human beings, the bird can perceive the subtle details that really matter and transcend the border of the material world: “Thou of death must deem/ Things more true and deep/ Than we mortals dream” (Shelley 1820: lines 82-84). The speaker admires the bird for this fact but secretly envies it as well.

In the eighteenth stanza, the speaker focuses on the peculiar character of human beings: “We look before and after,/ And pine for what is not” (Shelley 1820: lines 86-87). What is meant here is that human beings often regret their past, constantly worry about their future and always long for the things they cannot have. Paradoxically, once they get what they want they are not satisfied but immediately strive for something else instead. After this insight into the human psyche, the speaker then goes on to reflect on the bittersweet nature of life: “Our sincerest laughter/ With some pain is fraught-/ Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought” (Shelley 1820: lines 87-90). In these lines, the speaker muses about the bittersweet nature of love, arguing that love is sweet but also sad. This implies that, for mortal humans, the experience of happiness is inextricably bound with the experience of loss and sadness. The notion of an interdependence between joy and pain is implicitly communicated in these lines.

In the nineteenth stanza, the speaker continues to argue that even if man got rid of his hate, his pride and his fears he would not be able to feel the skylark‟s joy and happiness: “Yet if we could scorn/ Hate and pride and fear;/ If we were things born/ Not to shed a tear,/ I know not

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan how thy joy we ever should come near” (Shelley 1820: lines 91-95). Here the speaker argues that the skylark‟s bliss is simply unattainable for human beings.

In the twentieth stanza, the speaker finally admits to himself the extent of which the skylark‟s song surpasses all human works of art: “Better than all measures/ Of delightful sound-/ Better than all treasures/ That in books are found-/ Thy skill to poet were, thou Scorner of the ground!” (Shelley 1820: lines 96-100). Here the speaker refers to the skylark as a “[s]corner of the ground”, implying that with its joyful song the bird scorns all other works of art created by mortal poets.89 According to the speaker, the skylark‟s song is better than all melodies and works of art ever produced by human beings.

In the twenty-first stanza of the poem, the speaker implores the skylark to inspire his poetic vision and to teach him how to create melodies as beautiful as the bird‟s: “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” (Shelley 1820: lines 101-105). In these lines, the speaker expresses his wish to create art that is as awe-inspiring as the beautiful song of the skylark. The speaker believes that if the skylark told him its secret, he would become the prophet-like figure he always longed to be. In his opinion, the knowledge of the skylark‟s secret would make a difference as it would make other people listen to his prophecies. Since the speaker has listened to the divine song for so long and has made a genuine attempt at identifying with the spirit, he feels liberated and inspired himself. Therefore, the final lines of the poem serve to affirm the role of the poet as a mediator between nature and society.

In the final lines of the poem, the skylark‟s happiness is described as a form of “harmonious madness” 90 (Shelley 1820: line 3). With this juxtaposition of two logically opposed terms, the speaker perfectly describes the skylark‟s state of mind. On the one hand it is balanced and in harmony with nature, but on the other, it contradicts human common sense and therefore is absurd and unimaginable.

The poem‟s message is that the skylark‟s state of “harmonious madness” is admirable but unachievable for human beings. The speaker of the poem acknowledges that, for mortal humans, joy is always linked to pain; one without the other does not exist. Nevertheless, the lyric persona implores the skylark to tell him its secret of happiness so that he can spread it among people and finally become the prophet-like poet he always aspired to be. The main

89 Here “ground” stands for the music and poetry created by poets living on earth. 90 The figure of speech used here is an oxymoron.

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan themes of the poem are the speaker‟s identification with a sublime spirit, the speaker‟s subjectivity and the double nature of love. Systemic ideas are only present insofar as love is defined by its dialectic relationship of joy and pain. Other than that, the poem does not contain ideas that imply systemic thinking.

The atmosphere of the poem is positive with the main reason for this being the optimistic attitude of the speaker. Besides, the poem contains many words with positive connotations and is rich in figurative language. The poetic images presented in “To a Skylark” illustrate Shelley‟s elaborate style and optimistic attitude towards life and nature. Literary scholars further postulate that with his pure and simple language the poet manages to recreate an entirely new world (cf. Chernaik 1972: 112).

