![]() ![]() But Shelley’s argument is more closely keyed into his own time, and emphasises some key aspects of Romanticism as a literary movement, and the importance of the poet as a figure in that movement. Shelley’s was not the first great defence of poetry as an art form, and probably the most notable precursor in English literature is Sir Philip Sidney’s ‘An Apology for Poetry’, from the 1580s. We have discussed this famous last line in more detail in a separate post. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. ![]() ![]() Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present the words which express what they understand not the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire the influence which is moved not, but moves. ![]() Shelley concludes his essay with the rousing and famous words: Responding to Peacock, Shelley argues that the poet’s purpose is utilitarian, since poetry ‘lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world’, and has a moral purpose. He sees the medieval poet Dante (1265-1321) as the ‘bridge’ between the ancient and modern world. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |