The works of Percy Bysshe Shelley

[hemial]

First of all I would like to ask for the correct pronounciation of "Bysshe". Thanks for your help.

Second, I would like to ask if there is anyone out there who would discuss Shelley's work with me. I'm not really sure I got what he is writing about since the language seems a bit strange to me. However, he wasn't quite "alright" concerning his brains and mind, was he?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Greetings.

[Virgil]

First, welcome hemial. I hope you like Lit Net. Second, I think, although I can't say with a 100% certainty, it's pronounced, "bish." To my knowledge there was never any question to his sanity or normalcy of his brain. No, he was right in the mind. What makes you say he wasn't? Except for "Ode to the West Wind," which I read every fall ("If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"), I haven't read Shelley much lately. But I have read him in the past, and if therre is a specific poem you would like to discuss, I'll be glad to offer my opinions.

[mady]

Actually i'm working on shelley's poem: the question
i've got many dicculties to understand the meaning of this poem, so i would like to know what paradox is concerns its title in relation to the rest of the text (the effects)? what kind of relationship between man and nature is thus established? what elements (concret) occupy most of the natural scene surrounding the poet? why does the poet call "the visionary flowers" of line 33 "children of the hours"? what does he try to bind and imprison them for? what do they metaphorically stand for? what parallels are drawn between dreams and a spring day? :confused:

[sherrera]

My interest is in Lord Byron, not least because he spent his childhood, in straightened circumstances, in my home town of Aberdeen in Scotland - in fact he learned to swim in our local river, the Don, before going on to regularly swim up the Grand Canal in Venice holding a flaming torch to light his way! However given their friendship I couldn't help also coming across Shelley. They were close, if sometimes uncomfortable, friends and Byron was present on the beach at Via Reggio in Italy when Shelley's drowned body was washed up and cremated.

On a visit to Rome my husband and I tracked down a number of references to both poets - in fact Shelley's body (all but his heart which they say had refused to burn and which lies in St Peter's Churchyard, Bournemouth in England), is buried in the Protestant Cemetary in Rome (sounds like a depressing place, actually well worth a visit and one of the most tranquil, beautiful spots in the city, full of friendly feral cats and greenery and a pyramid "folly" built during Roman times - John Keats is also buried there...I digress).

The relationship between the two men was complicated, sometimes dangerous and certainly unconventional. That is hardly surprising. It makes an interesting background read and may help in your studies of Shelley and your quest to understand his writing.

There is a fun story I love - Shelley would enter "atheist" as his occupation in hotel registers, scandalous indeed for the age, knowing that the ever so slightly more conventional Byron would travel that way some time later and spot it!

Anyway, good luck with your studies. I have found over my years of reading poetry that the meaning to you of some poems changes with your own circumstances, some becoming clearer and some more opaque.

[YoYo]

Need help on Shelley's poem:When the lamp is shattered

I'm trying to translate this poem into Chinese.But the lanuage in this poem seems a bit strange to me. Please give me your opinion to help me better understand it. Thanks!

When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.
Q:"When the lips have spoken" sounds quite strange to me. Is it a common way to say in English? What does it mean then?

When hearts have once mingled
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
Q:How do you think about this sentence? Does it mean that "love" lives in a nest and she will leave the nest to follow the hearts once they are mingled?

The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
Q:What is "one" here refer to? the heart?

O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?
Q: I can't find "bewailest" in dictionary. bewail - bewailest, is that the transformation used by the poet?
What is "you" here refer to? the love?
What is "the frailest" here refer to? the heart?

Its passions will rock thee,
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
Q: Does here the "Its" refer to the heart also? and "thee" here refer to love?

Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
Q:How to interpret "bright reason" here? What parallels are drawn between "thee" and "the sun from a wintry sky"?

From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter
Q: How to interprete the "eagle home" here?

And if you know the background of this poem, pls. share with me. I guess that the poet is sighing for the frailty of love in this poem. What is your thought about it?

Looking forward to hearing from you! Thanks~~

[mono]

Hello, YoYo, and welcome to the forum. :) I will see if I can help . . .

When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.
Q:"When the lips have spoken" sounds quite strange to me. Is it a common way to say in English? What does it mean then?
Firstly, no, though I love the Romantic poets, none of their expressions seem at all common in English. "When the lips have spoken," to me, seems merely a fancy, Romantic manner of saying "when one speaks." In comparing these two lines with the preceding lines:

When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead -
When the cloud is scattered,
The rainbow's glory is shed.
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
In essence, Percy Shelley intends on writing that when ideal communication seems established between two individuals, they of course speak with their lips, but the word "accent," I think, more refers to any differences between the two (or more) individuals.

