Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley grew up as a rebel who wanted to have people listen to his ideas and theories on various topics. I read that he was an atheist which really confused while I was reading his poems. I noticed that he like to give higher power to natural things and state that they are spirits. I felt like he was a man looking everywhere for love and passion when I was finished reading his section in our literature book.

In his poem, "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" he talks about the spirit of beauty. This spirit brings a feeling of love and hope to the people it chooses; however, it comes and goes as it pleases. This poem also reflects his atheism through the spirit. He claims that the demons, ghosts, and the heavens are just an attempt for people to explain the effect that the spirit has and them; therefore, he has forgotten about looking for the dead and devoted himself to the spirit. I think that this spirit is supposed to represent human emotion. There are times when people feel happy and loving and those are the times when there seems to be an extra spirit in them; however, all people grow sad sometimes and this is when the so called spirit is gone.

Shelley also refers to a spirit in his poem, "To a Sky-Lark." In this poem, the speaker sees this bird that does not seem like a bird but that of higher power from the heavens. I think this is another attempt for Shelley to reflect his desire for love. He knows that this bird loves all and has never felt any sadness so he wants to learn from it. "Teach us, Sprite or Bird,/ What sweet thoughts are thine." This shows Shelley wanting to learn to love more. He may have had trouble with this love while he was growing up because he was unable to love just one woman and moved from a wife to another to a girlfriend from an open relationship. The speaker of this poem had to learn to accept that fact that no matter what, a mortal will always feel sadness.

In the "Ode to the West Wind", Shelley seems to be not only to feel love as in the other poems but also life and inspiration which is the metaphor for wind. Even though this wind can destroy it can also preserve. The wind is what originally kills the leaves and nature but the spring wind is what returns the life. This wind reflects the way he wants to feel so by saying he wants this wind to take him he is in essence saying that he always wants to be filled with life and inspiration. "As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need./ Oh lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!" After the speaker talks about be taken by the wind, it seems like this speaker comes back to reality. No matter how full of life and inspiration a person may be, it will always be taken at some point. In nature, it is like the winter coming and killing all of life. This poem ends on a good note. "If winter comes, can Spring be far behind." I think this is saying that even when times are bad and a person is not longer filled with the inspiration then spring will always come again.

These were the three poems that stood out to me when I was reading Shelley's work because I felt like they had similar themes. It is easily seen that he does not believe in religion; however, it seems like he believes that every person has a higher power within them. These poems seem to reflect the ideal state that a person can feel but it then shows the reality. A person can not always completely love and feel happiness but some spirit within them will sometimes allow them to feel these emotions.