: The psychology of the poet Shelley by Barnard Guy Christian Carpenter Edward - Shelley Percy Bysshe 1792-1822 Psychology; Poetry Authorship Psychological aspects; Poets English 19th century Psychology

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s the age-long prophecy of the ultimate redemption of mankind.

Her cave was stored with scrolls of strange device Which taught the expiations at whose price Men from the gods might win that happy age, Too lightly lost, redeeming native vice; And which might quench the earth-consuming rage Of gold and blood--till men should live and move Harmonious as the sacred stars above.

And so we find that the double-natured one, the Hermaphrodite, was bidden extend his storm-outspeeding wings, till the vision of the coming redemption should at last descend upon the earth, while at the same time with regard to the lady witch herself it is said:

With motion like the spirit of that wind Whose soft step deepens slumber, her light feet Past through the peopled haunts of human kind, Scattering sweet visions from her presence sweet Through fane and palace-court, and labyrinth mined With many a dark and subterranean street ...

Finally, even the soldiers have visions, they dream that they are beating their swords into plough-shares!

The third point that I wish to emphasise is the conclusion, derived from modern psycho-sexual studies, that delusions and mental aberrations can frequently be traced to some disturbance or repression of an intimate love-passion.

One concludes that Shelley certainly attracted the devotion of his men friends; and on the other hand, that he was capable of warm and faithful attachment to them, some of them.

It will be remembered that in the last-mentioned poem, when the Wizard-lady steps into the boat which is destined to bear her through all the Kingdoms of the Earth, she brings to birth there :

A living Image which did far surpass In beauty that bright shape of vital stone Which drew the heart out of Pygmalion. A sexless thing it was, and in its growth It seemed to have developed no defect Of either sex, yet all the grace of both.

And ever as she went the Image lay With folded wings and unawakened eyes And o'er its gentle countenance did play The busy dreams, as thick as summer flies.

It is quite possible, and, indeed, probable, that Shelley, who was an omnivorous reader, had already come across suggestions in this direction. Plato alone would have given him much food for thought. The god Dionysus, one of the very finest figures in the Greek mythology, and one whose features have often been compared with those of Christ, is frequently represented as Androgyne . Apollo is portrayed in the sculptures with a feminine--sometimes extremely feminine--figure. The great hero Achilles passed his youth among women, and in feminine disguise. And so on, and so on.

In large schools all sorts of soul-shattering experiences occur and recur--violent enthusiasms, insane jealousness, bitter hatreds, rivalries, sexual outrages, and so forth. There are two very common results: one attraction, the other repulsion.

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