CHAPTER III

SHELLEY'S POETRY

CHAPTER - III * SHELLEY'S POETRY

3.1. Shelley, the Revolutionary

3.2. Shelley*s Poetry* General Characteristics

3.2.1. Simplicity

3.2.2. Modernity

3.2.3. Speed

3.2.4. Emotional Expression

3.2.5. Spoken and Prosaic Language

3.2.6. Discriptive style

3.2.7. Thought Provoking Style

3.2.8. Repetition

3.2.9. Platonism and Pantheism of Shelley

3.3. Shelley's Poetry* Phonological Style

3.3.1. Shelley's Lyrics

3.3.2. Terza Rima

3.3.3. Blank Verse

3.3.4. The metre of Skylark

3.3.5. Spenserian Stanza

3 • 3 • 6 • Rhythm of Poetry

3.3.7. Rhythm and Rhyme

3.3.8. The Function of Rhyme

3.3.9. The Function of Alliteration

3.3.10. The Importance of Assonance and Consonance

3.3.10.1. Assonances

3.3.10.2. Consonances

3.4. Shelley’s Poetry* Semantic Style

3«4«1* Symbolism

3.4.2. Imagery and Similes

3 • 4 # 3 * The Allegories of Shelley

3 *4.3.1. Allegory and its Popularity in England

3.4.3.2. The Allegories* 'Queen Mab', 'Revolt of Islam',

and * Prometheus Unbound '

3.4.3.3. Allegory in 'Queen Mab'

3«4*3*3tl« The gist of 'Queen Mab'

3.4.3.3.1.2 Explanation of Allegory in *Queen Mab*

3.4.3.3.1.2 The gist of the 'Revolt of Islam*

3.4.3.3.2, Allegorical Explanation in *Revolt of Islam*

3.4.3.3.2.1 Explanation of Allegory in 'Revolt of Islam*

3.4.3.4. Allegory in 'Prometheus Unbound'

3•4«3*4«1« The gist of 'Prometheus unbound'

3 *4.3*4*2* Allegorical Explanation in 'Promotheus Unbound'

3.5. Discourse Aspect of Shelley.

Chapter - III

SHELLEY *S POETRY

"I say unto which hear# Love your enemies Do good to them which hate you"

- st* Luke"The great secret of morals is Love"

- Shelley ‘Defence of Poetry*

3.1* Shelley,the Revolutionary

Shelley is one of the best poets among English remantic poets. He followed the above quoted principles in his poetry. Shelley's style is revealed through his poems which are mythopoeic# allegorical, philosophical and bio­graphical. He remained as an ardent disciple of French Revolutionary ideals. The significant poems of Shelley are the representations of the poet's passion for reforming the world. The key-note of revolution# liberty# equality and fraternity are the master themes of Shelley's poems.

Shelley was animated to a greater deal by his compassion for his fellow-beings. His sympathy was excited by the misery with which the world is burning. He revolted to attain freedom for the suffering humanity.

36

'Revolt was for Shelley the first principle. His basic impulse was to rebel against restraint and only there after to suggest measures of improvement which his reading and observation af forded ' (<^araJ2ei Me Niece. / '• U ). To him

the Revolution offered a theme involving pictures of all that is best qualified to interest and to instruct mankind. It defined the master theme of the epoch. He passionately apprehended the abstract ideas of the French Revolution and he remained as an ardent disciple of revolutionary idealism throughout his life. Shelley had a passion for reforming the world with his principles equality, liberty, and fraternity. His religion was the religion of humanity.

No writer has left so clear an image of himself in his writings. His works are finished pictures of self- delineation. Shelley has a fire in his eye, a fever in his blood, a maggot in his brain, a hectic flutter in his speech which mark out him as the philosophic fanatic. The evidence from Shelley's poems confirms the impression Shelley had on human passions. The characters which he delineates have all the same kind of pure impulse.

3.2. Shelley*3 Poetry : General Characteristics 3.2.1. Simplicity

Shelley has expressed his love for simplicity, modernity and cl parity in his poems. He feels that the rhythmic and rhyming beauty of the poems should be expressed

37

through a selected simple poetic language. The simplicityelincreases the clarity and the beauty jXhe rhythm and rhyme

of his poems.

Illustrations:"Sow seed# - but let no tyrant reap;Find wealth, - let no imposter heap;Weave robes, - let not the idle wear;Forge arms, - in your defence to wear;"(SE*21-24).

"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"(TASt100-105)

3.2.2. Modernity

The modernity of his poems is felt through the modem and magnanimous thinking revealed by his poems. The following lines illustrate his modera thinking about the equality of women.Illustrations;

1. "Woman and man, in confidence and love.Equal and free and pure together trodThe mountain-paths of virtue"(QMs Canto 9, 89-90)

38

2. "Can man be free- if woman be a slave?

Chain one who lives, and breaths this boundless air. To the corruption of a closed gravel (ROI: Canto II,

song.43)

3 « 3.3. Speed

Speed is another excellent trait in Shelley's poetry. William Keach Quotes C.S. Lewis who says 'the air and fire of Shelley, his untrammeled, reckless speed make us imagine while we are reading him that we have somehow left our body behind' (William Keach, 1984:154). Shelley's eager and breathless hurry makes his verse to lean forward, so that it must run in order not to fall (Ibid). The swiftness of his impatient spirit is presented in delightful rapidity in his poems.Illustrations:

"0 wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being. Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing. Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence - stricken multitudes: 0 thou"(OTWW:1-5)

From the beginning of line two until line five there is no opportunity for taking breath. The reader is forced to read the verse at a tremendous speed.

39

Speed is an aspect or experience one feels from that uuhe writes about. The following lines again illustrate this stylistic feature.

2. "Higher still and higherFran the earth thou springest

Like a cloud of fire?The blue deep thou wingest.

And singing still dost soar, and - soaring ever singest"

"In the golden lightning of the sunken sun,

0*er which clouds are brightning Thou dost float and run;

Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun"(TASs6-15)

The two stanzas are noted for swiftly rising and swooping movement with its semantic meaning and rhythmic suggestiveness. The lexical items *springest', 'wingest',•soar*, ‘float' and *run‘ suggest the speedy-flight of the bird. The lexical items, 'singing-soar', 'soaring-singest' suggest the rocking motion of the bird.

3.3.4. Emotional Expression

Emotional Expression is an inborn nature in Shelley.It is the chief characteristic feature of Shelley's poetry.

40

Illustrations:

1. "Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number Shake your chains to earth like dew,Which in sleep had fallen on youYour are many - they are few"(MOA:151-5)

2. "OhI lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloudlI fall upon the thorns of life! I Bleed!"

(OTWWs 53-54)

3. "Alas! I have nor hope nor health,Nor peace within nor calm around,Nor that content surpassing wealth"(SWDj19-21)

3,2,5. Spoken and Prosaic Language

The Allegory 'Queen Mab* illustrates his spoken- language style, prosaic style and explanatory style. The poem with its metre Blank verse is filled with prosaic passages and unrhymed lyric for which spoken language is made use of.

Illustrationss

1. "There is no .§odl

......... infinity withinInfinity without, belie creation; The exterminable spirit it contain Is nature's only -tjod" (QM.VII; 13-24)

41

2. "Throughout these infinite orbs of mingling light# of which your earth is one# is wide diffused A spirit of activity and life"(QM.VI*146-148)

3.2.6. Discriptlve Style

Shelley's style is remarkable for rich discriptive diction. The following are the often repeated descriptive items.

1. Bright gleam Ibeam radiance I Suggesting brightness or light.fire Iflame.

2. Gloom, darkness are terms suggested to describe his gloomy nature

3. Charms# caves# gulphs and abysses are often made use of.

4. Airy* atmosphere# cloud# wind# blast and rain are always found in his diction.

5. Agony# pain and torture are also found in his verse.

Illustrations *

1. "I fall upon the thorns of lifel I bleed 1A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed .."

(OTWW*54-55)

42

2. "Alas! I have nor hope nor health.Nor peace within nor calm around"(SWDsi8-19)

3.2,7. Thought provoking Style

Shelley's poems are remarkable for their thought provoking style. The question forms are often used by Shelley as a means to provode revolutionary thoughtin the minds of thoughtless people.

Illustrations t

"If winter comesCan spring be far behind?"(OTWW:70)

"What love of thine own kind?What ignorance of pain?"(TAS:75)

"Who reigns? There was the Heaven and earth at first Who is his master? Is he too a slave?Whom calledst thouJ%od"<PU:Act 11*32, 109, 112)

In 'Queen Mab' the ignorant girl Ianthe asks a number of questions to Ahasuerus, the wandering jew to get her thinking and knowledge clarified.

3.2.8. Repetitions

Repetitions of words are made use of to stress the ideas expressed. Repetitions increase the emotional response of the readers.

43

Illustrations:

"The seed ye sow, another reaps;The wealth ye find, another keeps;The robe ye weave, another wears;The arms ye forge, another bears;"(SE:17-20)

The repetition of certain words and compounds exhibits the uniqueness of Shelley's style. The word purple is used to make compounds such as purple waves, purple sky, purple clouds, the purple moon, the purple seaweed, the purple sea, the purple fountains. Another word used like this is azure. It appears in 'The cloud','Ode to liberty', 'Adonals*, *The sensitive plant* and 'Ode to West Wind*. Shelley is fond of the compound words formed with the word 'winged* (e,g,) 'winged-seeds *, * spirit-winged *, temper-winged *, * seraph­winged *, ' though-winged,* ‘morning-winged,*, ' splendour-winged *. The lexical items such as pyramids, pinnacles, aerial, and tremulous also occur frequently.

