Style, March 22nd, 1999
Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" uses genre traditions to oppose the potential for becoming staid. The poem balances union and separateness, convention and innovation, and enclosure and effusion as a dialogue between classical hymns.
Richard Cronin has observed that in Shelley's poetry, as in his life and thought, "there is an ever-present drive towards a rejection of conventional controls" countered by the recognition that "controls, systems, conventions, are humanly necessary" (35). These contrary pulls, as Cronin calls them, make Shelley's attitude toward literary ...
HighBeam Research, Free Preview: 'The Spirit of Classical Hymn in Shelley's "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty".'... Full Membership required for unlimited access. Free 7-day trial.
Subscribers: HighBeam content is only available to HighBeam subscribers. Click the link above for more information.
