The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Volume II (1914)
compiles some of Percy Bysshe Shelley's best-known works as a leading
poet, playwright, and political thinker of the nineteenth century. As a
leading figure among the English Romantics, Shelley was a master of
poetic form and tradition who recognized the need for radical change in
the social order. His work has influenced such writers and intellectuals
as Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, W. B. Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. In
"Ozymandias," Shelley employs the language of archaeology to mask one of
the greatest political poems of all time. The sonnet depicts a statue of
an ancient king discovered in the Egyptian desert. Barely visible above
the shifting sand, its pedestal reads "'My name is Ozymandias, king of
kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'" Juxtaposed with
this language of bluster, the three remaining lines dispel the myth of
power with expert precision: "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay /
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare / The lone and level sands
stretch far away." For Shelley, who identifies with the knowing,
mischievous sculptor, the dominion of kings is nothing but hubris, a
grain of sand in the vast expanse of time. In "To a Skylark," Shelley
immortalizes the song of a bird heard once and remembered forever: "The
blue deep thou wingest, / And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever
singest." As he longs to know the bird in order to mimic the celebratory
nature of its song, Shelley reaches an understanding of the human
condition, the tragic temperament of those who "look before and after, /
And pine for what is not." Unlike the poet, who must struggle to achieve
his song, the skylark soars and sings and remains above the world of
men, whose "sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." With
a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this
edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Complete Poetical Works of Percy
Bysshe Shelley Volume II is a classic of English literature reimagined
for modern readers.
