Percy Shelley's "A Defense of Poetry"

Paper Summary:

"A Defense of Poetry" is a systematic argument designed to differentiate between the origins of poetry and prose writing. The portion of the prose work that is addressed in this paper outlines Shelley's beliefs on how poetry reveals, transforms, and influences human thought.

From the Paper:

"Percy Shelley's "A Defense of Poetry" asserts the power of poetry to affect change within the world. Claiming that poetry is "indeed something divine," Shelley indicates that the characteristic ability of the divine to both create and be reflected in all it creates applies unconditionally to poetry. Juxtaposing poetry to other ?knowledge,? Shelley cites it as the generative force of all "systems of thought." The four paragraphs addressed here outline how poetry reveals, transforms and influences human thought, allowing for the recreation of a universe that has been dulled by lack of wonder. Although he admits that the actual poetic inspiration can never be recorded, Shelley suggests that the dissipation of inspiration allows for a self-conscious understanding of the creative faculty. Because self-consciousness can reflect on itself infinitely, transitory inspiration paradoxically attains an immortal and solidified manifestation: Poetry, the material record on inspiration, "creates anew the universe after it has been annihilated in our minds by the recurrence of impressions blunted by reiteration." "

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