3.2,9, Platonism and Pantheism of Shelley

The lyrics of Shelley are noteworthy for the aspect of pantheism and platonism. These aspects present nature with a life and spirit. Various aspects of nature are personified and presented in different forms.

In the 'Ode to West Wind* Shelley identifies himself with the wind and converses with it. He calls it

44

1. ’0 wild west wind'2. "Wild Spirit*3. 'Destroyer and Preserver*4. 'Spirit fierce'5. 'My spirit'6. 'The trumpet of Prophesy'(OTWW)

In the poem 'To a skylark* Shelley addresses the bird as

1. 'Hail to thee, blithe spirit!2. 'Teach us, spirit or bird'.3. 'Unbodied joy* (TAS)

The bird is personified as

1. * a poet hidden*2* 'a high-born maiden*3. 'a glow-worm'4. 'a rose-embowered'5. 'Thou scomer of the ground'(TAS)

In the poem 'To Night' the natural phenomenon of Night is addressed as

"Spirit of Night""Beloved night"

Death and sleep are addressed as the brother and child of the Night.

"Thy brother Death came""Thy sweet child sleep"(TN*22-3)

45

Hie poem 'The cloud' presents the pleasant personality and human attributes of the cloud* It plays lives through the manifestations of nature. It lives through pores of the ocean and shores. It laughs and is amused. All the natural objects# the leaves# buds# the flowers# the sun, the moon# the winds are transformed by its magic touch. The following lines illustrate the impersonation of the cloud.

"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"(TC*73-76).

3.3. Shelley's poetry: Phonological Style

The excellence of Shelley is exhibited through his longer poems and lyrics. The poems are symbolical# allegori­cal and mythological. The stylistic features of the poems represent and reveal the philosophy and psychology of the poet. The stylistic devices and methodology suggested in the previous chapter are adopted to analyse the pragmatic aspect of the poems•

The stylistic techniques followed reveal Shelley's art of self-delineation. All his longer poems and lyrics contain a finished picture of the poet. The impulsive characteristics of the poems has a single direction to carry out the dictates of the unique propensity of Shelley - a passion for reforming mankind.

46

The poems are the incarnations of Shelley's revolu­tionary desire. The stylistic features of Shelley's poems reveal the philosophy and psychology of the poet. The very spirit of nature possessed him. He is a violent reformer seeking to overthrow the instititions of his time to establish a millennium. His poems are violent attacks against government, priests, marriage, religion and even J§od as men supposed Him to be.

As a lyric poet Shelley is one of the supreme geniuses of English Literature. The lyrics, 'Ode to the West Wind','To a Skylark', 'The Cloud*, ‘To Night', 'Hymn to Pan*,'Hymn to Appollo', are mythopoetic, which exhibit wonderful myths of nature.

*The symbolical allegories, 'Queen Mab', 'Revolt of Islam' and .'Prometheus Unbound* are invectives against religion, marriage, kingcraft, and priest-craft. They represent Shelley's exquisite plans and schemes for reform.

3.3.3.1. Shelley's lyrics

Sehlley's lyricism is incomparable. The verbal magic and cadence of syllables of his lyrics are remarkable. His lyrics 'Ode to West Wind* and 'To Skylark' are triumphs of musical harmony. The lyrics are noted for word-music, music of sounds and emotional ecstasy. The lyrics exhibit Shelley's excellent usage of rhyme, rhythm, assonance, consonance and alliteration.

47

3.3.2. Terza Rima

The lyrics 'Ode to West Wind' is made up of the poetic form 'Terza Rima*. It is a tercet# a stanza of three lines.In this, the first and third lines rhyme together. The middle one rhymes with the first and the third of the succeeding tercet. It forms a unit in a running series of tercets# each of which sets the rhyme for the next. The Terza Rima is an Italian measure. It is adopted from the Italian writer Dante.

The first stanza of 'Ode to West Wind' runs thus*

"0 wild west Wind# thou breath of autumn's being# a Thou# from whose unseen presence the leaves dead b Are driven# life ghosts from an enchanter fleeing#aYellow# and black# and pale, and hectic red, b Pestilence - stricken multitudes; 0 thou# c Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed b The winged seeds# where they lie cold and low# c Each like a corpse within its grave, until d Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow c Her clarion O'er the dreaming earth# and fill d Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air aWith living hues and odours plain and Hilljf" (1^12 >d

48

3.3.3, Blank Verse

Blank verse in unrhymed poetry. Most of Shakespeare's plays are written in blank verse. It is written in iambic pentameter. It presents natural rhythms to English language. In iambic feet# a weak syllable is followed by a strong one. Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' is written in blank verse.

"Ah mel alas# pain# pain ever# for everl No change# no pause# no hopeI yet I endure.I ask the Earth have not the mountains felt?I ask you Heaven# the all-beholding Sun#Has it not seen? The Sea, in storm or calm"

(PU.Act.1*23-27)

In the poem 'Triumph of Life' also# the poet follows the same measure.

3.3.4. The Metre of Skylark

The piece# 'To Skylark* adopts the measure of three- foot lines followed by a six-foot line. Shelley has changed the form according to him convenience. It is the form of an Ode. Each stanza consists of five lines# the first four lines being shorter than the last line. The first and the third lines have rhymes. The second and the fourth line also have rhymes. The fifth line has twelve syllables and is called 'Alexandrine. The earnest hurry of the four short lines followed the long effusiveness of Alexandrine expresses the eagerness and continuity of the lark.

49

"Highes still and higher aFrom the earth thou springest b

Like a cloud of fire; a*The blue deep thou wingest b

And singing still dost soar, and- soaring ever singest" c

The basic movements, iambic and trochaic feet are followed and this metrical freedom reflects the freedom enjoyed by the poet. The next stanza joins like this*

"In the golden lightning aof the sunken sun b

O’er which clouds are brightning aThou dost float and run;

Like an unbodied joy whose race is justbegun"(6-155 c

The rhythmic suggestiveness of these lines are remarkable.

3.3.5. Spenserian Stanza

In 'Revolt of Islam* and 'Adonais' Shelley adopts the Spenserian stanza without any alteration. It consists of two linked quatrins in iambic pentameters, rounded off with an Alexandrine rhyming with the eighth line. In spite of its division into two quatrains and a final line longer by a foot than the rest, it is one inseparable unit owing to the interweaving of rhymes from the beginning to the end.

50

The second quatrain continues a rhyme with the first and the closing line with the second. The Alexandrine relieves the monotony of the two preceeding quatrains and gives a sense of completion. It is a stanza admirably suited to a lengthy narrative? and descriptive poem with lofty rhetorical passage. For example, one stanza from Shelley's 'Adonais' is quoted here.

"Ah, woe is me! Winter is come and gone aBut grief returns with the revolving year; b The airs and streams renew their joyous tone;aThe ants, and bees, the s wo Hows reappear; b Fresh leaves and flowers deck the dead

seasons * bier; bThe amorous birds now pair in every brake cAnd build their mossy houses in field and

brere; bAnd the green lizard, and the golden snake c Like unimprisoned flames, out of their

trance awake"iXVIII)c

3-3.6. Rhythm of Poetry

Rhythm or movement of language depends on the movement of syllables. 'Rhythm in the sense of syllabic pattern or repetition belongs to poetry alone. It makes the poem artistic, significant and expressive'(Emid Hamer, 1970:2).

51

•In English rhythm or movement of language occurs in a quality which may best be called stress. It is on this quality that the rhythm of verse is founded. Stress depends mostly on emphasis. According to the emphasis given# stressed and unstressed syllable are formed. They are also called heavy and light syllables' (Ibid# p.3). Thus rhythm is a feature of musical composition which depends on the systematic grouping of words according to their duration.

3.3.7. Rhythm and Rhyme

These two features of poetry make the proper fusion of sound and sense. They fashion the total meaning of poems. They are not mere decorations. They are the basic elements of poetry. The proper fusion of rhythm and rhyme make the sound an echo to the sense. These factors are the fundamental basis for the language of poetry.

3.3.8. The function of Rhyme

Rhyme is the accompaniment of stanza form. Verses may be rhymed in pairs or couplets. Two lines rhyme when their last stressed syllables have the same vowel sound or consonant sound. In rhyme# the hamony of terminal sound is observed. Rhyme links the lines and thought of the poem.The function of rhyme is to emphasise the integrity and separateness of the stanzas. It gives a pleasure of its own# falling on the ear with the effect of an echo (Ibid# p.22).

52

Shelley has liberally used rhyming words in his poems. In 'Ode to West Wind', an exact picture of the west wind is dipicted through the rhyming words as

being - feeling dead - red - bed thou - low - blow until - fill - hill commotion - ocean shed - spread - head surge - verge - dirge night - might dreams - streams lay - bay - daytowers - powers - flowers (Stanzas I, II & III)

In the poem 'To a Skylark' the actual flight of the bird is presented through the rhyming words.