“To a Skylark” has an explicit speaker who refers to himself by using first person personal pronouns. In the poem, the speaker can be identified with the historical author Percy Bysshe Shelley. What should be mentioned in this respect is that the rendering of the speaker‟s thoughts and actions is loaded with emotions. In addition to this, his perspective seems limited and extremely subjective. In the poem, the speaker claims that man cannot be truly happy because he always worries about his future and regrets his past. He further argues that the skylark is free from all these worries and therefore admires but also envies it. According to the speaker, the main difference between the skylark and man is that an invisible bond connects the skylark to its divine creator, whereas man is like a caged animal because his mind is imprisoned. The stifling influences of society have led to man‟s estrangement from nature and God. Therefore, another reason why the speaker admires the skylark is its freedom of social constraints and its boundless inspiration symbolised by the bird‟s flight up into the sky. Since the speaker tries to identify with the skylark and the speaker clearly also shows a critical awareness of the social injustice and society‟s deplorable state, all five of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled.

The lyric thou of the poem is a skylark, a small bird that usually only sings in flight, often when it is too high to be visible for the human eye. In the poem the skylark is pictured as pure and divine. In the first stanza, the speaker already describes the bird as if it were a divine spirit. Expressions such as “Spirit”, “sprite” and “poet hidden” support this interpretation. In the poem the speaker claims that the skylark never feels neither society‟s manacles nor human languor or annoyance. Furthermore, the skylark stands for the poet‟s inspiration and freedom of social constraints. This becomes clear when the speaker remarks that the bird is capable of soaring above man‟s limitations and is pictured as a spirit of daylight, invisible in the deep

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“To a Skylark” is Shelley‟s greatest natural metaphor for pure poetic inspiration.91 It is the bird‟s song that expresses this poetic inspiration. In the speaker‟s view, the skylark sings freely, liberated from all human fears, failures and pain.92 The skylark stands for the uncorrupted and pure connection between God and nature, similar to the albatross in Samuel Taylor Coleridge‟s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” or the nightingale in John Keats‟ “Ode to a Nightingale”. The speaker describes it as a “blithe Spirit”, just as if it were a bodiless, ghost- like entity. Therefore, it can be concluded that in the poem the skylark is more than just an animal. It is a symbol for freedom, poetic inspiration and limitlessness. Some literary scholars have identified the skylark as a symbol for innocence, joy, purity and the bond between nature and its creatures (cf. Chernaik 1972: 127). Chernaik (1972: 127) further argues that the skylark can be seen as a symbol of intuitive divination.

4.5.2 “The Cloud” Written in 1820 “The Cloud” is Shelley‟s most elaborate attempt at incorporating systemic ideas into his poetry. First and foremost, the poem is a representation and a celebration of untouched nature. On a closer reading, however, the poem allows some more profound insights into the poet‟s systemic view of life. In the poem Shelley communicates the idea of a never ending circle of growth and decay - birth and death seem to be inextricably connected with each other. The idea that the destruction of the old is necessary for the creation of anything new is underlying the speaker‟s argumentation in the poem. The poem‟s title is a direct reference to its speaker: an immortal but ever-changing cloud or meteorological spirit.

“The Cloud” consists of six stanzas, all of which are unequal in length. Each stanza offers a slightly different characterisation of the cloud. As the poem progresses the focus shifts from a meteorological point of view to a more philosophical one.

The first stanza of the poem starts out with a characterisation of the cloud as a herald of rain and shade: “I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,/ From the seas and streams;/ I bear

91 This aspect unites “To a Skylark” with “Ode to the West Wind”. In both poems the speaker prays for inspiration and regeneration. Just as in the West Wind ode the speaker wishes to be inspired and prays to the sublime spirit to teach him how to spread his prophetic message. 92 According to the speaker the skylark‟s song exceeds the beauty of all other things. This is highlighted in the twelfth stanza “All that ever was/ Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass” (Shelley 1820: lines 59- 60). The skylark‟s song stands for pure poetic inspiration. It issues from a state of purified existence connected to the divine creator of all life.

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan light shade for the leaves when laid/ In their noon-day dreams” (Shelley 1820: lines 1-4 qtd. in Abrams 2006: 815). Here the cloud describes her pleasing effects on nature and vegetation. She characterises herself as the herald of rain and shade, bringing “fresh showers” to the flowers and providing shade for the plants (Shelley 1820: line 1). What becomes evident in these lines is that the speaker of the poem is not a human being, but a cloud or meteorological spirit.

