The Power of Nature
Shelley discusses the power of both seen and unseen nature throughout his entire canon. This is primarily how critics have come to classify the bard as a "Romantic." Due to Shelley's fervid defense of a godless universe, he often turned to the sheer majestic power of the natural world. In the place of religious doctrine he wanted substantiated evidence of reality.
Related Poems:
• "Mutability"
• "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"
• "Mont Blanc"
• "Ozymandias"
• "To a Skylark"
• "Adonais"
Atheism
The theme of a godless universe cannot be separated from Shelley’s continuous reference to the inspiration he received from Nature. As with his Romantic contemporary poets (of both of the first two generations), Shelley maintained a philosophy that looked to the unfolding of our universe as a natural progress of time. Because of Shelley’s early convictions and his expulsion as a result of his inexorable atheistic views, he learned how unpopular atheism was in his society. As he matured, he became much better job at hiding his religious doubt and masking it in references to mythologies, biblical absurdity, and the comfort of self-admitted ignorance of the world’s greatest mysteries.
Related Poems:
• "Mutability"
• "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"
• "Mont Blanc"
• "The Mask of Anarchy"
• "England in 1819"
• "Ode to the West Wind"
• "The Indian Serenade"
• "To a Skylark"
• "Adonais"
• "A Dirge"
Oppression/Injustice/Tyranny/Power
Although Shelley expresses it in many different ways, the idea of a majority being unjustly ruled by an oppressive few (with sometimes the few being unjustly persecuted by the many) is perhaps the most common theme in Shelley’s work. If there is one element of social theory to take from Shelley's poetry, it should be his determination to inspire the oppressed classes to engage in revolution against the tyranny of wicked institutions (the royal court, legal courts, other government systems, and churches). The upheaval in France during his lifetime, with the motions of the French Revolution fresh in the minds of many in Europe, was a strong influence on him (see, for example, his political pamphlet asserting a "Declaration of Rights").
Atheism is one example of this frequent theme. Yet, beyond his outcry against the oppressive elements of religion, Shelley saw himself as a radical voice for the people of his time in the broad fight against unjust governments and laws.
Social tyranny, however, involved personal injustices directed at Shelley. He was never able to come to terms with society's rejection of his unconventionality, especially in his romantic life. Although he was standing up against the wickedness of authority in the name of free people, he was outcast by the very people he sought to encourage, for they disapproved of his unconventional lifestyle in love and marriage in addition to his personal godlessness.
Related Poems:
• "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"
• "Ozymandias"
• "The Mask of Anarchy"
• "Song to the Men of England"
• "England in 1819"
• "Ode to the West Wind"
• "To a Skylark"
• "Adonais"
Revolution/Mutation/Change/Cycle
Given Shelley's general discontent, it is no surprise to see Shelley frequently considering the theme of “change.” In Shelley and Byron’s own beliefs, this is what separated them from their first-generation Romantic counterparts. While Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge merely worked to define and express the injustices of various powers in the years leading up to (and then during) the French Revolution, Shelley and Byron took more of a call-to-arms approach. Shelley was never content with just discussing the issues of state tyranny. Living by example and principle, even if it meant expulsion from Oxford, exile from London society, and being disowned by his family, like it or not, Shelley used his poetry to dare his readers to act upon the ideas he was promoting. Philosophically, recognizing that nothing in this world, whether natural or manmade, is constant, Shelley believed in a cyclical nature of our universe and of humanity and argued that man had the right and duty to live actively. Shelley was always on the move.
Related Poems:
• "Mutability"
• "Mont Blanc"
• "Ozymandias"
• "The Mask of Anarchy"
• "Song to the Men of England"
• "England in 1819"
• "Ode to the West Wind"
Inspiration
Shelley never stopped believing in the changes that could end all oppression in this world (in the Western world in particular). Wearing a bracelet inscribed with the verse of Milton, “il buon tempo verrà”—(“the good time will come”),, Shelley held firm to the conviction that the turn of the nineteenth century had been a pivotal point in the way human beings interacted with one another. Without doubt, there are examples of Shelley's times of pessimism and cynicism about the contemporary state of affairs. Yet, behind all of the skepticism and scorn lies a determined voice, full of hope, believing that people will eventually gather to overthrow various kinds of despotism.
Related Poems:
• "Mutability"
• "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"
• "Song to the Men of England"
• "England in 1819"
• "Ode to the West Wind"
• "To a Skylark"
• "Adonais"
Narcissism/Vanity/Self
Richard Holmes’ biography, Shelley: The Pursuit, strongly suggests that as motivated as Shelley was to inspire social and political change and overcome oppression, the changes he advocated hardly went beyond changes that would benefit himself.
Arguments can be made for either side of the coin: On the one hand, Shelley can be viewed as a selfish and adulterous lover, an absentee father, and a disloyal countryman. On the other hand, he is a bard devoted to altruistic goals and especially freedom--calling upon a revolutionary voice much greater than his own--and a radical willing to sacrifice his own reputation for the betterment of mankind. Upon Shelley's death, Byron, in reply to a somewhat unkind elegy on Shelley by John Murray, wrote: “You are brutally mistaken about Shelley, who was without exception, the best and least selfish man I ever knew. I never knew one who was not a beast in comparison.”
The ambiguity is hard to escape in Shelley's poetry. Is he, as speaker, a metaphor for the voice of everyman? Or does Shelley see himself as a superior being, primarily pompous and condescending with his vigilante tone?
Poems to Consider:
• "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty"
• "Ode to the West Wind"
• "The Indian Serenade"
• "A Dirge"
Immortality vs. Mortality
Shelley did not really challenge the apparently scientific proof of mortality, but he did struggle with the notion of death in spirit. Death, represented often through water and reference to Greek mythology in his works, is a common occurrence in Shelley's canon. He is often found questioning both the future of the Romantic voice and the immortality of other voices (Plato, Milton, Dante, Greek and Roman myths, and so on).
Related Poems:
• "Mutability"
• "Mont Blanc"
• "Ozymandias"
• "Ode to the West Wind"
• "Adonais"
• "A Dirge"