Springest - wingest - singestlightning - brightningsun - run - begunflight - daylight - delighteven - heavenarrows^ - narrowssphere - clearloud - cloudknow not flow not

thee seethought - wrought hidden - unbidden maiden - lone - laden towel - hour - bower golden - beholden dew - hue - view embowered - deflowered leaves^ - gives - thieve^ showers - flowers grass - was - surpass Bird - heard thine - wine - divine chart - vaunt - want fountain£ - mountains strain - plain - pain joyanee - annoyance aslee£ - dee£ deem - dream - stream after - laughter not - fraught - thought scorn - born fear - tear - near measures^ - treasure£ sound - found - ground gladness - madnessknow flow now

54

The above rhymes are presented through the usage of suffixes est, Inq, en, ed, es, ness*

The lyrics, 'stanzas written in 'Dejection', 'To Night' and 'Hymn to Appollo' are remarkable for their wonderful rhymes* Stanzas and lines are tied together by the rhymes which enhance the beauty and rhythmical effect of a stanza.It illustrates the poet's merit in the usage of figurative language*

3.3*9. The Function of Alliteration

Alliteration plays an important role in the phonolo­gical features of a poem. The repetition of similar sounds in the intial and medial positions in the word sequence is called 'alliteration'. The application of alliteration encourages the free flow of thought. It enhances the aesthetic quality of the poems. It helps the writer to impress his message in the readers memory. Frequent occurences of alliteration catches the attention of the readers. Shelley's lyrics exhibits a fine usage of alliterations.

"0 wild west wind, thou breath of Autumn being. Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh, hear Beside a pumice isle and Baiaels bay Wild spirit which art moving everywhere The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low".

(Ode to the West Wind)

55

"Higher still and higher And singing still dost soar, and soaring every

singestThou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not?Like a gdow-worm aoldenOur gweetest songs are those that tell of saddest

thoughtThy skill to poet were, thou scomer of the

ground(TAS)

3.3.10. The Importance of Assonance and Consonance

Assonance and consonance are the other categories which are in close relation with alliteration. They elevate the aesthetic effect of the poems.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in word combinations and Consonance is the repetition of consonantal sounds in word combination.

3.3.10.1. Assonances

"All overgv$>wn with azure most and flowers And saw in sleep old palaces and towers And tremble and despoil them selves? oh. Heart A wave to part beneath thy power, and share Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud,I fall upon the thorns of life! £ bleed.Ashes and sparks my words among mankind"(OTWW)

"Keen as are the arrows 411 the earth and air" (TAS)

56

"Where all the long apd lone daylight Apd noon lay heavy on flower and tree Even a? the winds §pd waters are Apd I might feel in the warm §ir"(SWD).

"As she dances ajDOUt the sun Apd then again I dissolve it in rain Apd their great pines groan aghast ^pd I all while bark in Heaven's blue simile Which an earthquake rocks apd swings As still as a brooding dove Ace each paved with the moon apd these The volcanoes are dim apd the stars reel and swim Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from

the tombI arise apd unbuild it again"(TC).

"Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was Aid all that did then attend and follow" (HP) •

"All prophecy, all medicine is mine All light of art or nature"(H.A*)

57

3,3.10*2. Consonances

"Waken me when their mother# the gray dawn Tells them that dreams and that the moon is gone I walk over the mountains and the waves The sunbeams are my shafts with which I kill"(HA)

"We come# we come Where loud waves are dumb The wind in the reeds and the rushes Speeded by my sweet pipings The sileni# and sylvans and Fauns I sang of the dancing stars"(HP)

"From the geas and the streams And their great pines groan aghast Whom mortals call the MoonGlides glimmering O'er my fleece life floor"(TC)

"The breath of the moist earth is light The winds# the birds# the ocean floods Alas! I have nor hope nor health Nor peace within nor calm around Nor fame nor power# nor lone# nor leisure Shall on its stainless glory set"(SWD)

"Swiftly walk O'er the western wave Touching all with thine opiate ward To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not?What love of thine own kind? What Ignorance of pain

58

Thy skill to poet were, phou scorner of the ground The world should listen then - as I am listening

now"(TAS)

"The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low Wild spirit which art moving everywhere Quivering within the wave's intenser day So sweet, the sense faints picturing theml And tremble and depoil themselves I Oh, hearl A wave to pant beneath they power and share A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Sweet though in padness"(OTWW)

3.4. Shelley's Poetry * Semantic Style

3.4.1. Symbolism

Symbol is a comparison between the abstract and the concrete. 'Symbolism can therefore be defined as the art of expressing ideas and emotion not by describing them directly, nor by defining them through overt comparisons with concrete images, but by suggesting what these ideas and emotions are, by re-creating them in the mind of the reader through the use of ^explained symbols *(Charles Chandwick, 1971*2-3).

Another aspect of symbolism is described as 'transcendental symbolism# * In this aspect of symbolism, concrete images are used as symbols, not of particular thoughts and feelings within the poet, but of a vast and general ideal world of which the real world is merely an imperfect representation* (Ibid, 3), This aspect elevates the poet to the rank of a prophet or a seer.

Symbolism can be said to be an attempt to penetrate the reality to a world of ideas, either the ideas within the poet, including his emotions, or the ideas in the platonic sense that constitute a perfect supernatural world towards which man aspires. In order to see beyond the surface of reality there, is often a fusion of images, a kind of stereoscopic effect to give a third dimension. Symbolism emphasises the musical quality of poetry.

3.4.2. Imagery and Similes

'Ode to West Wind* and 'Skylark* provide a complex human problem with a satisfactory solution. Through the medium or artistic form, they give coherence to the intellectual, emotional and sensuous experience of the poet.

'Ode to West Wind' is a lyric of great complexity and artistic design. It is franfcly metaphorical and full of imagery. In the first three stanzas the poem deals with the action of the west wind upon the leaf, the “cldud. and the wave.

Bharathlar Unlv.rtlty Library

II111111111! Ill . '63321 - U \ENGLISH ;

60

The fourth stanza indentifies the poet with nature. The nature imagery of the three beginning stanzas are the action and the interrelationship of the West wind with the leaf# the cloud and the wave.

The imagery of the first stanza presents a contrast of death and regeneration. It presents the West Wind as a destroyer and preserver. It shatters established structures so that new ones may be built from their ruins.It settles the withered leaves# in order to quicken a new birth.

The first stanza presents a chain of similes. It describes the activities of the west wind on land. The wind drives the dead leaves before it settles# just as a magician drives away a ghost by his approach.

"Thou# from whose unseen presence the leaves and Are driven# like ghosts from an enhanter fleeing"

The West Wind scatters the seeds and covers them with dust. They are buried underground where they remain like dead bodies in their graves. They sprout into plants when spring approaches. This process is illustrated in a simile which says#

"Wild Spirit# which art moving everywhere;Destroyer and preserver".

61

The above lines present the Metaphors 'Destroyer* and ‘Preserver1 through which the wind is personified. They metaphorically refer to death and regeneration and Autumn and spring.

The second stanza describes the activities of the West Wind in the air. The West Wind carries on its surface loose clouds which seem to have fallen from the sky just as withered leaves fall from the branches of trees in autumn. The locks of the approaching storm are spread on the airy surface of the West Wind like the bright hair uplifted from the head of the frenzied Maenad - a drunken female follower of Bacchus, God of Wine.

"Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Maenad".

The stanza is notable for the imagery it presents.The West Wind is the dirge of the dying year for which the closing night will be the dome of a big tomb vaulted with all the aggregated strength of the West Wind as seen in rain, lightning and hailstorm.

The third stanza illustrates the effect of the West Wind on water. It is rich in imagery. The wind awakens from sleep the blue Mediterranean sea which was dreaming of old palaces and towers which once stood on its shores.The Wind blows on the Atlantic and the plants growing at the

62

bottom of the ocean tremble with fear and shed their leaves.

The two oceans - the Mediterranean and the Atlantic are personified.

"Thou who didst waxen from his summer dreams The blue mediterranean, where he lay.Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams. Beside a pumice isle in Baiae*s bey And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave's intense day.All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them".

The next stanza deals with the identification of the poet with the West Wind. He is reminded of his boyhood when he was like the West Wind swift and uncontrollable. But now the misfortunes of life have crushed him. He is bleeding on the thorns of life. He wishes that he were a leaf, a wave, a cloud, so that the West Wind could lift him. He makes the pathetic appeal through the following lines.

"Oh! lift me as a Wave, a leaf, a cloud 1 I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed One too like thee; tameless and swift and proud".

63

In the last stanza through the Metaphors, 'Spirit fierce*, *My spirit* and 'Impetuous One* he calls the West Wind. He appeals to it to become one with him and to scatter his dead thoughts over the universe to bring a new period in human history. He would like the West Wind to broadcast over the whole world his prophecy about the coming of the golden Age. The stanza presents a clear expression of Shelley's idealism, his belief in the perfectibility of human nature, and his belief in the golden Age of mankind.

"Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth1 And, by the incantation of this verse.Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind1 Be through my lips to unawakened earth The trumpet of a prophecyI 0, Wind,If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?".

The 'Unawakened earth* is an allusion to the English people of Shelley's time who are degenerate and are buried beneath old conventions, old habits of thoughts and old institutions. 'The trumpet of a prophecy* alludes to Shelley's reforming Zeal. He wants to correct the people and to make them realise that his revolutionary principles which is based on French Revolution will come true in future.