The cloud then goes on to describe how her different dispositions might affect her surroundings: “From my wings are shaken the dews that waken/ The sweet buds every one” and “I wield the flail of the lashing hail,/ And whiten the green plains under”(Shelley 1820: lines 5-6; 9-10). In these lines, the cloud states that even though she might unleash hail one day, she might bless the buds of flowers with sweet morning dew on another. This implicitly characterises the cloud as passionate and temperamental. Here the cloud‟s white planes are described as “wings” (Shelley 1820: line 5). This expression evokes the picture of a bird flying high up into the sky, similar to the skylark in the poem “To a Skylark”.

In the final lines of the stanza, the cloud expresses how much power she has over different weather phenomena: “And then again I dissolve it (the hail) in rain,/ And laugh as I pass in thunder” (Shelley 1820: lines 11-12). Here the speaker states that she has the power to dissolve hail into rain in just one second and the cloud also expresses her amusement at this fact. In these lines, Shelley humanises the cloud as he ascribes human emotions to a meteorological spirit.

In the second stanza, the cloud continues to describe her influence on nature. The focus has shifted towards the cloud‟s effects on mountain ranges and landscape: “I sift the snow on the mountains below,/ And their great pines groan aghast; /And all the night „tis my pillow white,/ While I sleep in the arms of the blast” (Shelley 1820: 13-16). Here the cloud describes how she affects the mountain peaks, covering them all in a blanket of snow as she unleashes her power. The cloud reports that, in the howling winds of the snowstorm, the trees “groan aghast” (Shelley 1820: line 14); however, the cloud is not bothered by this noise. For her the snowstorm is a sleeping “pillow” (Shelley 1820: line 15). She then portrays a lightning bolt as her pilot: “Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,/ Lightning my pilot sits” (Shelley 1820: lines 17-18). In these lines, the cloud describes the lightning bolt as a sublime power guiding her on her journey round the globe. This becomes even more evident in the following lines: “Over Earth and Ocean, with gentle motion,/ This pilot is guiding me” (Shelley 1820:

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan lines 21-22). Here the cloud describes how her pilot, the sublime lightning, guides her across different landscapes such as hills, lakes and plains.

In the final lines of the stanza, a memorable image of the meteorological spirit is presented: “And I all the while bask in Heaven‟s blue smile,/ Whilst he (the lightning) is dissolving in rains” (Shelley 1820: lines 29-30). These lines portray the cloud‟s upper part as basking in the sun, while its lower parts are dissolving the lightning bolt in rain.

In the third stanza, the cloud describes the sun‟s effects on her outward appearance: “The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,/ And his burning plumes outspread,/ Leaps on the back of my sailing rack” (Shelley 1820: lines 31-33). Here the sun(rise) is personified and given “meteor eyes” (Shelley 1820: line 31). The “burning plumes” of the sun are a reference to the sun‟s corona (Shelley 1820: line 32). The description of the sparkle of the sun‟s corona as leaping onto the back of the cloud‟s sailing rack suggests that the top layer of the cloud must be shining in brilliant colours.

In this stanza, the cloud also compares herself to two birds that could not be more different in their disposition: an eagle and a dove. First, she likens herself to an eagle filled with passion and energy: “An eagle alit one moment may sit/ In the light of its golden wings” (Shelley 1820: lines 37-38). This image of a momentarily poised eagle suggests power and pride. Then the cloud compares herself to a peaceful dove: “With wings folded I rest, on mine aery nest,/ As still as a brooding dove” (Shelley 1820: lines 43-44). The image presented in these lines suggests rest and a drawing in of powers (cf. Chernaik 1972: 137). The images of the birds offer two highly diversified characterisations of the meteorological spirit. This serves to show how many different and contradictory impulses can be contained within one entity or spirit.

The fourth stanza is devoted to a minute description of the moon, the stars and the night sky: “That orbed maiden with white fire laden/ Whom mortals call the Moon,/ Glides glimmering o‟er my fleece-like floor” (Shelley 1820: lines 45-47). In these lines the moon is characterised as an “orbed maiden” gliding slowly over the cloud‟s fleece-like planes (Shelley 1820: line 45). Then the cloud amusedly describes the stars as they gleam in the dark: “The stars peep behind her, and peer;/ And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,/ Like a swarm of golden bees” (Shelley 1820: lines 52-54). Here the stars are compared to a swarm of golden bees buzzing through the air. The cloud shows human emotions as she is laughing at the sight of the whirling and fleeing stars.

