Prometheus Unbound Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Bennett Weaver

Critical Essay by Bennett Weaver

SOURCE: "'Prometheus Bound' and 'Prometheus Unbound,'" in PMLA, Vol. 64, No. 1, March, 1949, pp. 115–33.

In the following essay, Weaver compares Prometheus Unbound with its Greek predecessor, Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus.

Shelley's Prometheus Unbound in many ways might be considered the most significant and characteristic of his works. Yet in this drama the poet himself has pointed out his indebtedness to the Prometheus Bound of Æschylus Able scholars, in turn, have examined the relationship between the English and the Greek plays. Over half a century ago Vera D. Scudder published her study, and in 1908 Richard Ackermann brought out his critical commentary. Among others, W. J. Alexander and A. M. D. Hughes, in editing their selections from the poems of Shelley, noted the parallels between his work and that of Æschylus In more recent times, Carl Grabo has gone beyond the study of Greek-English parallels, and Newman Ivey White...
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