Selected Poetry And Prose Of Shelley (Wordsworth Poetry Library)

Everyone inevitably has a favorite among the young English Romantic poets - Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats -, but all three are among the language's best and have individual strengths. Shelley is second to Keats in pure beauty and second to Byron in sheer readability and humor but excels both in intellectual vigor and is also arguably the most original and the best craftsman. Even most of the greatest poets find it hard to match beauty and craft with depth; only Alexander Pope and Thomas Hardy among English poets rival Shelley here. He wrote some of the greatest philosophical poems, focusing specifically on theology as well as other weighty subjects, yet manages to remain nearly always readable. However, he is not limited to this, also writing more than a few of the most blazingly beautiful love lyrics in English and as some of the most poignant paeans to nature and other forms of transcendence. Perhaps most impressively, may be the all-time greatest English political poet; his unabashed liberalism may turn off some, but the very quality of his political verse is nothing short of incredible. Though fervent in his beliefs and extremely extroverted, he never forgets that he is an artist; he was never didactic or preachy after Queen Mab, his somewhat heavy-handed debut poem, published when he was only twenty. His political works are engaging - and, above all, readable - without forgetting the importance of form. Whatever one thinks of Shelley's views, these poems are remarkable for showing just how far ahead of his time he was. Few people have ever been so radical for their era; it is hardly hyperbolic to say he would be a radical even now, two centuries later. Yet he was no mindless liberal but always ready and more than willing to justify his views intellectually and practically; his poems reflect this and are the better for it. Finally, Shelley's diversity and greatness showed themselves not least in his astonishing variety of poetic forms, several of which he introduced or pioneered. Few poets have contributed as much in this area, especially in such a brief career. A work like Prometheus Unbound has more variety than most poets manage in a lifetime, and Shelley was a master of forms ranging from the sonnet, which he pushed in new directions, to the mini epic. Suffice it to say that anyone even remotely serious about English poetry needs to own Shelley's poems. As for this edition, it is ideal for most but will fall short for some. The main complaint is that, unlike many Wordsworth editions, it is incomplete. It has nearly all Shelley's poetry, but the long works Laon and Cythna, more famously republished as The Revolt of Islam, and Peter Bell the Third are here only in extracts. This will not be a problem for most, as they are not Shelley's best works. Some fans value Laon highly, but it is overlong and drags in parts. Those who like it here will be encouraged to seek out the whole, but the excisions will serve most readers well. Pe

There are countless collections of Shelley's poetry, of course, but this is the one that introduced me to his work. While best known for such short poems as the justly celebrated "Ozymandias" & "Ode to the West Wind," there's far more to his genius. The longer narrative poems are bejeweled, dazzling pieces that convey his philosophical & political thoughts in a structure of memorable images & lines. For instance, his first such poem, "Alastor," is a spiritual autobiography of sorts, depicting the doomed journey of the outsider, driven by his vision of transcendant release from the mundane sphere, even if the only path leads to & through Death. As a visionary work, it is superb. Both "Queen Mab" & "The Revolt of Islam" examine the nature of & need for revolution -- again, in both political & philosophical terms. Far from the image of the ethereal poet divorced from the social forces & injustices of the day, Shelley emerges here as fiercely involved with them. He pursues these ideas even further in "Prometheus Unbound," struggling with oppression & tyranny, both human & divine. But his most sublime poem, at least to my mind, is his elegy for Keats, "Adonaïs." In these lines, all aspects of Shelley's nature & interests intertwine in one golden braid of beauty & thought. It deepens & ripens with every re-reading over the years. Harold Bloom provides an insightful overview of the poet & his work in a fine introductory essay, which is reason enough to seek out this particular edition. Poet, skeptic, radical, Shelley not only remains an exemplar of the Romantic, but a remarkably timely thinker even now. Most highly recommended!