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In the fifth stanza, the cloud describes the ways in which she affects planets and stars in the sky: “I bind the Sun‟s throne with a burning zone/ And the Moon‟s with a girdle of pearl;/ The volcanoes are dim and the stars reel and swim/ When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl” (Shelley 1820: lines 59-62). Here the cloud describes herself as a burning zone framing the Sun‟s throne and as a banner engirding the shining moon. The cloud describes herself as shaped and guided by the whirlwind. The meteorological spirit then states that she is forging a bond between herself and nature: “From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,/ Over a torrent sea,/ Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof-/ The mountains its columns be!” (Shelley 1820: lines 63-66). In these lines, the cloud is portrayed as the roof of a house or temple and the mountains are described as the columns of this temple.

In the sixth stanza, the cloud is humanised: “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-“ (Shelley 1820: lines 73-76). In these lines the cloud describes herself as the daughter of “Earth and Water” and as “the nursling of the sky” indicating that she consists of water and air and that the sky is her home (Shelley 1820: line 73). Here a philosophical dimension is added to the characterisation of the meteorological spirit. What is interesting in this respect is that the cloud refers to herself by using the female noun “daughter” to indicate her origin. In these lines, a philosophical dimension is also added to the characterisation of the cloud. The meteorological spirit seems to be ever changing and immortal.

The last stanza then ends with another highly memorable poetic image: “For after the rain, when with never a stain/ The pavilion of Heaven is bare […] / I silently laugh at my own centograph/ And out of the caverns of rain,/ Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,/ I arise and unbuild it again” (Shelley 1820: lines 77-78; 81-84). In these lines, the cloud explains that when the sky is cloudless this does not mean that she is dead. The meteorological spirit remarks that her centograph is the cloudless blue dome of the sky. A centograph is a memorial monument erected in honour of a deceased person and it usually does not contain the deceased person‟s earthly remains. This fact is key to understanding the poetic image. The cloud is not dead it has just passed into a different form of existence. The poetic comparisons presented in line 83 - “Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,/ I arise, and unbuild again” - emphasise the fact that the cloud will arise again (Shelley 1820: lines 83-84). Here the cloud compares herself to a new-born child and a ghost arising from its grave. What both have in common is their (re)birth. Just as the new-born child and the ghost, the cloud is reborn. Line 83 therefore suggests that destruction and rebirth are

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan interrelated. The cloud is immortal because of its ever-changing form. Chernaik (1972: 134) argues that the final lines of the poem characterise the cloud as a child of the elements and an intermediary between them.

The message of the poem is that whenever one life comes to an end, another one will begin. In the poem, Shelley argues that birth and death are interconnected because every ending implies a new beginning. As such, the poet‟s conviction of a dialectic relationship between life and death is explicitly expressed. The main themes discussed in the poem are the inevitability of change, the power of imagination, the poet‟s identification with a sublime spirit and the dialectic relationship between rise and decay. The reader has the impression that everything develops and moves forward in a dynamic way. “Alles ist in Bewegung und Handlung versetzt und hineingerissen in den machtvoll vorwärts drängenden Impuls” (Göller 1968: 49). The view expressed here is that the act of destruction should not be regarded as something negative because the destruction of the old is necessary for the creation of the new. Chernaik (1972: 135) argues that Shelley counters human delusions of permanence and immortality with an image of eternal flux. It seems as if identity and existence were fluid and ever changing. This idea of an interdependence between life and death is inherent in many of the poem‟s poetic comparisons. A perfect example is the simile presented in the sixth stanza in which the cloud is compared to a new-born child and a ghost arising from the tomb.

The atmosphere of the poem is positive because of the speaker‟s optimistic tone. In addition to this, the poem is loaded with words with positive connotations and its message provides a positive outlook for the future. What makes the poem one of Shelley‟s most remarkable lyric works is its elaborate figurative language and poetic imagery. In fact, “The Cloud” has been praised it for its highly elaborate poetic imagery and natural metaphors.

The explicit speaker of the poem is a cloud or meteorological spirit. In the poem the cloud is humanised several times, e.g. “I am the daughter of Earth and Water” (Shelley 1820: line 73). Therefore, it can be argued that Shelley tried to project himself into the meteorological spirit. His aim was to depict a complete unity between man and nature. The cloud‟s descriptions of its environment and its actions are also loaded with emotions. Interestingly, the meteorological spirit seems to experience emotions just like human beings. This becomes evident when the cloud bursts into laughter in the first stanza of the poem. Here she seems to be amused by the spectacle of life. In the poem, the cloud is depicted as a supernatural, elusive, chameleon-like spirit; it is indestructible, in its form ever-changing. On a closer reading, it becomes clear that the cloud is more than just a weather phenomenon. It is a

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan symbol for human freedom, especially freedom of movement and freedom of social rules. The cloud can also be identified as a symbol for pure joy of life. The poem has no lyric thou because a complete unity between poet and observed object has been achieved. All in all, four of Müller‟s criteria of subjectivity are fulfilled. Only the speaker‟s socio-critical and political awareness is missing.