64

The poem has many symbolic meanings. It symbolises the force of Nature and the free spirit of man. It is a symbol of change, a symbol of strength and energy# a symbol of his own personality and a symbol of hope. It is a destroyer of the old order of society and a preserver of the new. It is a symbol of the law of life itself which contains creation and destruction# and manifests itself in the cycle of the seasons the cycle of birth# death and rebirth.

The last line of the poem# 'If winter comes# can spring be far behind?'# has symbolic and allegorical meaning. Winter is a period of great distress and it symbolises a period of hardship and difficulties. It allegorically refers to the failures of French Revolution. Spring# a season of joy and rebirth in nature will be followed by winter. Similarly this period of misery# suffering and evil will surely come to an end and the golden Age will commence. During the golden Age or the Millennium beauty and love will reign over the earth. There will be neither evil or injustice nor suffering among humanity. It exhibits the poet as an idealist, as a believer in the eventual triumph of the forces of good over the forces of evil. The poem is based on hope - hope# tempered with humility# hope# firm-based in the revolutionary idealism symbolised by the West Wind.

65

Ode to the skylark, presents the melodious skylark, the symbol of the poet. It is a platonic symbol of the ideas spirit of poetry. It has natural, personal and philosophical design. The skylark is a real bird and a spiritual symbol (Ibid:244).

Through a series of similes and metaphors Shelley suggests a sweetness of the Skylark's music, the invisibility of the skylark and the great height from which the bird sings. Shelley depicts the sweet and rapturous singing of the skylark. The music of the skylark has been idealised. The poet wants to know the inspiration behind the skylark to sing such melodious and ecstatic strains. He contrasts the sorrow and suffering of mankind with the unspeakable Joy of the bird.

The Skylark is like the poet who soars to the regions of lofty thou its thoughts are not easily understood, but its music can be fully enjoyed.

"Like a Poet hiddenIn the light of thought.

Singing hymns unbidden,Till the world is wrought

To sympathy with hopes and tears it headed not;"(VIII)

The skylark is like a high-born maiden singing faithand love in sweet songs which flow beyond her bower, though she herself is not visible.

66

"Like a high-born maiden In a palace-tower,

Soothing her love-laden Soul in Secret hour

With music sweet as love, which overflows herbower;"(IX)

The skylark is like a golden glow-worm which is hidden by the flowers and glass but whose pleasure become known to us by the light which it scatters around

"Like a glow-worm golden In all dell of dew,

Scattering unbeholdenAmong the flowers and glass, which screen it

from the viewl"(X)

The skylark is like a rose which is concealed from sight by the leaves around it but whose existence is revealed to us by the Sweet Scent with which it fills the air.

"Like a rose emboweredIn its own green leaves

By warm winds deflowered.Till the seent it gives

Makes faint with too much-Sweet those heavy-winged thieves;"(XI)

The bird is addressed with the metaphors 'Spirit' and “Blithe Spirit'.

67

'Skylark* is the symbolical representation of Shelley's philosophy. He says the life of human beings is full of disappointments and frustrations* Men have desires and longings which remain unfulfilled. In the past and the present they have an intense desire for what they have not been able to achieve and for what they will not be able to attain.There is an element of pair mingled even with their most genuine laughter. They can never enjoy pure happiness. The Sweetest songs of human beings are those that are full of sorrow and grief.

"We look before and after#And pine for what is not;

Our sincerest laughterWith some pain is fraught?

Our Sweetest songs are those that tell ofsaddest thought" (XVIII)

Shelley adds that humanity can attain happiness if it can give up harted# pride# scorn and feel.

"Yet if we could scornHate# and pride# and fear?

If we were things born Not to shed a tear#

I know not how thy joy we ever should come near"(XIX)

68

3.4.3. The Allegories of Shelley

The allegory and the myth of 'Queen Mab1, 'Revolt of Islam', and 'Prometheus Unbound' are the greatest expressions ever given to humanity in desire for intellectual light and spiritual liberty. The allegories prove that man can be liberated not by the cosmic and calculating process of reason, but by the cosmic and spontaneous operation of life. The poetic dramas are in quest of the ways and means for the regeneration of humanity. The "Renaissance of man and society would take place only through suffering, compassion, tolerance and love which is a necessary factor in the millennium to come.

3.4.3.1. Allegory and its Popularity in England

'Allegory is an extended Metaphor. Allegoricalpersonages are frequently personifications.. It is an artisticexpression by means of which symbolic fictional figures andactions of truth or generalizations about human conduct orexperience could be presented. It is a symbolic representationstressing a hidden spiritual meaning transcending the literalsense of the text. Allegory, parable, myth, fable, apologueare the literary forms typically telling a story for the sakeof presenting a truth, or a moral. Myth applies chiefly toplatonic Myth which was a brief explanation of a difficult

ophrlosphic truth revealed by means of a short allegorical analogy. Symbolism is closely connected with allegory.

Symbolism can be described as an art of using symbols by way of investing things with the symbolic meaning or expressing the invisible, intangible, or spiritual by means by visible or sensuous representations.

During the conflict with France and immediately after the French Revolution in 1789, authors and publishers in England were subjected to legal harrassment and even threat­ened with death. This repressive atmosphere continued even in the nineteenth century. There was a renewed cut, break of, or suppression of the press in England following the defeat of Napoleon. These periods of interference with the freedom of the press coincide tellingly with the revivals of serious allegory. In 1792 Thomas Paine, the author of *The Rights of Man* (1791) was imprisoned on a trumped-up charge. In 1794, Home Tooke, Hardy and Thelwall were tried for high treason and were acquitted. In 1803, Blake himself was accused by a drunken soldier of seditius utterances and tried for treason. He too was acquitted. In 1793 Blake issued his allegorical account of the American Revolution, in 'America* which he wrote mainly in allegorical forms. Southey and Hunt were the other contemporary writers of Shelley who followed the allegorical method of writing. Shelley in 1811 was sent out from Oxford for refusing, to disavow a pamphlet entitled 'The Necessity of Atheism*. Shelley published his first allegory 'Queen Mab* in 1816. In 1817 he was deprived of the custody of his children on the grouds of immoral conduct and

70

irreligious views. This was followed by the other allegories 'The Revolt of Islam* (1817) and 'Prometheus Unbound' 1819. Harrassed and threatened by those in power# radical poets resorted to the indirect ways of expressing their views (Jackson, J. 1980*220).

3.4.3.2. The Allegories* 'Queen Mab', 'Revolt of Islam*and * Prometheus Unbound'

Shelley says 'Poets are the institutions of laws, and founds of civil society* ..... He. adds that 'The greatsecret of morals is love; ..... According to him poets arethe unacknowledged legislators of the world* (Shelley, 1962* 255). The three allegories prove Shelley's definitions regarding poets and poems.

Shelley's long poems, 'Queen Mab', 'Rebolt of Islam' and 'Prometheus Unbound* describe successful revolutions.They are allegorical, symbolical and philosophical. They deal with the process of ideal revolutions through allegorical and symbolical representations. The theme of longer poems of Shelley is the conflict between tyranny and love. Tyranny represents evil and love represents good. 'The poems reveal that love is the only subject which can inspire Shelley to sustained poetic flights'(Sarita Singh, 1970*75).

In 'Queen Mab', Shelley visualises a future which is guided by reason and love. It is free from the lane of tyranny. The allegorical poem emphasises on the removal of

71

tyranny through love. Through symbolic indirection the poet presents his views on nature, the evils of religion, of marriage and of the eating of animal flesh, Shelley's pantheism and platonism - a religious regard and reverence towards nature is represented through the allegory. It also satiri §es the political institutions, the ways and means of capitalism and priestcraft. The symbolical representations persuades the readers to shed their ignorance and supersitions. 'In 'Queen Mab' Shelley summed up all the idealism of his adolescence, his ardor for reform, his dreams of a pefected human society*(Carl Grabo, 1936:103). The ultimate philosophy of Shelley is built upon this allegory. 'The poem is an embodiment of his 'World view, his concept of the relation of man to society and society to nature, an object which he later attempted in 'Revolt of Islam' and 'Prometheus Unbound' (Loyola Furtaco, 1958:25).

Shelley, with a new revolution sets out 'to destroy the old order, to find convincing arguments for necessity of this destruction and to leave the building of the new world of Hope* ....... Necessity, the mother-goddess directs workingwills toward the happy earth of the future. Kings priests and capitalists must make the way for the liberated poets .....'Queen Mab* is a violent and vigorous ttack on the older order. The poem presents Shelley's passion for reforming the world; He wants to make it a better world to live in. 'He held that the past and the present of mankind were disfigured

by the bloody hands of tyranny which manifested itself in two ways* the tyranny of the church and the tyranny of the state* (Sarita Singh* 1970s63).

3.4.3.3. Allegory in Queen Mab3.4.3.3.1. The gist of Queen Mab

The allegory depicts the experience of the spirit or the soul of the girl named Ianthe with the fairly named Queen Mab. The fairy summoned the soul of the girl to witness the world of the past* present and future as a reward for her purity. The soul of the girl is separated from her body.It ascends in a chariot to the heavenly abode of the fairy.

