The Witch of Atlas

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language. He received his early education at home, tutored by Reverend Evan Edwards of Warnham. In 1802, he entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford. He was routinely bullied while he was there, both because of his "girlish" appearance and his family's aristocratic ties. Shelley's unconventional life and uncompromising idealism, combined with his strong skeptical voice, made him a notorious and much denigrated figure during his life. Distracted by political events, he visited Ireland in order to engage in radical pamphleteering where he wrote the Address to the Irish People. His activities earned him the unfavourable attention of the British government. His first publication was a Gothic novel, Zastrozzi (1810). He is most famous for such anthology pieces as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind (1819) and To a Skylark (1820). His major works were long visionary poems including Alastor (1815), The Revolt of Islam (1817) and Adonais (1821).

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fantasy, 19th Century, Witches, Romanticism

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1820

About the author

Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, British romantic poet, include "To a Skylark" in 1820; Prometheus Unbound , the lyric drama; and "Adonais," an elegy of 1821 to John Keats.

The Cenci , work of art or literature of Percy Bysshe Shelley of 1819, depicts Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman.

People widely consider Percy Bysshe Shelley among the finest majors of the English language. He is perhaps most famous for such anthology pieces as Ozymandias , Ode to the West Wind , and The Masque of Anarchy . His major long visionary Alastor , The Revolt of Islam , and the unfinished The Triumph of Life .

Unconventional life and uncompromising idealism of Percy Bysshe Shelley combined with his strong skeptical voice to make an authoritative and much denigrated figure during his life. He became the idol of the next two or three generations, the major Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, as well as William Butler Yeats and in other languages, such as Jibanananda Das and Subramanya Bharathy . Karl Marx, Henry Stephens Salt, and [authorm:Bertrand Russell] also admired him. Famous for his association with his contemporaries Lord Byron, he also married Mary Shelley, novelist.

Reviews

[The Phoenix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to it while I cleaned.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Witch of Atlas" is a fantastical, if not flowery, poem which Shelley evidently dedicated to his wife Mary with a few extra stanzas at the beginning addressing her. Now, it's admittedly not strong in its structure concerning plot, but gosh this is interesting at the very core. So a Witch lives on the mountain that Atlas lives on. She makes a hermaphrodite, neither male nor female by classical definition. Various difficult-to-follow adventures ensue. And that's all there really is to it.

So when I did know what was going on, this was a nice little poem. But for the most part, Shelley has a problem when it comes to longer works, which is that he is much too flowery and philosophical to create understandable content. Very lofty stuff, but a little too much.

[Prisoner 071053 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary's complaint that nothing happens in this work betrays a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of this sort of poem. As well to complain that nothing moves in a painting.

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The language used in the poem was quite challenging, although beautiful.

[Keerthi Vasishta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Idealistic and lush. Sparks great comparisons with Keats' La Belle Dame Sans Merci before the Witch in Shelley's Witch of Atlas takes on a contrarion form to what the word 'Witch' would enjoy, playing the role of a trickster Goddess of love and instruction in the ways of tameness.
Shelley also begins to dwell on a distinct kind of androgyny in this poem as type of idealistic form. Worth a visit for enthusiasts of Romanticism for what the poem offers underneath its rather simplistic garb.
Also PB is such a tease, if I were Mary, I'd never be very annoyed at yet another playful verse questioning my judgement on the usage of his time on a 'frivalty' such as 'The Witch of Atlas'. This is contradictory to Mary's opinion on Rosalind and Helen, where she actually wanted PB to finish what he thought was a light and insignificant poem, despite its decent length.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

For what it is, I enjoyed this poem. I think perhaps the most profound or meaningful part for me was the final handful of verses in which the Witch gives dreams to those she observes sleeping. Death undone and injustice turned right. What a beautiful dream made all the more beautiful by the hope of that very promise being fulfilled when all is said and done.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is bizarre and shitty. This is not a lyric but is perhaps his most incomprehensible poem. In this poetic fantasy appear glowing expression and exquisite imagery. To Keats, ‘the Witch is Beauty’: to E. E. Kellett, ‘she is creative Imagination’; to Grabo, ‘the earthly embodiment of love or Venus, the creative power of the universe’. This most horrible poem is composed in ottava rima.

[Rookie Rockstar · Rating 2 out of 5]

"She spoke and wept: the dark and azure well
Sparkled beneath the shower of her bright tears,
And every little circlet where they fell
Flung to the cavern−roof inconstant spheres
And intertangled lines of light:a knell
Of sobbing voices came upon her ears
From those departing Forms, o'er the serene
Of the white streams and of the forest green."

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

光风转蕙百余里，暖雾驱云扑天地。Shelley写这种真和呼吸一样容易啊

[Zvonimir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really breath-taking images

[EIJANDOLUM · Rating 5 out of 5]

The magic circle of her voice and eyes
All savage natures did imparadise.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mercurial. Playful. Fun. Hermaphroditus. Union. Utopian.

[Cassandra]

https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2016/08/...

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

made me feel like I was reading an atlas