Paper 3, Module 5: Text I. (A) Personal Details Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Tutun University of Hyderabad Mukherjee Paper Coordinator Dr. Neeru Tandon CSJM University, Kanpur Content Writer/Author (CW) Dr. Jaba Kusum Upadhi Mahavidyalaya, Singh Pilibhit Content Reviewer (CR) Dr Neeru Tandon CSJM University, Kanpur Language Editor (LE) Dr. Ram Prakash VSSD College, CSJMU Kanpur Pradhan (B) Description of Module Item Description of module Subject Name English literature Paper name Nineteenth Century English Literature Module title P B SHELLEY Module ID MODULE O5 Pre-requisites The reader is expected to have familiarity with the trends of the romantic age and major poets. Objectives To familiarize the reader with the poems and persona of P B SHELLEY as a poet. Key words Romanticism, Ode to the West Wind, Ode to a Skylark, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty 5.0 The Upshot 5.1 Shelley at a Glance 5.2 Introduction 5.3 Biographic and Career Details 5.4 Shelley, the Poet 5.5 Shelley and His Critics 5.6 Shelley and his Poetic Technique 5.7 Some Interesting Facts 5.8 ‘Ode to the West Wind’: A Study 5.9 ‘Ode to a Skylark’: A Critique 5.10 ‘Hymn To Intellectual Beauty’: An Analysis 5.11 Important Excerpts from the Poems 5.12 Conclusion 5.13 Self-assessment: Test Your Knowledge (Multiple Choice Questions) 5.14 Self-assessment: Explain the excerpts 5.15 Self-assessment: Answer the questions. 5.16 Bibliography /Web Links 5.0 The upshot The present module discusses P.B. Shelley‟s „Ode to the West Wind‟, „Ode to Skylark‟ and „Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.‟ The study begins with a general introduction of romantic poetry. The contents prove Shelley‟s genius as a romantic poet. The unit includes exercises in the form of multiple choice questions and long questions to help the learner in knowing the poet and his poems. Some important quotes taken from the prescribed poems will help the scholars in understanding the very ethos of the era of romanticism. Bibliography shall act as a pinch of salt in food to enhance the knowledge of the learner about P.B. Shelley. 5.1 Shelley at a Glance Birth: 4 August 1792 Death: 8 July 1822 at the Age of 30 in Lerici, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy) Father: Timothy Shelley Mother: Elizabeth Pilford. Spouses: Harriet Westbrook, Mary Godwin Major Poems: „Ozymandias‟, „Ode to the West Wind‟, „To a Skylark‟, „Music, When Soft Voices Die‟, „The Cloud‟ and „The Masque of Anarchy.‟ He also wrote a verse drama The Cenci (1819) and long, visionary poems like Queen Mab. The poems like Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, Adonaïs, Prometheus Unbound, Hellas: A Lyrical Drama are some of his masterpieces. The Triumph of Life (1822) is his unfinished work. 5.2 Introduction: P.B. Shelley, the English romantic, is a poet with a difference. Before going through Shelley and his poems, it becomes mandatory to know about Romantic Movement, which inspired the romantic poets. In NTC's Dictionary of Literary Terms (1997), „Romantic Movement‟ means an association in art and literature, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which took birth in rebellion against the Neoclassicism of the last centuries. The German poet Friedrich Schlegel defined romantic literature as “literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form” while Victor Hugo defined it as “liberalism in literature.” The American Scholar A. O. Lovejoy finds the word „romantic‟ contesting and thinks that it denotes so many things that, by itself, it means nothing at all. In The Decline and Fall of the Romantic Ideal, F.L. Lucas counted 11,396 definitions of „romanticism.‟ Cuddon in The Dictionary explains that the word romantic (ism) has an intricate and exciting history. In the Middle Ages 'romance' denoted the new vernacular languages derived from Latin - in contradistinction to Latin itself, which was the language of learning. Enromancier, romancar, romanz meant to compose or translate books in the vernacular. The work produced was romanz, roman, romanzo and romance. A roman or romant was an imaginative work and a „courtly romance.‟ Thus the early suggestions are that it was something fresh, diverse and at the same time opposing. Towards 17th century, in Britain and France, „romance‟ acquires the derogatory connotations of imaginary. It meant something out of the ordinary, larger-than-life, and fantastic. Cuddon further explains that in France a distinction was made between romanesque and romantique which meant „tender‟, „gentle‟, „sentimental‟ and „sad‟ whereas the former one had derogatory connotation. In Germany the word romantisch was used in the 17th century in the French sense of romanesque, and then, increasingly from the middle of the 18th century, in the English sense of „gentle‟, „melancholy.