The fairy reveals the corrupted world of the past and present. The fairy explains to the soul of the girl about the greedy kings* capitalists and bishops. An account of war* commerce and selfishness of the kings* bishops and priests is given by the fairy. A phantom of a wardering Jew namely Ahasuerus appears. It tells about its hatred towards fjod and religious. It makes it suggestion for the abolition of the orthodox %od and Christianity. The fairy suggests that the corrupted world will be reformed through the strong will power of man. After this the soul of the girl is brought back and united with her body by the fairy.

3.4.3,3.1.2. Explanation of Allegory in *Queen Mab1

Allegorical and symbolical Items that are allegorised and representations symbolised

1. The fairy Queen Mab 1.

2.

2. Queen Mab*s description 1. of the solar system and wonders of the sky

3. Queen Mab's definition of 1. necessity and materialism

4. Queen Mab's account of 1. «&od# religion and state

5. Ahasuerus# the wandering 1. Jew

Symbol of the ideas and Prophetic imagination of Shelley.

Choosen instrument and trump­eter of the golden age.

Shelley's scientific knowledge symbol of Shelley's acute astronomical knowledge.

Shelley's passion for the scientific theories of the scientists# Erasmus Darvin# Rousseau# Holbach# Plato and Godwin.

Allegorically represents Shelley's hatred towards the corruptions of the church and state during his time.

Represents Shelley's frown, anger# at the blood thirtiness of the church and Christianity which is full of corruption.

2 . Represents Shelley's anger towards the corrupted English Kings and their longing for blood-thirsty war.

6. Queen Mab's utopia 1. Shelley's ideal world which isgained through people * s strong will-power.

7. lanthe, the girl 1. Symbolises the ignorant humanitywhich is submissive to the corrupted priest and the king.

Aim of the Allegory

Shelley depicts his contemporary England with its corrupted, merciless, priests and kings. He pours out his uncountrollable fury and anger towards the church and state of his time. Shelley, suggests that the condition may be changed, an utopi^a may created if the people of England have a strong will power and challenging courage to overthrow the priests and the king.

The first canto narrates the journey of the spirit of lanthe, to the hall of spells of 'Queen Mab* which is far beyond the bounds of the solar system. The journey fulfills two thematic functions. It depicts the duality of Body and soul, asserting the superiority of the latter. The description of • the vastness of the universe and multiplicity of the solar

75

systems and other worlds tends to dwarf the earth. Shelley's study of nature and its divinity is based on the principles of naturalists like Darwin, Rousseau and Holbach. 'In Queen Mab', 'Necessity* means a cosmic power whose rule is absoluteboth in the material and in the moral world...... a powerwhich will inevitably by slow degrees, produce social, institutional and even climatic changes to a world situation' (Loyala Furtado, 1958:31).

Canto II talks about the will-power of man, redemption of man which is attained through strong will power. The fairy then shows the evils of monarchy or any form of society where some are masters and others are servers. The spirit of Nature attacks the chief manifestations of earning human pride and war. It criticises commerce, capitalism and religion. It is followed by a systematic attach on the judeo-christian tradition. Moses is portrayed as a murderer and Jehovah as a sadistic projection of human pride and sin. The spirit of Ianthe is the allegorical presentation of ignorant humanity. Ahasuerus, the wandering Jew. is the symbol of human will-power.

The Fairy talks about the corruptions in the name of God and religion. God has only filled the earth with rivers of bloods; It shielded criminals and encouraged them to do crimes. The irony of the situation is that every crime has been made holy by Him. The tyrannous omnipotence oppressed the slaves who build temples for him. Ahasuerus gives a powerful description of the blood thirstiness of the J§od who

76

was created by the votaries of different religions.

Ahasuerus, allegorically represents Shelley’s views on God and religion. He tells the story of creation. 'His story is the story of creation as told in the Bible. In it the creator emerged in a different light. He is not the Lord of justice and mercy but the 'Omnipotent fiend' who created the race of man for 'My fame* and who planted the tree of evil in the garden of Eden(Sarita Singhs65).

Religion has been the cause of the suffering of man through generations. It has turned into the tyrants stick with which he has persecuted people and used them for his selfish motives. The tyrant is not prepared to be deprived of this stick and he uses all the guile and force at his command to preserve it. Christianity provides a good example of the way in which religion has been both the cause and the means of the presecution of people. Shelley's description of the violence and bloodshed generated and encouraged by Christianity is a powerful condemnation of the tyranny of religion.

'War,. imprisonment, assassination, and flasehood; deeds of enexampled and incomparable atrocity have made it what it is. The bloodshed by the votaries of the god of mercy and peace, since the establishment of His religion, would probably ■jAsffice to drown all other sectaries now on the habitable globe. We derive from our ancestors a faith

77

thus fostered and supported: We quarrel, persecute and hatefor its maintenance. Even under a government which, whilst it imfringes the very right of thought and speech, boasts of permitting the liberty of the press, a man is pilloried and imprisoned because he is a deist, and no one raises a voice, in the indignation of outraged humanity*tlbid:67).

Shelley considered <jod and religion to be the strong­est pillar^ of the edifice of tyranny, the tyranny of both the church and the state. Of the two agents of tyranny; God and the despot, the farmer was the more powerful one because He served as a support for the latter*. Shelley’s most bitter words of condemnation are reserved for god who is the fountain-head of everykind of persecution. In the name of God, Hell, and Heaven, people have be persecuted for centuries‘(Sarita Singh, 1970:67). The fairy describes allegorically the role of the trio in the unhappiness of mankind.

"God, Hell, and Heaven A vengeful, pitiless, and almighty fiend. Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage Of tameless tigers hungering for blood Hell, a red gulf of everlasting fire Where poisonous and undying worms prolong Eternal misery to those helpless slaves Whose life has been a penance for its crimes.

And Heaven, a meed for those who dare belie Their human nature, quake, believe, and cringe Before the mockeries of early power"(QM.IV:210-220)

God is the prototype of man's misrule upon the earth.vHe takes the same pleasure in persecuting and tomenting

others as is taken by a blood-thirsty tyran^t. He created man and woman only for the purpose of satisfying his lust for blood.

"The self-sufficing, the Omnipotent,The merciful, and the avenging ^odlWho, prototype the human misrule, sitsHigh in Heaven's realm, upon a golden throne.Even like an earthly king; and whose dread work, Hell, gapes for ever for the unhappy slaves Of fate, whom He created, in his sport To triumph in their torments when they fell"(QM.VIt

103-110).

According to Ahasuerus, the real enemy of mankind is God. 'He is the almighty tyranjit who does not like to see mankind happy. He is responsible for misery of the people and the disquiet which prevails unchecked in all ages. Wars are fought in the name of religion. Innumerable crimes are committed everyday in the name of religion because <§od encouraged and supports it.

79

"I have seen God's worshippers unsheathe The sword of His revenge, when grace descended. Confirming all unnatural impulses.To sanctify their desolating deeds;And frantic priests waved the ill-omened crossO'er the unhappy earth: then shone the sunOn showers of gore from the rep flash steelOf safe assassination, and in all crimesMade stingless by the spirits of the LordAnd blood-red rainbows canopied the Lord"(QM:225-234).

Ahasuerus, has sought the blood-shed perpetrated in the name of religion. He describes in an extremely eloquent language the murder and blood-shed associated with religion under its influence all human relationships are forgotten and dehumanisation is brought in. Through this character Shelley gives a picturesque description of religion. It is a description of condemnation of the role of the religion which has played in the preservation of tyranny, oppression and blood-shed under its shelter.

The next agency of tyranny is the state. Those who were in power during Shelley's time tyrannised over people. The allegory is replete with description of tyrannous acts of rulers who used their power to establish their rule. The poet satrises the tyrantfts, monarchs and despots who had usurped through fraud or violence. They like earth-quakes feared for their power to destroy and bring about ruin.

80

"Monarchs and conquerers there Proud O'er prostrate millions trod The earthquakes of the human race;Like them forgotten when the ruinThat marks their shocks is past"(QM:II:121-125).

The fairy remarks that the kings and conquerors rise from rapire and murder. They live on the blood of the toiling millions and fatter themselves on their flesh and marrow.

"Whence, think'st thou, kings and parasites arose, Whence that unnatural line of drones, who heap Toil and unvanquished penury On those who build their palaces, and bring Their daily bread? From vice, black, loathsome vice; From rapine, madness, treachery and makes Of earth this thorny wilderness; from lust,Revenge, and murder....... ". (QM. Ill: 118-126).

Shelley exhibits the history of mankind which has been an endless story of suffering and bloodshed brought about by tyrants and their men. The tyrants knows the art of using his men like pawns in a game of chess. He does not have to toil to heap on himself the luxuries. He purchases them with the blood of real builders of civilization. Those who produce food die of hunger while the tyrant gorges himself with every imaginable delicacy. The tyrant for his act of bloodshed

81

and rapire is reward with fame. Thus God and tyrant flurish together through ignorance and superstitions.

