Shelley's Poetry and Prose [Norton Critical Edition, 1st ed.]

This Norton Critical Edition combines several of Shelley’s poems, both long and short, three of Shelley’s essential essays (“On Love,” “On Life,” and “A Defence of Poetry”), and fifteen critical essays that aid in understanding. It was the perfect book to help me understand this Romantic poet.

I found I had to revise my picture of the romantic poet as one merely gushing emotion, despite Shelley’s habit of idealizing a series of sixteen-year-old girls like any lovelorn adolescent, with the difference that his language and technical poetic skill are far superior. Beyond that, I learned that he was well-informed on philosophy, science, and other topics. He was politically engaged.

As for the language, I was grateful for the show more notes, which elucidate his idiosyncratic vocabulary (“pinion” for “wing”), as well as his frequent references to mythology.

While some of his shorter lyrics (“such Ode to Freedom,” “To a Skylark,” and “Ode to the West Wind”) are excellent, I learned that Shelley’s strength was mastery of the long form, which makes him difficult to anthologize. The best of them, such as “Adonais” and the poem left unfinished at his death with the ironic title “Triumph of Life,” are impressive achievements. “Hellas,” on the other hand, was difficult for me. “Queen Mab,” perhaps not on the same level, contains a wonderful description of the universe, anticipating the photos sent back from the James Webb telescope and a memorable passage of how greed drives out truth.

Although a full appreciation of Shelley requires careful reading of entire poems, I was often struck by perfectly crafted couplets, such as the one that opens “Ode to Heaven”: “Palace-roof of cloudless nights/Paradise of golden lights.”

One of the challenges for me in coming to terms with Shelley, aside from his shabby treatment of the women he loved, is his congenital hatred of authority, culminating in his rejection of God. In “Prometheus Unbound,” he imagines that Jupiter (transparent for Yahweh) could be toppled from his throne, after which the Promethean spirit would spread to all mankind. No more sovereign, no more slave. Of course, we live in a world that has long since toppled God, but the human condition is no better for it.

To understand Shelley, I try to imagine where his picture of God comes from. It starts with his defiance of his father, compounded by his experiences in authoritarian, often cruel schools of the time, all justified by an appeal to a sovereign God at the top of the pyramid.
I also found it interesting that many of his visions of the world as it could be reminded me of Isaiah and other Hebrew prophets. For all his rejection of God, he had read his Bible well, and scriptural allusions abound.

Of the essays, I enjoyed Abrams on “Prometheus Unbound,” Chayes on “Ode to the West Wind,” and Matthews on Shelley’s Lyrics. Carlos Baker showed me that Shelley’s play, “The Cenci,” might be better than I thought it was when I read it. Finally, there is an annotated bibliography, which I always think is helpful.

If you don’t already own this, you should be aware that a second edition was published in 2002, incorporating the results of ongoing efforts to establish authoritative texts and a new selection of criticism. For that reason, I’ve withheld a fifth star from this edition. show less

Norton editions are always well worth reading.