Percy Bysshe Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry"



Part I of Percy Bysshe Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry"

Percy Shelley begins his "A Defence of Poetry", by describing reason and imagination and how they differ. According to Shelley, reason in limited and can only refer to things that have already been discussed, but imagination is different from reason, in that it creates new topics to discuss and allows distiction and comparision between reason. According to Shelley, "Reason in to imagination as the instrument to the agent," Reason is a tool used by imagination to discuss that which has not been discussed. Shelley continues his argument stating that Poetry is, "the expression of the imagination". According to Shelley, poetry is the way in which men express unthought ideas and in which they compare reasoning. Then Shelley continues, by stating that, just as a child expresses its amazement toward simple objects, so poetry expresses similar expression toward better objects. Shelley continues his agrument by expanding his analogy and including savages. Shelley states that just as children express their amazement, through their actions, so do savages express their emotions, through their actions. The actions of the savage soon create meaning and become a representation for the objects that the feelings of the savage for that object. Shelley finishes his analogy by stating that as long as two people exist, "the future is contained within the present, as the plant within the seed". Mankind can only grow from where it is, and man's future is determined by what men do to create it. Shelley continues his argument by against stating how men work to imitate the world around them and their reactions to it. Shelley continues stating that all actions have a degree of their success in their methods, by the pleasure of its viewers. Shelley concludes this idea of a degree of success by stating that some methods are better forms of art than others, but poetry is the greatest and grants pleasure to all people who see it. Shelley also states that because poetry is metaphorical it creates reason about that with has not yet been compared or reasoned over. Shelley finishes this point by stating that poets should continue to challenge and redefine thought, because if they do not, they will allow language to "die". Shelley again continues to shift his argument by stating that language in its beginning contains many poets who define the language and lead the language into a larger sense of poetry. Shelley expands this idea by stating that poets not only build the language and art of a society but also its knowledge and its civil society. According to Shelley, poets create all of society. Then Shelley states that poets are both legislatures and prophets, in the idea that they both sustian the present society and also show the future through the present. He actually goes far enough to say that poetry always looks to the future and always has "an attribute of prophecy". Shelley continues this idea of poets looking to the future by stating that the best forms of art are the ones that can always be understood with the same meanings throughout all time, from the time it was written to eternity. Shelley finally concludes his argument by stating that because language is the greatest method for representing actions poetry therefore is the greatest form of art, because it can withstand all time and be understood by all people at all times, with the greatest effectiveness.

Aristotle and Shelley seem to both want art to preform the same purpose. Just as Aristotle writes that art is valued by its ability to refer to the future, so does Shelley write that art should act as imagination and refer to things undescribed, and unreasoned, and should work to show the future through its present. Aristotle mainly talks about how drama in particular should create events that inspire thought and refer to the future of that same drama. Shelley takes this concept a step further stating that poetry should force people to think more deeply, and force them to reason and compare things that have not yet been discovered. "Dare to Know", as Enlightenment writer Immanuel Kant would put it.

In response to Percy Bysshe Shelley's "A Defence of Poetry", one could ask: What would be the act of poetry about something that was previously written? Would not this poetry look to the past instead of the future?

Such poetry does look upon th past but it also will emphasize certain parts of the previous writing and will inherently create new comparisions and ideas which will inspire expansion of future thought. All writing cannnot help but look forward as it will always emphasize and bring into view different ideas to those who wrote them.