"Since tyrants by the sale of human life Heap luxuries to their sensualism, and fame To their wide wasting and insatiable pride.Success has sanctioned to a credulous world The ruin, the disgrace, the woe of war,His hosts of blind and unresisting dupesThe despot humbers; from his cabinetThese puppets of his schemes of moves at will,Even as the slaves by force or famine driven, Beneath a vulgar master, to perform A task of cold and brutal drudgery/Hardened to hope, insensible to fear.Scarce living pulleys of a dead machine.Mere whells of work and articles of trade,That grace the proud and noisy pomp of wealth"

(QM.Vj64-78)

God is the prototype of human misrule. He has served as the foundation-stone of the edifice of misrule and tyranny upon the earth. God, who was bom in ignorance and superstition has helped to perpertuate superstition and ignorance. The tyranny of ages converges into the concept of j§od who has been the source and shelter of injustice and bloodshed through the ages. He sites

82

"High in Heaven's realm, upon a golden throne.Even like an earthly king; and (His) dread work Hell, gapes for ever for the unhappy slaves Of fate, whom He created, in his sport.To triumph in their torments when they fell"

(QM.VI:106-110).

The surface of the earth was covered with the blood, and the crimes of the innocent millions who were butchered in sweet Confidence.

"And unsuspecting peace, even when the bonds Of safety were confirmed by wordy oaths Sworn in His dreadful name (QM.VI:115-117).

The poem portrays an ample picture of the radiant future in which earth is no longer hell. Man is in harmony with nature. Man, who was a miserable, diseased and base being is now changed with taintless body and soul. Man has created the happy earth, a reality of Heaven which is the glorious prize of blindly-working will. With his admonition and prophecy for the future through courage of 'Soul * and ' elevated will'.

The philosophic ideals of Shelley are poured in all their profuson and richness through the allegory.

83

3.4.3.3. Allegory in Revolt of Islam3.4.3.3.1* The gist of the Revolt of Islam

The story begins with a fight between a snake and an eagle. The story introduces two spirits in their heavenly abode namely Loan, the male character, and cythna, the female character who present an account of the experience they had in their city Argolis when they were alive.

Cythna and Loan were lovers. They were separated when the city was attacked by a tyrant named Othman. Both of them were captured, imprisoned and tortured in separate places. After few years they had escaped. They formed an army of Non-violent partritic and soldiers. They defeat the tyrant Othman, But later the tyrant with the help of foreign forces defeat Loan and cythna. The patriots and soldiers were killed. Loan and cythna were burnt to death.

3.4.3.3.2. Allegorical Explanation in Revolt of Islam

Allegorical and Items that are allegorised andSymbolical representation symbolised

1. The violent quarrel of 1. Symbolical reference to Frenchthe snake and Ea^gle Revolution

2. Refers to the struggle betweenthe good and the bad respectively.

2. The wounded serpent 1. Defeat of the good course, theFrench Revolution

84

3, The Victorious eafigle 1* The victory of the bad andcorrupted monarchs

4. The lady nursing the 1. Represents Shelley's hope andsnake belief in the success of the

principles of French Revolution-liberty, equality and fraternityin the future world.

5. The lady's suggestion 1. Allegorically refers toShelley's influence of thedoctrine of Plato. Shelley'ssuggestions for a future re­formed world through love,forgiveness and non-violencewith a good spirit.

6. The story of the spirits 1. Dedicated services of theof Loan and cythna French Revolutionists for the

Right principles of therevolution.

7. Loan 1. Symbolically refers to Shelleyand his father-in-law who hadinfluenced him.

8. Cythna 1. Mary, Shelley's wife and hermother wolistonecraft arerepresented by cythna.

85

9. Hermit 1. Allegorically refers to Shelley'sprinciple of love truth and forgiveness.

2. Refers to Shelley's philosophy evil should be treated with good hatred should be returned with love.

1. The king and his followers.and the capitalists of Shelley's time.

1. The unruly priest and the chruch of Shelley's time who were merciless without any real Christian spirit in them.

1. Allegorically refers to thededicated service of Shelley and his wife Mary to the principles of French Revolution. They were ready even to die for the right cause of the French Revolution.

Aim of Allegory

Shelley depicts his contemporary England with its corrupted, merciless, priest and kings. He depicts the story of French Revolution through the martyrdom of Loan and

12. Martyrdom of Loan Cythna

10. The tyrant and his soldiers

11. The priest and the church

86

Cythna. He suggests that a reformed world dreamp^by the French Revolution is possible if people cultivate the good habits of forgiveness, love, truth, non-violence and hope.

The next allegory is 'Revolt of Islam'. It was suppressed by his publishers. It is a tale of lovers who repeatedly risk their lives for one another. They sacrifice their love to the higher ideal of love of mankind. The poem consists of political despotism and domestic depostism which could be overcome by wisdom, love and liberty. It represents the romantic idealism of French Revolution. Allegorically it is meant to be the union of representative man and representative woman who are capable of the highest individual happiness when they live according to their ideals. They are able to escape from the falsehoods of the social organisation in which they are trapped.

At the beginning of the play an allegorical and symbolical representation of good and evil are depicted. Standing on the seashores, the poet views the struggle between the serpent and the Eagle. The struggle symbolically represents the continuous battle between the spirit of good, the serpent, whose heavenly shape is the Morning star, and the spirit of evil, the Eagle, whose heavenly shape is the blood- red comet. The struggle has existed throughout history. It is the primary conflict in Loan and Cythna. To Shelley the spirit of evil is not synonymous with the general orthodox

87

conceptions of 'devil and sin'. It rather represents the tyranny of despots, the oppression of churches and individual man's potential for hate, violence and selfishness, it derives power from man's own ignorance. The spirit of good should not be considered as the traditional obedience to authority. It represents the freedom and equality of all human beings. It is the individual's potential for love, non-violence and brotherhood.

At the conclusion of the violent struggle for supermacy, the apparently lifeless serpent fall?into the sea and the victorious Eagle flies away. A woman, who represents Hope, finds the crippled but not fatally wounded serpent and nurses it. The poet joins them and they sail in a boat, which is love to the Temple of Immortality. On the way she explains to the poet the meaning of what has just occured- The age old battle between good and evil. It also refers to the French Revolution

"Thus all triumphed, and the spirit of evil.One power of many shapes which none may know.One shape of many names;M(11:370-372).

Justice and truth wage silent war with custom, and priests and kings feared as the world's foundation trembled. Even though it appears that the spirit of evil has been once again victorious, the poet should not despair.

88

"Though thou may'st hear that earth in now become The tyrant's garbage, which to his compeers.The vile reward of their dishonoured years.He will dividing give. - The Victor fiend. Omnipotent of yore, now quails, and fears His triumph dearly won, which soon will lend An impulse swift and sure to his approaching and"

(11:426-32)

Hope and the spirit of good have gone forth into the hearts and minds of men. Kings and priests sit upon tarnished thrones. A moral revolution is at hand. The empathic imagination, the weapon of the poet and the reformer, has been stirred and vitalized. When people imaginatively accepts the spirit of good, of live, of non-violence then the ideal revolution occurs. The weapons of despots - fear gold, violence will cease to be effective. Thrones will lose their luster.

As the morning star rises in the heavens the little boat sails into the temple of Immortality. The poet then hears thety story of two spirits. Loan and Cythna, recently arrived from battle in the temporal world.

Loan and Cythna, allegorical representation of wisdomtrand Love who also represent the spirit of good start narrate

the way of life they had on earth. Shelley through LoanCLportrys his view of reformation and revolution through Love.

89

Loan begins by telling about his childhood and of the misery that engulfed his native land. Argolis# Loan assets Shelley's belief. All tyranny is a conspiracy of despot and slave.The slave gives the despot the power by which he tyrannizes.He participates in tyranny’s quilt by contributing to the evil. Loan describes how His city was captured by the tyrants and his men. Consequently the victims and the torturers suffer through bondage. Loan now has no hatred towards his tyrants. Shelley voices his policy of forgiving the enemies through Love.

Loan and cythna were captured by the enemies. Theywere seperated to undergo slavery. Loan was chained to apillar in a cave because he behaved brutally towards thearmed-men who ill-treated cythna. He actually killed fourout of thirst and insanity. Loan suffers for his sin againsthumanity. He experiences physical agony and spiritual anguish.

c.When near death he was resued by Hermit and they set sail to a faraway Island.

Cythna after the miseries in the slavery escapes and is leading a gentle revolution on behalf of women's freedom and justice, she persuades her followers to dedicate their life for the love of humanity.

"To feel the peace of self-contentments lot To own all sympathies# and outrage none.And in the inmost bowers of sense and thought.

90

Until life's sunny day is quite gone down#To sit and smile with joy# or# not alone.To kiss salt tears from the worn cheek of Woe;To live, as if to love and live were one#This is not faith or law, nor those who bow To thrones on Heaven or Earth, such destiny

many know"(11*3298-3306).

The Hermit's advice to Loan brings out Shelley's principle of forging and loving.the enemies instead of fighting with them,

"If blood be shed# 'tis but a change and choice Of bonds - from slavery to cowardice A wretched fallI - uplift, thy charmed voice 1 Pour on those evil men the love that lies Hovering within those spirit soothing eyes - Arise, my friend# farewellI"(11*1657-62)

Loan joins the army of Cythna and advises them not to take revenge on the tyrants soldiers who had mercilessly attacked them. He says evil should be returned with good. Hatred should be returned with love. He talks of the power of truth, love and forgiveness.

