The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1908-02-06
Shelley

Paper Read Before the Chlatauqua Circle. |
1T is not the purpose of this paper
to treat at very great length of
Shelley the man, but it will be
necessary to briefly indicate the
conditions of the time in which he
lived, in order to obtain reasonably
accurate perspective.
1t was an age, then, of Revolution
In government, in thought, and even in
the world of letters. The American
Revolution had been the first symptom
of the awakening of the people, but !
America was too far off and too much
misunderstood to do more than strike |
the opening chord. The French Revo-
luton, however, set all men dreaming |
wild dreams OF liberty, equality, fra
ternity and the regeneration of man.
The thoughts of all the great poets
were turned to France, and they wit
messed, with feelings by turns exalted
and depressed, her awakening from
the sleep of misgovernment, the mis-
taken violence of her leaders and her
apparent retrogression!
In all these dreams, Shelley took
part, and where colder and more clear
sighted men saw mere change of
forms, he saw the regeneration of man.
kind fact soon to be realized. We
see now clearly enough that he was
utterly mistaken, that the process. If
going on at all, is as slow as the move
ment of glacier, but he who dreamed
euch dreams is none the less worthy of
honor.
The recorded experiences of Shelley
at Eton and Oxford furnish clue to
his whole career. In the custom of
~faggiDg" which the average English
boy considers as natural and we'll
founded as the American boy does
that of "hazing," he saw nothing but
brutal tyranny. Turning from his
own experience to the current of life
about him, he perceived only too much
OF the same spirit. Whatever the
present government of England may
be, at that time the administration of
government was in the hands of cor
rupt oligarchy, presided over by mon
arch whom Thackeray in his Four
Georges actually fatters. 1t is little
to be wondered at that a man of such
innate sympathy with the oppressed as
Shelley, should conceive an aversion
not only for the State as then consti-
tated but also for the Church, with
which it was inextricably bound up.
1t is also quite natural that the poet
having cut sdrift from the convention.
category lies, without doubt, the most
serious blemish OH his character, his
desertion OF his irst wife. Relying
solely, as he had to, on his own judg
ment of right and wrong, it is easy fol
us to understand how easily he was
misled into conceiving it tactually hii
duty to snatch at the pleasure whict
fate threw in his path. The andepend
ence of Shelley is, of course, one Of hi
most striking traits, and characterize
especially the long poems of his youth
"Queen Mab," and 1.-THE Revolt Of Is
lam" which are invaluable, not q
poetry, but as indices of his character
In both of these works he proclaimed
q horror of tyranny, of faith and 0
custom, and at the same time a tran
scendent belief in the future of hu
manity. In "Queen NAB" written a
. very early age and without the mas
terry of words which ever after distir
guished his poetry, theories aud ism
run rampant. And alth0 he never r.
nounced any of them, his whole lii
thereafter shows q gradual broader
ing of ideas and narrowing of restrit
ti0ns.
In "The Revolt of Islsm," written
the metre of Spenser's Faerie Quee
there is much that is pure poetry an
much that is, as before, pure didact
clam. The story is simple; it cor
memorates the revolt of mankiI
from oppression, their re-enslavemel
and final triumph, and, OF course, 9
the virtues are on the side of the p
.triots, Utopian condition of affai
which, With our greater experience