Percy Bysshe Shelley belonged to the second-generation Romantics
and was distinguished by his atheism, unconventional lifestyle and radical
political attitude. He drew no essential distinction between poetry and
politics, and his works reflected the radical ideas and revolutionary optimism
of an era which was often referred to as the “age of revolutions. ... This
paper attempts to discuss Shelley as a poet-philosopher, as seen in his three
poems: “Hymn to Intellectual beauty”, “Ode to the West Wind” and “Ode to
Liberty” and his prose works like A Defence of Poetry and A Philosophical View of Reform. The
essay is divided into two parts for this purpose. The first part will analyse
Shelley’s poetry with its distinct treatment of nature elements and his use of
the ode form. The second part will examine his philosophy on themes of
conventional religion, change and revolution and the role of a poet as a
prophet-visionary.