“The Cloud” epitomises the development of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry. In the poem the poet projects himself into a natural phenomenon. What is so remarkable about the poem is the remarkable unity between perceiving subject (poet) and perceived object (cloud). The dialectic relationship between rise and decay is evident in the continuous dissolving and recreating of the cloud. Systemic aspects about the poem are the idea of continuous change in life, the interdependence between birth and death, the poet‟s identification with a sublime spirit and the unity between perceiving subject and perceived object. The poet‟s subjectivity permeates the entire poem and legitimates his claims.

In the two poems presented in this chapter, Shelley communicates the idea that a sublime spirit, in the form of a bird or a cloud, functions as the missing link connecting the poet with his creator and all other living entities in the universe. The identification of the speaker with the sublime spirit and the resulting unity of poet (perceiving subject) and nature (perceived object) is what makes these poems different from the nature poems presented in chapter 4.1 The Sublime as a Constituent Element of Systemic Thought.

The poems “To a Skylark” and “The Cloud” illustrate the final step in the development of systemic thought in Shelley‟s poetry. In both lyric texts the poet identifies with a sublime spirit whose freedom and limitlessness he admires. While in “To a Skylark” the poet‟s attempt at identification is not successful, in “The Cloud” a complete unity of poet and natural object is achieved. In this poem, all constituent elements of systemic thought are united: the idea of continuous change is further developed, the dialectic relationship between life and death is portrayed and the interdependence between rise and decay, present, past and future is fully refined. In addition to this, both poems symbolise Shelley‟s ideals: freedom and poetic inspiration. The speaker‟s subjective perspective is clearly evident in both poems.

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5. Conclusion

The main research question of this diploma thesis was whether systemic thought and subjectivity are conflicting elements in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry or whether they work together with one reinforcing the other. Generally, it can be argued that subjectivity (as a lens or perspective through which the speaker perceives the world) and systemic thinking work together perfectly. In fact, the speaker‟s subjectivity legitimises all his claims, no matter how exalted they might be. However, the moment when subjectivity becomes thematised and is discussed on a meta-poetic level, problems arise. The poem “Mont Blanc” is a fitting example in this respect. Here the speaker realizes that nature, even the sublime mountain peak or river he is praising so ardently, only exists within his own mind. Once the speaker discovers that he himself actively constructs meaning, subjectivity as a theme deconstructs every argument he wants to put forward from this point onwards. Therefore, it can be argued that systemic thought and subjectivity corroborate each other in Shelley‟s poetry as long as subjectivity is not thematised and discussed on a meta-poetic level. If this happens, the speaker‟s awareness of his own subjectivity leads to the deconstruction of systemic ideas as well as all other arguments put forward in the poem.

Furthermore, the aim of this diploma thesis was to show the development of the notion of systemic thought in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s poetry. The 12 lyric poems chosen for my analysis illustrate the key moments and constituent elements of systemic ideas and epitomise the final steps towards a philosophy of systemic thought. This philosophy implies a dialectic relationship between past, present and future as well an organic view of life. In addition to this, the poems discussed in this diploma thesis illustrate the various manifestations of subjectivity in Romantic poetry as defined by Müller in his essay “Das Problem der Subjektivität in der Lyrik der englischen Romantik”.

In the first chapter of the analytical part, the presence of a sublime spirit was identified as a core element of systemic thought because of its power to connect all living beings in the universe. Judging from the poet‟s argumentation in the poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc” and “To Constantia”, this sublime spirit, addressed as Spirit of Beauty in the first poem, connects all living beings in the universe, thus, creating an all-encompassing interconnectedness of all parts of the system: old and new, rise and decay, destruction and creation. This is particularly evident in the poem “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”. Here the spirit functions as a synthesising force that connects the speaker with nature and is depicted as being capable of transcending boundaries.

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In the second chapter of the analytical part, continuous change was identified as the key moment or prerequisite for the development of the notion of systemic thought. Systemic thinking presupposes that everything is connected but also transforming continuously in a dynamic way. Change is absolutely necessary for this process. The poem “Mutability” illustrates this perfectly. Its message is that the only thing eventually remaining in life is the endless flux of beginnings and endings, in short, mutability. The idea underlying the speaker‟s argumentation is that all living entities, no matter whether they are human or spiritual are caught in this eternal flux of change.

