Percy Bysshe Shelley

This volume brings together important new readings of Shelley’s poetry by British critics. All of the contributors are aware of Shelley’s controversial political views, and assume from the outset an engaged political consciousness which informs every part of his work. But the primary intention in this collection is to provide positive reassessment of Shelley’s achievements and distinctive qualities as a writer. Included are detailed readings of the lyric poetry, the longer visionary narratives, and also the topical literary-political works. There are informed discussions of the local social and cultural circumstances in which some of Shelley’s best-known poems were written.In the poet’s bi-centenary year, these readings are offered in a spirit of celebration and appreciation of a writer whose primary importance lies, not in his ideas, or his life, or his contexts, but in his status as a major English poet. Contributors: VINCENT NEWEY, KELVIN EVEREST, TIMOTHY WEBB, RICHARD CRONIN, EDWARD LARRISSY, BERNARD BEATTY and MICHAEL O’NEILL. This volume brings together important new readings of Shelley’s poetry by British critics. The emphasis of the collection falls firmly on literary criticism, rather than on the social-historical contexts of Shelley’s work, or on the various theoretical debates in which Shelley has over recent years been appropriated by opposed camps. All of the essays are, of course, aware of these contexts, and some of them draw on ideas and material which are essentially contextual. There are informed discussions of the local social and cultural circumstances in which some of Shelley’s best-known poems were conceived and written. There is also an alertness to difficulties and theoretical problems implicit in the complex transmission history of the text of Shelley’s poetry; no-one working today on Shelley can ignore these difficulties, and some of the work in this collection addresses directly the theoretical and practical questions which they pose. All of the contributors are also well aware of Shelley’s controversial political views, and assume from the outset an engaged political consciousness which informs every part of the poet’s work. But the primary intention in this collection is to provide positive reassessment of Shelley’s achievements and distinctive qualities as a writer. There are detailed readings of the lyric poetry, the longer visionary narratives, and also the frankly topical literary-political works which are so