"Oh wherefore should ill ever flow from ill,And pain still keener pain for ever breed?We are all breathen - even the slaves who kill

<JLFor Hire are men; and two avenge mi seed

91

On the misdoer, doth Misery feed With her own broken heartI O Earth, 0 Heaven 1 And thou, dread Nature, which to every deed And all that live or is to be hath given,Even as to thee have these done ill, and are

forgiven”(11x1810-18)

The tyrant's soldiers have realised the value of love and forgiveness. They no more remained the slaves of the tyrant and they have withdrawn from evil. The ideal revolution is complete. The tyrant is defeated through love and forgiveness with which his slaves are corrected. The Mob want to attack the tyrant. But Loan advises them that they have to forgive him for his misdeeds.

"Alas, such were pure, - the chastened will Of virtue sees that justice is the light Of love, and not revenge, and terror and despite"

(roi;

Loan seeks to maintain his humanity in the midst of the revolutionary process. He seeks to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor by demanding the revolutionaries to love their enemy. They do not dehumanize both the enemy and themselves by revenge, terror and despite. Loans actions demonstrate the necessity of a strong and charismatic herb- leader in Shelley's vision of a free and liberated society.

92

The peace and joy established by the revolution are short lived. The tyrant supported by foreign armies subdue the patriots through wholesale slaughter. The soldiers flocked in love and brotherhood to die* They willingly offer them­selves as a sacrifice, to action love, to freedom, and to humanity.

Finally the priests suggest that God's wrath will be pleased only by the martyrdom of Loan and Cythna and only when they are burnt to death.

"And priests rushed through their rangs, somecounterf eiting

The rage they did inspire, some mad indeed With their own lies they said their God was waiting to see his enemies Writhe, and burn and bleed"(11:4189-94)

3.4.3.4. Allegory in Prometheus Unbound

3.4.3.4.1. The gist of Prometheus Unbound

The allegory deals with the suffering of the hero Prometheus and his lady love Asia. Prometheus is tied to a rack for thousand of years to tortured by Jupiter, the corrupted jfcjod of Christianity. Jupiter tortures Prometheus to know a secret from Prometheus. Prometheus first hatred his enemy. After suffering to a great extent he forgives his enemy.

93

Asia, his lady love now joins him. Mercury, the agent of Jupiter and the evil spirits torture Prometheus. Earth, the mother of Prometheus, lone, and Panthea and good spirits console Prometheus. Demogargon, the universoal spirit or force approaches. It demolishes the rule of Jupiter and releases Prometheus. Prometheus joins his lady-love Asia.

3.4.3.4.2. Allegorical Explanation in Prometheus Unbound

1• Prometheus Symbol for all the ideal qualities which men should have - courage, endurance, fighting spirit against tyranny.

Allegorical personification for self-less dovotion to a great cause with love, faith, charity and hope.

3. Representation of reason and wisdom,

4. Allegorically stands for the Principles of Christianity; Non­violence, forgiveness, love and redemption.

5. Prometheus represents the intelli­gentsia of the early nineteenth century who were aware of the need for political reform.

94

2. The torture of 1. The torture and torment of thePrometheus intellectuals of Shelley's time

by the thoughts of war andoppression of that period

His recantation of 1. Symbolises the realisation inthe curse hearts of the'intellectuals of

Shelley's age to give up the9UX*thousands of revenge from their

hearts.

3. Demogargon 1. Spirit of Eternity# of theUniverse# the ultimate realityand necessity.

4. Jupiter 1. On the political level representsthe tyranny of kings and priests.

2. On the psychic level representsthe evil impulses withinproraetheus himself.

5. The personifications 1. Allegorically representsShelley's myth-making excellence

6. Earth 1. Represents love without wisdom

7• Mercury 1. Represents wisdom without lovesymbolises the persons who carryout the will of the aristocraticclass and dispise themselves forso doing.

95

8. The Furies whichtorture Prometheus

1. Represent those forces bymeans of which the governing aristocracy tartured the intellectuals

9. Asia 1, Representation of spirit of love

10, lone and Panthea's 1. Represent the hope of a newdwelling with order in the hearts of the menPrometheus of England of Shelley's time

eventhough there is despotismand struggle for liberty

11, Panthea's information 1. Represents the approaching

spring.

Aim of the Allegory

Shelley depicts his contemporary England with its corrupted# merciless aristocracy and the money-minded authorities fef the church. He wants to reform England. Shelley looks forward to a happier world based on Christian charity between men. It is this spirit which animates the poem. It represents the permanent and spiritual means of transformation for all men in all ages. The events of 'Prometheus Unbound' take place in the realm of mind. It unfolds renovation after renovation.

of the approaching golden age

96

Allegorically Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' concerns itself with the revolution of the human spirit rather than the reform of society. According to Shelley there must be a reform of the individual before society as a whole could be reformed. Act I of the play represents Prometheus as a pathetic man chained to the precipice of icy rocks. In his opening speech we are given a brief glimse of his dark night of the soul. He has been tortured physically and mentally for three thousand years by Jupiter. Jupiter on the political level represents the tyranny of kin$s and priests. On the psychic level he represents the evil impulses within Prometheus himself.

"Whilst me, who am thy foe, eyeless in hate.Hast thou made reign and triumph, to thy scorn O'er mine own misery and they vain revenge Three thousand years of sleep-unsheltered hours.And moments aye divided by keen pangsTill they seemed years, torture and solitude.Scorn and despair - these are mine empire"(i:1-7).

Prometheus is the hope of mankind because he refuses to submit to Jupiter's rule; He also chains himself to pain and inaction through his hate of the tyrant and his desire for revenge. The intensity of his suffering has produced profound spiritual enguish and egocentric self-pity and brought prometheus to the e$dge of despair. In this state he realises a new commitment of life. His spiritual state

97

immediately begins to change. He says that he hates no more.

"v...... I speak in grief.Not exultation, for I hate no more.As then ere misery made me wise. The curse Once breathed on thee I would recall" (1*46-49)

Through his suffering Prometheus has gained the knowledge that evil is its own worst enemy. To exist with hate and revenge in his heart towards Jupiter is to reduce his spirit to the level of Jupiter's. Then he becomes a partner in evil. It is to chain his soul to the forces of death and destruction. His realization I.-„C' - ^ is what he himself has done leads him to sympathize with the unwitting position of Jupiter and to pity him.

"It doth repent me; words are quick and vain?Grief for awhile is blind, and so was mine I wish no living thing to suffer pain"(1;303-5)

Mercury's speech to Prometheus is like a pragmatist's to a pasifist. He advises Prometheus to submit to Jupiter's omnipotence. But Prometheus strong will power never yielded. He says,

"He who is evil can receive to good;

For justice, when Triumphant, will weep down Pity, not punishment, on her own wrongs.Too much avenged by those who err" (1.389-405)

98

That evil is its own worst enemy, its own punishment. The severe tortures by the furies and Mercury makes Prometheus to pity 'the slaves of the slave'. There is no fear in him. The furies are powerless to subsume the human will. The horrible visions and acute pain inflicted on Prometheus can not sway the hero from his will power. Act 1 ends with the comfort given to Prometheus by the healing spirits of Earth. They bring hope to Prometheus with their prophecy of the approaching revolution.

Act II opens in the Indian cascasus with the soliloquy by Asia. She is the allegorical symbol of universal love, fertility and the promise of a new life. Prometheus has given up the hate which filled his being, his thoughts have now turned to Asia and the love they once shared. His hate has separated him from his most powerful ally-love. Asia realizes the change that has occured within the soul of Prometheus and her transformation begins immediately.

Panthea has a dream and Asia along with Panthea is prompted to visit Demogorgon. Demogorgon is the symbol of Eternity, universal force, the ultimate reality, and Necessity. Asia through her visit learns of impending doom of Jupiter and her reunion with Prometheus. Good and evil war within the human spirit eternally and love is the only means by which man can assure the perpetual triumph of good over evil. The act ends with the personification of love through Asia.

99

Act III presents the symbolical presentation of Jupiter, the spirit of evil and tyranny* He is full of pride and egoism. Jupiter is seen at his proudest moment, on the verge of total victory over persistent enemy Prometheus. Jupiter is about to be married to Thetis, his lady love.But Demogorgon approaches him and orders Jupiter to follow him. He is the child of Jupiter. He has come to replace Jupiter as Jupiter has replaced his father saturn.

Jupiter cannot crush Demogorgon beneath his feet as he once attempted to crush all else. Prometheus, the collective imaginative potential of man, becomes united with Asia unchanging love, and together they prepetually renew their dedication to life. Their union is the union of wisdom and love. Act IV is a lyrical hymn to regenerate man and a musical celebration of life. Earth, Moon, Hour and spirits sing to celebrate the glory of wisdom, will and love. Demogorgon sings his vision of revolution and reality# gentleness, virtue, wisdom and Endurance will assure man's innate ability to control the quality of his life. His will is free.

As Shelley wished man has become free through the freedom attacked by Prometheus. The Evil empire of Jupiter has fetllen.

