One of the most ambitious dramatic poems ever written, Percy Bysshe
Shelley's Prometheus Unbound tells the story of the Titan Prometheus who
gave mankind the secret of fire in open defiance to the decrees of Zeus,
and who, as punishment for this generosity, was chained to the Caucasus
Mountains and exposed to horrible tortures. Inspired by the Prometheus
Bound of Aeschylus, Shelley's play serves as a sort of sequel, matching
its Greek predecessor in stature and pure poetic power. It depicts its
philanthropist hero's ultimate triumph over the superstition and bigotry
of the gods. As Shelley himself stated in his Defence of Poetry,
Prometheus Unbound awakens and enlarges the mind.