“Forcing some lone ghost […] to render up the tale of what we are”: The Evolution of Traditional Spectral Talks in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Work
Since Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) started his career with Gothic literature, accusatory ghosts entered his poetry very early, but as the poet grew up and experienced the deaths of loved ones, the Gothic thrill soon gave way to a more composed “converse” with the “departed dead,” in order to unf...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires du Midi
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Caliban: French Journal of English Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/caliban/13866 |
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| Summary: | Since Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) started his career with Gothic literature, accusatory ghosts entered his poetry very early, but as the poet grew up and experienced the deaths of loved ones, the Gothic thrill soon gave way to a more composed “converse” with the “departed dead,” in order to unfold some “deep truth.” This paper analyses the evolution of Shelley’s “high talk” with the dead, by considering the various ghost traditions in his poetry, Gothic, Ossianic, Homeric, Shakespearian or philosophical. It attempts to determine why spectral conversation is an apt poetic metaphor, although the poet rejected religious superstition, to deal with such high themes as Intellectual Beauty. |
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| ISSN: | 2425-6250 2431-1766 |