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description: The Triumph of Life was the last major work by Percy Bysshe Shelley before his death in 1822. The work was left unfinished. Shelley wrote the poem at Casa Magni in Lerici Italy in the early summer of 1822. He modelled the poem written in terza rima on Petrarch's Trionfi and Dante's Divine Comedy. Shelley was working on the poem when he was accidentally drowned on 8 July 1822 during a storm on a voyage from Leghorn. The poem was first published in the collection Posthumous Poems (1824) published in London by John and Henry L. Hunt which was edited by his wife Mary Shelley who emphasised the importance of the work. The theme of the poem is an exploration of the nature of being and reality. For Shelley life itself the painted veil which obscures and disguises the immortal spirit is a more universal conqueror than love death fame chastity divinity or time and in a dream vision he sees this triumphal chariot pass on the storm of its own rushing splendour over the captive multitude of men. Ultimately natural life corrupts and triumphs over the spirit.
language: None
title: The Triumph Of Life
publisher: None