Writing to his publisher in 1813, Shelley expressed the hope that two of his major works should form one volume; nearly two centuries later, the second volume of the Johns Hopkins edition of The Complete Poetry fulfills that wish for the first time. This volume collects two important pieces: Queen Mab and The Esdaile Notebook. ... The poems are presented as Shelley intended, with textual variants included in footnotes. Following the poems are extensive discussions of the circumstances of their composition and the influences they reflect; their publication or circulation by other means; their reception at the time of publication and in the decades since; their re-publication, both authorized and unauthorized; and their place in Shelley's intellectual and aesthetic development. --Johns Hopkins University Press.
A milestone in literary scholarship, the publication of the Johns Hopkins edition of The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley makes available for the first time critically edited clear texts of all poems and translations that Shelley published or circulated among friends, as well as diplomatic texts of his significant incomplete poetic drafts and fragments. Edited upon historical principles by Donald H. Reiman and Neil Fraistat, the multi volume edition will offer more poems and fragments than any previous collective edition, arranged in the order of their first circulation. These texts are followed by the most extensive collations hitherto available and detailed commentaries that describe their contextual origins and subsequent reception. Rejected passages of released poems appear as supplements to those poems, while other poetic drafts that Shelley rejected or left incomplete at his death will be grouped according to either their publication histories or the notebooks in which they survive. Volume One includes Shelley's first four works containing poetry (all prepared for publication before his expulsion from Oxford), as well as "The Devil's Walk" (circulated in August 1812), and a series of short poems that he sent to friends between 1809 and 1814, including a bawdy satire on his parents and "Oh wretched mortal," a poem never before published. An appendix discusses poems lost or erroneously attributed to the young Shelley. "These early poems are important not only biographically but also aesthetically, for they provide detailed evidence of how Shelley went about learning his craft as a poet, and the differences between their tone and that of his mature short poetry index a radical change in his self-image... The poems in Volume I, then, demonstrate Shelley's capacity to write verse in a range of stylistic registers. This early verse, even in its most abandoned forays into Sensibility, the Gothic, political satire, and vulgarity—perhaps especially in these most apparently idiosyncratic gestures—provides telling access to its own cultural moment, as well as to Shelley's art and thought in general."—from the Editorial Overview -- Jack Stillinger, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume II (1914) compiles some of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s best-known works as a leading poet, playwright, and political thinker of the nineteenth century. As a leading figure among the English Romantics, Shelley was a master of poetic form and tradition who recognized the need for radical change in the social order. His work has influenced such writers and intellectuals as Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, W. B. Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. In “Ozymandias,” Shelley employs the language of archaeology to mask one of the greatest political poems of all time. The sonnet depicts a statue of an ancient king discovered in the Egyptian desert. Barely visible above the shifting sand, its pedestal reads “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’” Juxtaposed with this language of bluster, the three remaining lines dispel the myth of power with expert precision: “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay / Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare / The lone and level sands stretch far away.” For Shelley, who identifies with the knowing, mischievous sculptor, the dominion of kings is nothing but hubris, a grain of sand in the vast expanse of time. In “To a Skylark,” Shelley immortalizes the song of a bird heard once and remembered forever: “The blue deep thou wingest, / And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.” As he longs to know the bird in order to mimic the celebratory nature of its song, Shelley reaches an understanding of the human condition, the tragic temperament of those who “look before and after, / And pine for what is not.” Unlike the poet, who must struggle to achieve his song, the skylark soars and sings and remains above the world of men, whose “sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.” With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume II is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III (1914) compiles some of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s best-known works as a leading poet, playwright, and political thinker of the nineteenth century. As a leading figure among the English Romantics, Shelley was a master of poetic form and tradition who recognized the need for radical change in the social order. His work has influenced such writers and intellectuals as Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, W. B. Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. In this final volume of Shelley’s collected works, the poet’s skill as a translator is on full display. Included within are translations from the Greek of Homer and Plato, from the Latin of Vergil, from the Spanish of Calderon, from the German of Goethe, and from the Italian of Dante, to name only a few. In addition, The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III contains some of Shelley’s earliest works as a poet, such as Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire—written with his sister and originally published in 1810—and other examples of juvenilia. Many of these poems remained unpublished upon Shelley’s death, including “Eyes: A Fragment,” which made its first appearance in an 1870 edition of Shelley’s works published by William Michael Rossetti. In this poem, a deceptively simple lyric, Shelley conflates language and vision to capture the communication made possible only through silence, which allows one “look [to] light a waste of years, / Darting the beam that conquers cares / Through the cold shower of tears.” In these fragments, songs, translations, and youthful verses, Shelley demonstrates his workmanlike ability with language, a tirelessness fueled with a passion as thrilling as it must be rare. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III (1914) compiles some of Percy Bysshe Shelley's best-known works as a leading poet, playwright, and political thinker of the nineteenth century. As a leading figure among the English Romantics, Shelley was a master of poetic form and tradition who recognized the need for radical change in the social order. His work has influenced such writers and intellectuals as Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, W. B. Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. In this final volume of Shelley's collected works, the poet's skill as a translator is on full display. Included within are translations from the Greek of Homer and Plato, from the Latin of Vergil, from the Spanish of Calderon, from the German of Goethe, and from the Italian of Dante, to name only a few. In addition, The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III contains some of Shelley's earliest works as a poet, such as Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire--written with his sister and originally published in 1810--and other examples of juvenilia. Many of these poems remained unpublished upon Shelley's death, including "Eyes: A Fragment," which made its first appearance in an 1870 edition of Shelley's works published by William Michael Rossetti. In this poem, a deceptively simple lyric, Shelley conflates language and vision to capture the communication made possible only through silence, which allows one "look [to] light a waste of years, / Darting the beam that conquers cares / Through the cold shower of tears." In these fragments, songs, translations, and youthful verses, Shelley demonstrates his workmanlike ability with language, a tirelessness fueled with a passion as thrilling as it must be rare. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume III is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
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