Topic: Shelley as a lyrical poet.

 Tribute to Shelley: Tareekiyo ko pojne ke rasam hamare yaha he, Roshan dimag ho
mujhe mar denge log.
According to William J. Long; there are three types of people in English Literature.
1. Imaginary: Imaginary or Dreamer, They stumble through a world of reality without
anything it, and are happy with their vision like Blake. (1752-1827).
2. Realistic: Realistic are the people who make the present world a more like the real one
which they see in their vision, like Langland and Wyclif.
3. The third that appears in many form as,
 Visionary, enthusiast, radical, anarchist, revolutionary.

 Shelley’s introduction:
 P.B Shelley is one of the greatest romantic poets of English poetry.
 He was born on august 4, 1792 at field place, near Harsham, Sussex.
 Shelley was the revolutionary idealist, a prophet of hope and faith.
 He was a visionary who dreamed of golden age. Unlike Byron’s genius who was
destructive, Shelley was constructive.
 He started his early education at home, at the age of eight. He joined Brentford.
 Being a lover of liberty and independence, he could not learn from his new school.
 He called himself as one of the dullest men in his establishment.
 Shelley is dissatisfied with the ordinary process of learning.
 Shelley’s reputation as a poet lies mainly in his lyrical power.
 He is in fact that greatest lyrical poet of England.
 As a poet nature, Shelley was inspired by the spirit of love which was not limited to
mankind but extended to every living creature, to animals and flowers, to elements, to the
whole nature.
 His final end came in 1822 when he was only thirty years of age.
 He was drowned while sailing a small boat Ariel off the Italian Coast.

 Shelley’s Personality:
 Shelley was irresistibly handsome, loveable and independent judgment.
 With his large beautiful eyes, long bushy hair, delicate features and strong slender figure,
his whole appearance.
 His own people always compared him with a delicate flower, elegant and slender.
“A flower kept from the light of the day”
Dropped like flower in the breeze.”

 Major works
1. The revolt of Islam.
2. Adonais.
3. Ode to west wind.
4. The defence of poetry.
5. Queen Mab
6. The Skylark
7. The Cloud
  Lyric and Lyricism:
 A Lyric is a fairly shot poem which is the expression of strong feelings of thoughts or
perception of a single speaker in a meditative manner.
 The lyric was originally in Greek Poetry, the kind of poem which was set to the lyre.
 A lyric is a short poem in which single emotion, usually personal, is expressed.
 John Ruskin defines lyric as: (Lyric poetry is the expression by the poet of his own
feelings). The definition shows that lyric is the king of poetry within which great varieties
may exist.
 The Ballad, Ode, Elegy and Sonnet are special forms of the Lyrical Poetry.
 A lyric may be a simple outburst of sincere feelings.
 It may be written as part of play or longer poem.
 Finally, it may be in anyone of number of special stanza forms, such as the sonnet.
 Lyricism is the dominant quality of a lyric which means spontaneous expression of
personal feelings and emotions in a form suitable for being sung.
 To be a lyrical poet, a man must be an introvert, and idealist.
 He should have a mastery over words and meters to achieve a musical effect.

 Shelley, A Great Lyricist:

 Shelley is indeed one of the greatest lyrical poets of England.
 Shelley lyrics reflect upon the highest achievement of romantic poetry.
 The beauty and charm of his lyric have hardly been surpassed by any English poet.
 Ode to the west wind”, “To a skylark”, “To Night” and a number of other lyrics of
Shelley are the treasure of English literature.
 Shelley was highly sensitive and imaginative, especially responsive to lyrical impulses.
Hid poetic genius was lyrical.
 Milton, William Wordsworth, John Keats were lyrical too, but Shelley’s lyrical faculty
was paramount.
 His lyrics are personal as well as impersonal.
 He deals with love, nature, future life, regeneration of mankind, etc.
 His technique is lively and fresh and he revels in it.
 The perfection lies in the fusion of imagery and rhythm in a diction.

 Cazamian said: Shelley’s lyricism is incomparable. In no other, do we find the perfect

sureness, the triumphant rapidity of this upward flight, this soaring height, the super
terrestrial quality as well as poignant intensity of the sounds which fall from these aerial
regions. Truly, never was the soul of poet so spontaneously lyrical.
 We find a great intensity of feeling in his lyrical poem. Other prominent features of his
lyrics are spontaneity of expression, musicality of verse, deep melancholy and
autobiographical elements.

 Variety of Lyrics: Generally speaking Shelley’s lyrics can be classified under four
main heads,
1. Personal lyrics
2. Lyrics of nature
 3. Lyrics of hope
4. Lyrics of liberty
 Love, freedom and nature are the main themes of Shelley’s Poetry. The lyrics of Shelley
admit of a wide range and variety. They are both personal and impersonal. Some of them
are written on the subject of Love, while others are on nature. Regeneration of mankind
and the state of life in the future form the subject-matter of some of his lyrics. Thus
Shelley’s lyrics deal with the poets own personal life, life of nature and the life of
humanity in the present and the future under the impress of love .His personal lyrics are
either the lyrics of love or of liberty and emancipation.

1. Personal Lyrics: Shelley’s Personal lyrics are idealistic in character. His ideals
are many, sometimes we find him in pursuit of death, sometimes in pursuit of
love and sometimes pursuit of a new millennium that he would like to bring
about in this world.
2. Lyrics of Nature: Shelley’s impassioned treatment of nature in his short poems
varied according to the mood he was in. Sometimes he saw her as one and
indivisible, as a spiritual being who through all her forms, while she remained
inconvincible love and unity. He also treats the natural objects symbols for
emotions.
3. Lyrics of Love: Shelley was a poet of love as Keats was a poet of beauty. His
whole life was, as it were, a life dedicated to the quest of love.