Percy Bysshe Shelley

Christian Griepenkerl (1839-1916) Befreiung durch Herakles. Photo © Maicar Förlag-GML

Hercules Frees Prometheus

According to this site, it "includes links to online editions of Shelley's poetry, prose, and letters; hypertext critical editions of specific poems; and other Shelley resources currently available on the web." And this one , "includes a select listing of books devoted to criticism and interpretation of Shelley; biographies of Shelley; editions of Shelley's poetry, prose, fiction, and letters; and a select database of over 600 journal and book articles from 1980 to the present." Both sites are a product of the University of Maryland and are a valuable resource for quick access to some of Percy Shelley's writings.

After reading Shelley's "On Love" and the Preface to Prometheus Unbound, Percy I have a strong urge to say Percy Shelley is an idealist with an inclination to express an intense tenderness and commiseration for the human race, as do many romantics-perhaps part of the required qualifications for inclusion.

"On Love" is particularly interesting in paragraph three where Shelley writes, "We see dimly within our intellectual nature a miniature, as it were, of our entire self, yet deprived of all that condemn or despise. . . . To this we eagerly refer all sensations. . ." (1080). There is a connection here to Edmund Burke's idea of beauty/love for another human as being a projection of one's self; although, Shelley furthers the idea to include nature in the absence of humanity.

In the Preface of Prometheus Unbound, I cannot help but think of Urizen. For the most part, Shelley's statement, "the only imaginary being resembling in any degree Prometheus, is Satan" places me on that path of no return; hopefully, the actual text will delve into this subject deeper. Additionally, in the previous statement, Shelley uses the word "imaginary" to place both Prometheus and Satan into the realm of "fiction"--though I hate to use that word when speaking of a poet. Satan as a fictional character also puts forth Shelley's view on religion.