Shelley’s First Major Lyrics and "Prometheus Unbound"
Shelley’s First Major Lyrics and "Prometheus Unbound"

Summary/Abstract: The paper reconsiders Shelley's first remarkable lyric achievements, "Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude", "A Hymn to Intellectual Beauty", and "Mont Blanc", which preceded and led to his great period and the publication of the lyric drama Prometheus Unbound, unanimously acclaimed as his masterpiece. The three poems and the drama are discussed here with an attempt to unravel those qualities of Shelley's mind, which created images that both fascinate and elude a complete grasp, a mind that moved freely in the realm of abstract ideas, which still carry us away as profoundly human and real. The relevance of Shelley's revolutionary idealism at the end of the millenium deserves, it appears to me, more respect, or, at least, more critical attention than any of the Great Romantics.

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