Shelley as a Lyricist

P.B. Shelley (1792-1822) as a Lyricist.				poems where his greatest virtue as a Lyricist lies.
It can be said without any reserve that the genius of				The following poems may be referred in this regard :
English poetry is best manifested in the great				The Constantia Singing, Ozymandias of Egypt, The
Romantic Lyricism of the 18th Century. The Lyricism				Lines written among the Eugene Hills, Stanzas written
became spectacular in the Odes, Sonnets, and elegies				in Dejection, Ode to the west wind, The Cloud, The
of Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Byron and Keats.				Skylark ,Arethusa , World's Wonderers, Music when
The Lyricism of these great Romantic poets is				soft voices die, The Flowers that smiles to-day;
generally deemed unsurpassable either by their				Rarely, Rarely, comes thou; The Lament, One word
illustrious predecessors or by their subsequent				is too often profaned, The Indian Air, The Second
meritorious successors. Romantic poetry is basically				Lament; O world! O Life! O time; Invitation;
Lyrical even when its theme is philosophic, didactic or				Recollection etc.
secular love.				Between 1819 and 1820 he wrote Lyrics like Ode to
A Lyric is a short poem, usually				the West wind, The Cloud, The Skylark , The
divided into stanzas and directly expressing in				Sensitive plant and Ode to Liberty. At that time he
melodious language the thoughts, emotions and				wrote ‘I take great delight in watching the
feelings of the poet himself… It is the crowning				changes in atmosphere'. The play between Cloud and
glory of the subjective poetry. In modern times the				Lightening on the Sky of Orno in Florence in an
range of the Lyric poetry has expanded so far that it				evening gave him the impulse of writing Ode to the
is now identified with the subjective poetry. Originally,				West wind. Subjective elements abounds in the
however, the Lyric meant a song which was sung in				poem. His anguished mind finds expression in the
accompaniment with a Lyre or Harp. This original				following lines:
sense of the lyric being a song is preserved in its				O wind ! lift me
melodious (musical) language and in the intensity of				as a wave , a leaf, a cloud !
emotion or feeling expressed. But whereas , in				I fall upon the
ancient times the Lyric ,like music , was inspired by				thorns of life I bleed.
something external to the poet by such public events				His To a Skylark turns on the single idea which is the
as war, triumph in war, and religious ceremonies, and				contrast between the life of the skylark, an object
as such possessed the objective character , the				of Nature and Human life. This keen sense of
modern Lyric , however, is inspired by something				contrast runs through the whole poem like a thread
within the poet and possesses purely personal				and lends a pathos to the otherwise joyful lyric. The
character. A Lyric proper is actually the product of a				poem was inspired by the song of a real skylark
swift, momentary and passionate impulse. It implies				heard by Shelley and his wife (Mary) near Leghorn in
impulsiveness or subjectivity. Secondly, it turns on to				Italy in 1820. Here Shelley's imagination soars skyward
some single thought, feeling or situation. Thirdly, it is				like the skylark but he does not ignore the palpable
unique in its spontaneity and sincerity. Fourthly, a				facts of human life---
Lyric possesses the element of reflection and last but				We look before and
not the least feature of the Lyric is its music or				after
melody.				And pine for what is
Shelley is considered as the				not,
greatest Lyricist till date. Though he wrote poems of				Our sincerest
all sorts, yet to the readers he is the consummate				laughter
artist of Lyric harmonies. "In none of Shelley's				With some pain is
greatest contemporaries was the Lyrical faculty so				fraught.
paramount and---he was the loftiest and most				The poet wants to know the secret of the bird's
spontaneous singer in our language" writes Symons.				melodious rupture, so he requests--
Earnest Rays in his book Lyric Poetry endorses the				Fetch me half the
opinion of Symons. "Shelley is the Lyric Lord of				gladness
England's Lordliest singers" said Swinburne while				That thy brain must
Rabindranath Thakur Held him as ‘a heavenly				know,
creature both as a poet and as a Man‘ . And ,				Such harmonious
according to Francis Thompson , "He is gold-dusty				madness
with tumbling amidst the stars". His view of a poet in				From my lips would
"A Defence of Poetry"-- ‘A poet is a nightingale				flow.
who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own				The World should
solitude with sweet sounds' suits best for him as				listen--
poet. He is really "A phantom among men;				As I am listening
companionless.(Adonais) Robert Browning called him				now.