When hearts have once mingled
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
Q:How do you think about this sentence? Does it mean that "love" lives in a nest and she will leave the nest to follow the hearts once they are mingled?
Precisely, yes. I agree with your interpretation. Though it has a bit of a Cupid-like manner of writing, of love "following mingled hearts," but only following for the hearts perfection, as noted in the lines following this quote:

The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
Q:What is "one" here refer to? the heart?
The "one" refers to the weaker heart. Surely, assuming each individual person has a different degree and capacity of expression and love, Shelley suggests that love will more carefully nurture "choosing the frailest / For your cradle, your home, and your bier."

O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?
Q: I can't find "bewailest" in dictionary. bewail - bewailest, is that the transformation used by the poet?
What is "you" here refer to? the love?
What is "the frailest" here refer to? the heart?
"Bewailest," indeed, comes from an older style of English, commonly used by the termed Romantic poets, merely meaning to bewail (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bewail): to cry over, or lament. Yes, "you" refers to love, making a slight personification of love; and "the frailest," indeed, refers to the termed "weaker" heart.

Its passions will rock thee,
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
Q: Does here the "Its" refer to the heart also? and "thee" here refer to love?
Correct; in my opinion, "its" refers to the heart, and "thee" refers to love.

Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
Q:How to interpret "bright reason" here? What parallels are drawn between "thee" and "the sun from a wintry sky"?
Shelley, here, creates a dichotomy, claiming that reason (often praised as "bright" in the Romantic age of poetry) would, in a way, scold love for taking preference of a weaker heart over a stronger heart. The parallel exists that "bright reason" would protest love for caring for a weaker heart just like how the sun may brightly dominate over a gloomy winter sky.

From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter
Q: How to interprete the "eagle home" here?
Just as a nest will carry something, often utilized by birds in a Realist sense, Shelley, I think, may suggest that love, too, may rely on something, though the poet leaves it as something rather unknown. He chooses "the eagle" perhaps for its independence, beauty, and the fact of a bird occupying a nest. As that which one relies on disappears (as love relies on "the eagle"), one may seem left to solitude and increasing sudden independence. "The eagle," however, just a thought, may also refer to the "weaker heart" that love may have tended to strength, explaining some of the laughter after the once "weak" heart - a sense of accomplishment for strengthening a heart.

And if you know the background of this poem, pls. share with me. I guess that the poet is sighing for the frailty of love in this poem. What is your thought about it?
Unfortunately, I do not know the background of this particular poem; so much that Percy Shelley wrote, I have difficulty trying to keep up with all of his incredible poetry. I agree with your interpretation that the poet suggests the frailty of love, perhaps relying on something unknown, but also the frailty of some hearts; in my opinion, as "the eagle" may represent a weak heart tended to strength, Shelley may suggest a mutual dependency between the heart and love - without love, the heart cannot strengthen, and without the heart, love would have no utilization.
I hope I helped, YoYo, and good luck! ;)

[YoYo]

Hi Mono, thanks very much for your time and help. You do help me a lot and render me a new perspective to understand this poem. I think it is a good way to learn poems through discussions. And I find quite some interesting points from your answers. Will take more time to dig in this poem and share what I find with you then. Thanks again for your help.

[hayati]

Any thoughts on this poem?

It seems to me it's all about change. he seems to be suggesting that Autumn is vilent in nature, but necessarily so. It has to shake away everything from the old summer before any thought about a new year can begin.

He also seems to be asking for some of the same power of Autumn, power in his words, his work.

Is he arguing that change in society will have to be as brutal as Autumn, before anything as sweet as spring can happen?

[jjmami]

I'm working on an assignment which requires that I gather several different opinions on the poem "Song ToThe Men of England" Can anyone help me? THANKS!

[annanya_07]

First, welcome hemial. I hope you like Lit Net. Second, I think, although I can't say with a 100% certainty, it's pronounced, "bish." To my knowledge there was never any question to his sanity or normalcy of his brain. No, he was right in the mind. What makes you say he wasn't? Except for "Ode to the West Wind," which I read every fall ("If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"), I haven't read Shelley much lately. But I have read him in the past, and if there is a specific poem you would like to discuss, I'll be glad to offer my opinions.[/QUOTE]

PLEASE COULD ME HELP WITH THE POEM THE CLOUD BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLY

i have this English project for my school paper and i need information on this poems background, also if possible a summary on it as well.

it would be great if you could reply as soon as possible
thank you