In chapters three and four of the analytical part, Shelley‟s belief in the interconnectedness of life and death as well as in a dialectic relationship of present, past and future were identified as two constituent elements of systemic thought. The idea that life without death cannot exist is central here. The poems “Chorus from Hellas” and “Ode to the West Wind” express the belief that life and death just as present and past are intricately related to one another. Their speaker argues that life is ever changing and that after a time of hardship a period of regeneration will follow.

In the fifth stanza, the final steps towards Shelley‟s philosophy of systemic thought were identified. The poet‟s identification with a sublime spirit in nature such as a soaring bird depicted in “To a Skylark” or an ever-changing cloud in “The Cloud” ultimately led him to believe in the possibility of a complete unity of his mind and the sublime spirit he sees in nature. In “The Cloud”, he strives to transcend the boundaries of subject and object. By fully identifying with the sublime spirit the speaker wants to cancel the opposition between perceiving subject (poet) and perceived object (sublime spirit in nature).93 The poet is no longer the mouthpiece transmitting the message of the sublime spirit; but he is the spirit! This is the final step to Shelley‟s philosophy of systemic thought.

In all the poems analysed in the analytical part, the speaker is never an objective observer. On the contrary, his subjective perspective always filters his thoughts and descriptions. Particularly, the poems “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, “Mont Blanc”, “To Constantia” and “To a Skylark” are subjective and direct accounts of the speaker‟s feelings, his reflections and his personal experiences. In these poems, the speaker undergoes an inner development which is at the centre of the poem. His subjectivity strongly informs his perspective. It is only in “Mont Blanc” that the speaker‟s awareness of his own subjectivity ultimately leads him to

93 Although this development is alluded to in “To a Skylark”, “Ode to the West Wind” and “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, it is only fully refined in “The Cloud”.

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Systemic Thought and Subjectivity in Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s Poetry Sabrina Palan question the accuracy of his perception. The sense of his own limited understanding is one of the main characteristics of his reaction to the sight of the sublime mountain peak. Overwhelmed, fascinated and profoundly challenged to comprehend its immensity, he ultimately has to concede that certain things in life cannot be grasped by the human mind. In “Chorus from Hellas”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “Ode to Naples” and “Ode to Liberty” the speaker envisions the power of change and renewal. His passionate appeal for action is directed towards the bourgeois people and clearly evidences his personal involvement and revolutionary ardour. Therefore, these poems are also highly personal. The poems “Mutability”, “Ozymandias”, “Ode to Heaven” are more detached. Here the speaker‟s attitude, emotions and inner development does not dominate the entire poem, instead other thematic aspects are foregrounded.

Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s lyric works show that his belief in an connection between all living beings has grown within himself and this is shown in the progression of his poems which depict this development from the belief in a sublime spirit or power (chapter 4.1) over the theme of continuous change (chapter 4.2) to a dialectic relationship of growth and decay (chapter 4.4) and an interdependence between past, present and future (chapter 4.3) to the final steps towards a philosophy of systemic thought marked by the unity of subject/ poet and object/nature (chapter 4.5).

As far as further research topics are concerned, I would recommend examining the development of systemic thought and the constitution of the self in Shelley‟s prose writing. The reason is that interesting philosophical insights can be obtained from an in-depth analysis of Shelley‟s essays On Life, On Love, On a Future State, Speculations on Metaphysics, Speculations on Morals and Shelley‟s famous Defence of Poetry. In addition to this, an analysis of these texts can bring to light the implicit assumptions of Romanticists. Furthermore, a comparison between the formal features of Shelley‟s prose writing and his poems can yield interesting results with respect to the poet‟s belief in the interdependence between theory and practice. Therefore, I would recommend analysing Shelley‟s style in both his meta-poetic and lyric works.

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Abrams, M. H. and Stephen Greenblatt etal. (2006). The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2: The Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century. 8th Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Barcus, James E. (1975). “Shelley: The Critical Heritage”. London: Routledge Kegan & Paul.

Berns, Ute. (2015). 18. “Poetic Genres in the Romantic Age II: Percy Bysshe Shelley‟s, John Keats‟ and Lord Byron‟s Odes”. In: A History of British Poetry: Genres – Developments – Interpretations. Baumbach S, Neumann B, Nünning A, eds. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.

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