‘The Lucifer of that Starry Flock’
Shelley in Purgatorio
The first version of Keats's Hyperion may have had influence on Shelley's the Triumph of Life. Although the ‘shape all light’ in Rousseau's narrative in Shelley's work seemed to disappear, it became manifest in a certain ‘day appearing dream’. This appears to have certain parallels to the ‘ waking dream’ expressed by Coleridge wherein efforts are made to merge transcendent truth with realities. Although this poem shows how some features appear to be masked, the features are on the contrary revealed more clearly. The main issue in Shelley's poem thus involves whether the actual world hides the world of forms or whether the truth is shown through actual things. This chapter finds that Shelley adopted Dante's style revealed through Virgil's role as a predecessor, the realm created by Purgatorio, and the detachment through the afterlife status and nuances of terza rima.
Keywords: Shelley, Triumph of Life, realities, transcendent truth, Purgatorio, detachment, afterlife, terza rima
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