‟ It is a common belief that the Romantic Movement really began in Britain. In the 18th century, there was a kind of shift in all art forms, in sensibility and feeling. No doubt, a new era of poetry began with the romantic poets who were quite vibrant and lively in language along with innovations in themes and ideas. Shelley in A Defence of Poetry writes that “'Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” The definition best explains the ethos of English Romantic poetry. 5.3 Biographic and Career Details: Shelley is a romantic poet par excellence. His life and works illustrate „Romanticism‟ in extremes—extreme of ecstasy and extreme of despair. His poems like „Ode to the West Wind‟ and „The Masque of Anarchy‟ make him popular and loving. His long poems like Queen Mab and Alastor are equally significant contribution in the realm of romanticism. A kind of restlessness is present in his poems. He rebels against authority. He becomes quite scientific in his treatment towards Nature who plays a major role in giving voice to his feelings and ideas. He becomes visionary and imagination begins to dance in the pursuit of ideal love. His untamed spirit remains in search of freedom. His poems reveal his life. No doubt, he left this world at the age of 29 but generation after generation will remember his works, which demonstrate romanticism, his rebellious spirit. His poems are his ideals, which he longed for to realize. His upbringing inspired him to become a romantic poet. He becomes the mature poet while living in the village Broadbridge Heath, just outside of West Sussex. His father, Timothy Shelley, was a squire and Member of Parliament while his mother was Elizabeth When he was 10 years old, he left home for studying at Syon House Academy that was 50 miles north of Broadbridge and 10 miles west of Central London. After 2 years, he joined the Eton college where his classmates teased him mentally and physically so profoundly that he reacted and rebelled against them. In the fall of 1810, Shelly entered University College, Oxford. He got an academic environment better than that of Eton. Soon the college authorities expelled him and his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg. They wrote a pamphlet, titled, The Necessity of Atheism, which challenged the existence of God. His parents were quite frustrated because of Shelley‟s actions. They asked him to forsake his beliefs, including vegetarianism, political radicalism and sexual freedom. He was a rebel by nature and so he left nothing. It made his parents angry. In August of 1811, he eloped with Harriet Westbrook, a 16-year-old girl, whom his parents did not like. His love episodes are as interesting as his poems. His love for Harriet was a time bound affair. Later he became interested in Elizabeth Hitchener, a schoolteacher who became inspiration for his major poem, Queen Mab. On 28 July 1814, Shelley severed his ties with the pregnant Harriet and ran away to Switzerland with Mary. Mary was the daughter of his mentor Godwin. Shelley was also associated with another romantic poet Lord Byron. Later this friendship became so mature that it influenced the output of his poetry. In a boating tour with Byron, he was inspired to compose „Hymn to Intellectual Beauty.‟ He was also in close touch with John Keats whose death in 1821 inspired him to compose Adonais. On 8 July 1822, a sudden storm on the Gulf of Spezia drowned him. Alas! He could not complete his 30th birthday. 5.4 Shelley: The Poet Though Shelley shakes hands with contemporaries on the issues of themes and images, he has something special that differentiates him from other romantic poets. Symbols in his poems seem to float before the screen of the mind. He concretizes the abstract. The symbols and images reveal his visionary pursuit of the ideal. Ideals become his philosophy. Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem is an outcome of Shelley‟s friendship with the British philosopher William Godwin. The poem reveals Godwin‟s freethinking socialist philosophy in a profound way. His stay in Italy and association with Byron proved to be fruitful as it resulted in worth reading poems, which made him a universal poet. The Revolt of Islam (1818) and Prometheus Unbound (1820) are his masterpieces. „Ode to the West Wind‟, „The Cloud‟, „To a Skylark‟, and „Ode to Liberty‟ are his supreme unmitigated lyrics. He penned his drama The Cenci that is replete with the Gothic scenario. The absence of moralistic political instruction makes the drama quite popular among the readers. He wrote A Defence of Poetry to justify poetry in his response to Peacock‟s essay, „The Four Ages of Poetry.‟ The Triumph of Life was his last long fragmented poem. Critics including T.S. Eliot who is not an admirer of Shelley consider The Triumph of Life as superior to all other writings as it shows a perfect fusion of style and vision.