"Sun treader"( SURYA-TOPA) in noticing his				In this poem the sadly sweet emotion stirred in him
Nightingale like desire to fly high into the unknown.				by the heavenward flight of the bird comes out in his
English Lyric poetry has been				heart like the spontaneous flow of a river.
developed partly out of indigenous folk-song and				Again, the following lines from The Cloud :
partly under the influence of Greek and Greco-Roman				And the winds and
models. Folk-songs were the utterances of a single				sunbeams with their convex gleams
person where as Classical Lyrics were choral or even				Build up the dome of
orchestra. Shelley's Lyrics, however, contains the				air,
spirit of the both.				I silently laugh at my
The following lines from				own Cenotaph
Prometheus Unbound describes the unpremeditated,				And out of the caverns
effortless and spontaneous quality of Shelley's Lyrics				of rain
and of course, this is his first Lyric poem which				Like a child from the
heralded the emergence of one of the greatest Lyric				womb,
poets in English:				Like a ghost from the
From				tomb,
unremembered ages we				I arise and un build
Gentle guides and				again--reveal the height of musical pitch seems to
guardians be				have been reached .The very words echo the sense.
Of heaven				And we are simply charmed by the music produced
----oppressed mortality;				by them.
And we breathe,				His ‘Stanzas written in
and sicken not,				Dejection Near Naples' ,which is the spontaneous and
The atmosphere				effortless expression of the poet's mood of
of human thought:				despondency contains the pathetic reflection on the
The Classical influence to Shelley came straight from				wretched state of mind and body, culminating in his
the Classics, and he used it with a Greek lucidity and				longing for death. It describes Shelley as a man who
sonority, and yet with all the native music of the				has been doomed to a life of sorrow and suffering
language, to express general ideas that had never				and who wants to cease upon the midnight with no
before been expressed in Lyric poetry:				pain--
Swift as the radiant
shapes of sleep				A forlorn and stranded
From one whose				man on the wilder island of life---
dreams are Paradise				Alas ! I have nor hope
Fly, when the fond				nor health
wretch wakes to weep,				Nor peace within, nor
And Day peers				calm around
forth with her blank eyes				-------------------------
So fleet, so faint, so				Nor fame, nor power,
fair.				nor love, nor leisure.
There is more symmetry and simplicity of form as				These are not only what is personal to Shelley but
well as theme in the closing Chorus. But the music				also what is Universal. We find in Shelley's sad and
has the same clearness, the same swift yet stately				tragic experiences an echo of our own sad
movement:				experiences. Like Shelley's our life ,too, is a long vale
A Loftier Argo				of tears. The repeated rebuffs and buffets of the
cleaves the main				world make our life so miserable and unbearable that
Fraught with a richer				we want that ‘Death, Death like sleep might
prize				steal on' us. Thus Shelley can be viewed as the
Another Orpheus				mouthpiece of the oppressed and miserable
sings again				humanity.
And loves, and				But the Romantic poet is not a defeatist. He is a bold
weeps and dies.				optimist. He hopes for a happy and bright morning
A new Ulysses				after the darkness of night; a happy and luminous
Leaves once more				new beginning after a perilous and catastrophic end.
Calypso for his				So he consoles himself in the lines---
native shore.				O Wind!
Almost all the modes of songs, from the simplest to				If Winter comes, can
the most intricate, are to be found in this poetic epic.				Spring be far Behind .
This Lyrical strain is present in almost all his longer				And finally we can conclude with the fundamental
poems---Prince Athanase, The Witch of Atlas,				Truth of Life as contemplated by the poet :
Rosalind and Helen, Adonais, Alastar, Epipsychidion,				Our sweetest songs are
and the Triumph of Life----but it is in his smaller				those, that tell of saddest thoughts.

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Shelley as a Lyricist