Literary Analysis of Mutability by Shelley - Research Paper Example

4 November Literary Analysis Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote the poem en d ‘Mutability’ in the year 1772 in the form of a lyrical poem withholding an indifferent tone. He was a poet of the romantic era and based his work in a similar fashion. If one begins to literally analyze the poem, a great deal of imagery, similes and metaphors may be extracted. Throughout the poem, words like clouds, darkness, midnight, moon, night etc help in providing meaning to the reader with regard to what the poet wants to say. His emotions begin to differentiate themselves in the third stanza of the poem where beauty is depicted in a sad and not so joyful manner. (Wise, Louise) At its inception, the poet places both humans and nature on the same physical platform in the poem, by talking about humans as ‘clouds’, meaning human beings being a very ephemeral part of life as they disappear just like clouds do and thus the other words to describe the human race are words like darkness that fades away every now and then, and the night which is again a very temporary part of the day. Human agency thus is compared to something that does not last forever and even compared to a ‘forgotten lyre’ or an ancient Greek musical instrument that has long been forgotten. Shelley’s comparisons have been made in order to emphasize on the mutable condition of life or the evergreen and eternal human condition of change which can be understood as being mutable. As mentioned in a particular source, ‘this is both a natural condition, such as the clouds that are one minute here and the next minute there, “restlessly speeding, gleaming, quivering, and streaking across the dark night” only to be soon thereafter “lost forever,” on the one hand, and a human-caused phenomenon, such as a lyre, “whose strings give a various response to various blasts” and on which no new “modulation sounds like the last.” The point is that all things, natural or created, are always changing. Nothing is constant.’ (Percy Shelley: Poems Summary and Analysis) It may be understood quite early on by reading the poem that the poetic technique or form used to describe ‘mutability’, a poem that is “brief and discontinuous, emphasizing sound and pictorial imagery rather than narrative or dramatic movement” (Frye, Northrop, Joseph Adamson, and Jean Wilson). Most romantic poets make use of this very technique for example Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge, apart from Shelley, in order to help the readers understand the stance of human beings in the universe with the use of natural similes and imagery. Understanding the analysis better, the dimension of human thoughts and emotions has been talked about in the third stanza of Shelley’s poem. Here he make a reference to the awake and sleeping state of mind of a human being and the times during which he visits the garden of his thoughts which decide the injection of positive and negative thoughts. He introduces the stanza by talking about the thoughts that occur in a person’s mind when he is asleep ‘we rest’ or when he is awake ‘we rise’ by describing their ever changing nature. Sometimes these thoughts may wander so much that they may pollute the entire mind by a process of making the individual over think and at other times, the thoughts of a person in his subconscious mind which may poison the person’s sleep by hosting a bad dream. (Lisa) Shelley thus states how a person’s thoughts have tremendous power to determine and ascertain his state of happiness at any given point of day. Thoughts can even help a person ‘laugh or cast our cares away’ (Shelley, P. B) thereby stating that a person has no control over the mutability of his mind which keeps changing and is never a constant. Furthermore, Shelley provides a political dimension to his poem by stating that thoughts of an individual could be ‘free’. Political examples like the backdrop of the French revolution may be used in order to understand the historical context in which the poem has been written. The revolution in France in the last century has been one of the most important events to have taken place and has led to changing the stability of the country in terms of its political and territorial contours. It can easily be seen that the word the poet uses to rhyme ‘morrow’ with is ‘sorrow’ referencing to a brighter future. He says that with darkness in our lives today or sorrow and pain, the tomorrow that comes will be a better and brighter day, shining with a new hope, lingering on the lines of everything eventually changing and nothing remaining a constant. “Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow.” (Shelley, P. B) In this sense, in politics just as within a person’s own mind, looking for eternal stasis and sustainability is a lost cause. Yet another train of thought analyzing the poem looks on at the human conditions of narcissism and vanity which are rampant in the world and quite vividly present in human beings. In the very first stanza, the poet writes ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ hinting at the clouds that pass the human eye once and are then lost forever because of their temporary nature. On a similar note, he talks about the ‘forgotten lyre’ telling the reader how an emotion can be forgotten if not paid any heed to. Moreover, an interpretation of the same sees itself in the responsiveness of human nature referring to human beings plucking at each other’s heart strings or tugging at one another’s emotions, leading to thus grabbing their attention and making them behave in a particular manner. The poet is trying to make the point of permanency here by saying that only those human beings that make a significant change in the world are remembered and others forgotten like passing clouds and musical instruments, especially when they die. Mutability thus is a wonderful poem which may be perceived in both a positive and a pessimistic manner with the main focus on the never eternal frame of mind and perception of any aspect of the universe. Annotated Bibliography "Percy Shelley: Poems Summary and Analysis." Percy Shelley: Poems Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "Mutability" N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. . Shelley compares the ethereal life of a man to nature and talks about the similarities and differences that the mortality of the two aspects of life possess. the poet's views on imagery and an analysis of the literary terms have been provided in a most efficient manner, focusing on the meaning of each and every word. Frye, Northrop, Joseph Adamson, and Jean Wilson. The Secular Scripture and Other Writings on Critical Theory, 1976-1991. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2006. Print. The excerpt helps in understanding the poetic techniques used. In “lyrical poetry” generally, the poet is speaking to himself, musing, or asking rhetorical questions to an unknown third party, not necessarily addressing the reader. Finally, the lyric usually takes the form of the rhyming couplet, with an abab cdcd efef ... pattern, just as Shelley does here (moon/quiver/soon/ever ...). Shelley uses the similes to draw us into the natural and artificial worlds (“We are as clouds”; “Or like forgotten lyres). Shelley, P. B. The Lyrics and Shorter Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley. London: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1907. Print. The poem as a reference assists in a complete understanding of certain words and their meanings as used figuratively. Lines used from the poem have been quoted from the very source and the same helps in giving a deeper and more profound comprehension of the underlying theme of constancy. By reading the poem and quoting words, the tone of the poem is also better understood in respect of the vicious cycle that man creates which an individual has no choice but to embrace it himself. Lisa. "Featured Poem: Mutability by Percy Bysshe Shelley." The Reader Online. N.p., 9 Apr. 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. . This poem keeps the reader going back to it time and again because of the different meanings that it highlights each time. It is both uncomfortable and reassuring – the ‘single dream’ that has the potency to ‘poison sleep’, like the ‘wandering thought that pollutes the day’ too easily soil experience, yet the mutability of the poem’s feeling emphasises that these unsettling moods quickly pass. The vivid and explicit expressions used within the poem like the music of the poem, the ‘dissonant blast’ punching through the second stanza jarring against the quiet stillness of the first provide an exceptional character to the lingering shape of the same. Wise, Louise. "Percy Shelley Stands Out Among Romantic Poets." Yahoo! Contributor Network. N.p., 25 Feb. 2009. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. . Shelley's romantic nature with respect to poetry has been described and talked about which influences the manner in which he talks about human nature and the various emotions that are juggled within it. This article is important in understanding the nature of the poet; the characteristics of which help in a deeper comprehension of the poem; by understanding the poet, one can understand the idea of hidden despair that form a main focus of sorts in most of his poems, which further help in understanding a stance to take in writing an analysis. Read More