Queen Mab (poem)

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Title page of the limited first edition printed by Shelley himself, 1813.
Title page of the limited first edition printed by Shelley himself, 1813.

"Queen Mab; A Philosophical Poem; With Notes" was the first large poetic work written by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the English Romantic poet.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The poem was written early in Shelley's career and serves as a foundation to his theory of revolution. In this work, he depicts a two-pronged revolt involving necessary changes, brought on by both nature and the virtuousness of humans.

Shelley took William Godwin's idea of "necessity" and combined it with his own idea of ever-changing nature, to establish the theory that contemporary societal evils would dissolve naturally in time. This was to be coupled with the creation of a virtuous mentality in people who could envision the ideal goal of a perfect society. The ideal was to be reached incrementally, because Shelley (as a result of Napoleon's actions in the French Revolution), believed that the perfect society could not be obtained immediately through violent revolution. Instead it was to be achieved through nature's evolution and ever-greater numbers of people becoming virtuous and imagining a better society.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mark Sandy, University of Durham. "Queen Mab." The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 Sep. 2002. The Literary Dictionary Company. Accessed 30 November 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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