100

"The loathsome mask has fallen. The man remains, - Sceptretess, free uncircumscribed, - but man?Equal, unclassed, tribeless and nationless.Exempt from awe, worship, degree - The king over himself; »yust, gentle Wise, - but man?"(Illsiv.193-198)

Demogorgon sings Shelley's vision of revolution and reality* He says,

"Gentleness, virtue, wisdom, and Endurance,These are the seals of that most firm assurance Which bars the pit over Destruction's strength?And if, with infirm hand, Eternity,Mother of many acts and hours, should free The serpent that would clasp her with his length? These are the spells by which to reassume An empire O'er dientangled doom"(IV:562-9)

Love and wisdom have combined with the evilj. of man to over throw 'Heaven's despotism. In future if evil, which is eternal, should again win supermacy the noble traits, gentleness, virtue, wisdom and endurance will assure man victory* Shelley asserts through Demogorgon that man has the innate ability to control the quality of his life. His will is free.

101

The final lyric of the poem allegorically refers to Shelley's faith in Hindu Philosophy. Deraogorgon says,

"To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite;To forgive wrongs darker than death or night;To defy power, which seems omnipotent;To love and bear; to hope till Hope creates Prom its own wreck the thing it contemplates; Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;This, like thy glory. Titan is to be Good, great, and Joyous, beautiful and free;This is alone Life, joy, empire and victory"

(IV:569-578)

The application of different literary and linguistic stylistic aspects like mind-style, structural method, semio- stylistic theory and Existential psychonalysis to the poems exhibit the philosophy beind the poems.

Shelley's hatred for oppression, love for freedom, Christian philosophy of love, and ^andhian philosophy of Non-violence are revealed through the allegories.

102

3.5, Discourse Aspect of Shelley

Discourse is a sequence of sentences centring around a specific theme. David Crystral (1985:114) defines discourse as'a term used in linguistics to refer to a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence'. Discourse may be classified into four categories as

1. Narrative Discourse2. Dialogue Discourse3. Expository Discourse4. Hortatory Discourse

Narrative Discourse

The subject matter of a narrative text may be called 'themes*. Description about nature# event# episode, description of a character, characters activities from the structure of a narrative text.

Dialogue Discourse

Dialogue Discourse is followed by conversational texts. Conversational texts may be in question answer or cause-response forms.

Expository Discourse

Expository Discourse is constructed for the exposition of any situation. It takes place at the beginning# middle or end of a line.

103

Hartatorv Discourse

Hartatory discourse encourages the previous or the forthcoming incidents in a novel. It contains lines or sentences which have the function of making the readers or listner to do something based on the suggestions given in the lines. It may be a request, order or command.

The poets Shelley and Bharathidasan follow the four discourse patterns in their poems. The structure of the poetic discourse can be analysed by the abstract elements as

1• Pre Margin2 • Nucleus3. Post Margin

Pre margin and post margin represent the introductory and concluding stanzas of the poems discussed. Nucleus refers to the theme of the poem. Order of occurrence of events portrayed may be classified as follows.

1. Continuous events2. Discontinuous events3. Parallel events

Based on the above said discourse analysis the poems of the two poets, Shelley and Bharathidasan can be analysed.

104

Discourse

Pre Margin Neucleus

Post Margin

No, Symbol

1. West Wind

2• Winter

3. Spring

Allegory:

Structure of the Poem * ODE TO WEST WIND*

: West Wind is introduced as a wild spirit : The action and the interrelationship of the wind with the leaft, the cloud and the wave. The poet's indentification with the west wind,

: West Wind's action as a trumpheter. Shelley‘s hope in the golden age of the ideal world.

Actual Item Symbolised

1. The force of Nature2. Shelley's personality3. Change and hope4. The free spirit of man5. Strength end energy6. Destroyer of the old order7. Preserver of the new order

1, Failures of French Revolution2. A period of hardship and difficulties

1. Golden age or the Millennium2. Beauty and Love will reign over the earth.

The poem exhibits Shelley as an idealist,a as a believer in the triumph of the forces of good over the forces of evil. It is an allegorical representation of Shelley's revolutionary idealism.

105

Continuous event: The action of the wind

Piscontinuous : Allegorical and symbolical, andEventParallel Event : Value of the wind. Postrayal of Shelley's

Discourse Structure of the Poem 'TO THE SKYLARK*

Pre Margin

Neucleus

Post Margin

No. Symbol

1. Skylark

Allegory

The bird skylark is introduced as a blithe or happy spirit A series of similies and metaphors regarding the beauty and the music of the bird.

Indentification of the poet with the Bird. His request to the bird to teach him its happiness.

Actual Item Symbolised

1* Shelley's personality 2. Platonic symbol of the ideal

spirit of the poetry 3• Shelley's philo sophy.

The poem exhibits Shelley as an idealist. Allegorical representation of Shelley's philosophy of life.

106

Continuous Event : Piscontinuous : Event and Parallel Event

The flight of the birdAllegorical and symbolical value of the bird. Portrayal of Shelley's contemporary world.

Discourse Structure of the Allegory 'QUEEN MAB'

Pre Margin : a. A Fairy named Queen Mab visits avirtuous girl named Ianthe in her sleep.

b. Ianthe*s spirit or soul follows thefairy, Queen Mab to her heavenly abode.

Neucleus : a. The fairy Queen Mab reveals thesecrets of past and future world.

b. Express the evils and corruptions of the chruch and state by the priest and kings

c. Suggestions made by her for the aboli­tion of present condition of chruch and state. Establishment of Man's power through equality.

Post Margin t Ianthe's spirit is brought back and unitedwith her body by a fairy.

107

No. Symbol

1. Queen Mab

2. Ahasuerus

3• Church and State

4, God

5. Ianthe

Allegory

Continuous Event t

Actual Item Symbolised

1. Allegorical representation of the principles of Shelley

2. The prophetic imagination of Shelley3. Trumpheter of the new prophecy and

revelationRepresents Shelley's views on god and religion

Tyranny

Prototype of human misrule

Ignorant humanity

Through the story Shelley visualises a future which will be guided by reason and love. It emphasises the removal of tyranny through love. It presents Shelley's passion for reforming the world. Through symbolic indirection the poet presents his views on nature the evils of religion and of marriage.

The fairy Queen Mab's visit of Ianthe and the influence made by the fairy.

108

Discontinuous : Allegorical and symbolical value of theEvent and Parallel fairy. Portrayal of Shelley’s contem- Event porary world and the ideal world.

Discourse Structure of the Allegory ’REVOLT OF ISLAM*

Pre Margin t a. A fight between a serpent and aneagle near a sea-shore. Defeated serpent is thrown into the sea.

b. Wounded serpent is nursed by a lady in a ship. The poet joins them.

c. Arrival of the ship at the temple of immortality in heaven.

Neucleus t The poets hears the experience of the twospirits Loan and Cythna who were recently killed in the battle of the temporal world. Loan's city Argolis was captured by a tyrant named Ottaman. Loan and his lady love Cythna were captured by the tyrant. Later they gather the force of the patriots and defeated the tyrant.But it was short lived. The tyrant gathered the foreign forces and defeated Loan, Cythna and the patriots.

Post Margin

Allegory

109

No, Symbol

1• Serpent andeagle

2, Defeat of t serpent

3, Loan and Cythna Representations of wisdom and Lovethe spirit of good

4, Tyrant, Ottaman Tyranny

5, Hermit Principles of forgiveness

Continuous Event » Love story of Loan and Cythna and theirpatriotism.

Discontinuous s Allegory implied in the sacrifice of Loan Event and Parallel and Cythna, Potrayal of contemporary Event England.

s According to the suggestions made by the priests. Loan and Cythna were burnt alive.

i The poem is an allegory through which Shelley wants to replace the world with love and forgiveness. It is an allegory referring to '•_£ French Revolution and its failure.

Actual Item Symbolised

Good and evil

! The failure of French Revolution

Discourse Structure of the Allegory ’PROMETHEUS UNBOUND*

Pre Margin

Neucleus

Post Margin

t Prometheus# the hero of the poetic drama is chained to the precipice of icy rocks.He has been tortured physically and mentally for three thousand years by Jupiter# who represents the tyranny of kings and priests.

: Prometheus suffers severe tortures by thefuries and Mercury/the agents of Jupiter. Eventhough the hero is tortured by the enemy. Jupiter# the hero understands the value of love and forgive his enemy.He hates Jupiter no more. Prometheus has understood the universal truth that evil can not be replaced by evil. It can be replaced only by good. After this realis­ation# Asia# his lady love# joins him. Demogorgon# the spirit of eternity is introduced. He is the universal force# supporting good, and destroying the evil.

: Demogorgon replaces Jupiter from his powerPrometheus is released. He is united withAsia.

Ill

No. Symbol Actual Item Symbolised

1,

234

PrometheusAsiaJupiterDemogorgon

The collective potential of mankindPure, eternal loveTyrannyUniversal force, eternity.

Allegory: : The poetic drama concerns itself with therevolution of the human spirit. Allegori­cally it is a poetic presentation of New Testament ethics. Shelley recommends passive resistance, forgiveness of wrongs and goodwill towards others.

Continuous Event:The painful story of Prometheus Unboundthe change in his mentality from hatred to love towards his enemy, his union with Asia and the freedom he gets through Demogorgon from the continuous event of the story.

Discontinuous :Allegorical and symbolical value ofEvent and Prometheus Unbound, Asia, Jupiter andParallel Event Demogorgon, Shelley's contemporary world

and the ideal world is portrayed.