The Cloud (poem)

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1820 edition, C. & J. Ollier, London Clou45.jpg
1820 edition, C. & J. Ollier, London
1820 cover of Prometheus Unbound, C. and J. Ollier, London Prometheuscover.jpg
1820 cover of Prometheus Unbound, C. and J. Ollier, London

"The Cloud" is a major 1820 poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. "The Cloud" was written during late 1819 or early 1820, and submitted for publication on 12 July 1820. The work was published in the 1820 collection Prometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama, in Four Acts, With Other Poems by Charles and James Ollier in London in August 1820. The work was proof-read by John Gisborne. There were multiple drafts of the poem. The poem consists of six stanzas in anapestic or antidactylus meter, a foot with two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable.

Contents

Analysis

The cloud is a metaphor for the unending cycle of nature: "I silently laugh at my own cenotaph/ ... I arise and unbuild it again." As with the wind and the leaves in "Ode to the West Wind", the skylark in "To a Skylark", and the plant in "The Sensitive Plant", Shelley endows the cloud with sentient traits that personify the forces of nature.

In "The Cloud", Shelley relies on the imagery of transformation or metamorphosis, a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth: "I change, but I cannot die." Mutability or change is a fact of physical nature. [1]

Lightning or electricity is the "pilot" or guide for the cloud. Lightning is attracted to the "genii" in the earth which results in lightning flashes. The genii symbolise the positive charge of the surface of the earth while the cloud possesses a negative charge.

British scientist and poet Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin, had written about plant life and science in the poem collection The Botanic Garden (1791) and on "spontaneous vitality", that "microscopic animals are said to remain dead for many days or weeks ... and quickly to recover life and motion" when water and heat are added, in The Temple of Nature (1803). [2] Percy Bysshe Shelley had cited Darwin in his Preface to the anonymously published novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), explaining how the novel was written and its meaning. [3] [4] He argued that imparting life to a corpse "as not of impossible occurrence".

The cloud is a personification and a metaphor for the perpetual cycle of transformation and change in nature. All life and matter are interconnected and undergo unending change and metamorphosis.

Reception

A review of the 1820 Prometheus Unbound collection in the September and October 1821 issues of The London Magazine noted the originality of "The Cloud": "It is impossible to peruse them without admiring the peculiar property of the author's mind, which can doff in an instant the cumbersome garments of metaphysical speculations, and throw itself naked as it were into the arms of nature and humanity. The beautiful and singularly original poem of 'The Cloud' will evince proofs of our opinion, and show the extreme force and freshness with which the writer can impregnate his poetry." [5]

In the October 1821 issue of Quarterly Review, W.S. Walker argued that "The Cloud" is related to Prometheus Unbound in that they are both absurd and "galimatias". [6]

John Todhunter wrote in 1880 that "The Cloud" and "To a Skylark" were "the two most popular of Shelley's lyrics". [7]

In 1889, Francis Thompson asserted that "The Cloud" was the "most typically Shelleyan of all the poems" because it contained "the child's faculty of make-believe raised to the nth power" and that "He is still at play, save only that his play is such as manhood stops to watch, and his playthings are those which the gods give their children. The universe is his box of toys. He dabbles his fingers in the dayfall. He is gold-dusty with tumbling amidst the stars." [8]

1919 movie

On 20 April 1919, a silent black and white movie was released in the US entitled The Cloud which was "a visual poem featuring clouds and landscapes in accompaniment to the words of Shelley's poem 'The Cloud'." The film was directed by W.A. Van Scoy and produced by the Post Nature Pictures company. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ode to the West Wind</span> 1820 ode by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Ode to the West Wind" is an ode, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819 in Cascine wood near Florence, Italy. It was originally published in 1820 by Charles Ollier in London as part of the collection Prometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama in Four Acts, With Other Poems. Perhaps more than anything else, Shelley wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure. Some also believe that the poem was written in response to the loss of his son, William in 1819. The ensuing pain influenced Shelley. The poem allegorises the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution. At the time of composing this poem, Shelley without doubt had the Peterloo Massacre of August 1819 in mind. His other poems written at the same time—"The Masque of Anarchy", Prometheus Unbound, and "England in 1819"—take up these same themes of political change, revolution, and role of the poet.

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<i>Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude</i> Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written from 10 September to 14 December in 1815 in Bishopsgate, near Windsor Great Park and first published in 1816. The poem was without a title when Shelley passed it along to his contemporary and friend Thomas Love Peacock. The poem is 720 lines long. It is considered to be one of the first of Shelley's major poems.

<i>Prometheus Unbound</i> (Shelley) 1820 lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Prometheus Unbound is a four-act lyrical drama by Percy Bysshe Shelley, first published in 1820. It is concerned with the torments of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, who defies the gods and gives fire to humanity, for which he is subjected to eternal punishment and suffering at the hands of Zeus. It is inspired by the classical Prometheia, a trilogy of plays attributed to Aeschylus. Shelley's play concerns Prometheus' release from captivity, but unlike Aeschylus' version, there is no reconciliation between Prometheus and Jupiter (Zeus). Instead, Jupiter is abandoned by his supportive elements and falls from power, which allows Prometheus to be released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hymn to Intellectual Beauty</span>

"Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" is a poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816 and published in 1817.

<i>Proserpine</i> (play) 1832 play by Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley

Proserpine is a verse drama written for children by the English Romantic writers Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary wrote the blank verse drama and Percy contributed two lyric poems. Composed in 1820 while the Shelleys were living in Italy, it is often considered a partner to the Shelleys' play Midas. Proserpine was first published in the London periodical The Winter's Wreath in 1832. Whether the drama was ever intended to be staged is a point of debate among scholars.

"England in 1819" is a political sonnet by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley which reflects his liberal ideals.

<i>Mont Blanc</i> (poem) Ode by Percy Shelley

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<i>Midas</i> (Shelley play) 1820 verse drama by Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelly

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<i>Frankenstein</i> 1818 novel by Mary Shelley

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy Bysshe Shelley</span> English Romantic poet (1792–1822)

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<i>St. Irvyne</i>

St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance is a Gothic horror novel written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1810 and published by John Joseph Stockdale in December of that year, dated 1811, in London anonymously as "by a Gentleman of the University of Oxford" while the author was an undergraduate. The main character is Wolfstein, a solitary wanderer, who encounters Ginotti, an alchemist of the Rosicrucian or Rose Cross Order who seeks to impart the secret of immortality. The book was reprinted in 1822 by Stockdale and in 1840 in The Romancist and the Novelist's Library: The Best Works of the Best Authors, Vol. III, edited by William Hazlitt. The novella was a follow-up to Shelley's first prose work, Zastrozzi, published earlier in 1810. St. Irvyne was republished in 1986 by Oxford University Press as part of the World's Classics series along with Zastrozzi and in 2002 by Broadview Press.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Shelley</span> English writer (1797–1851)

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<i>The Triumph of Life</i>

The Triumph of Life was the last major work by Percy Bysshe Shelley before his death in 1822. The work was left unfinished. Shelley wrote the poem at Casa Magni in Lerici, Italy in the early summer of 1822. He modelled the poem, written in terza rima, on Petrarch's Trionfi and Dante's Divine Comedy.

<i>A Philosophical View of Reform</i>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutability (poem)</span>

"Mutability" is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley which appeared in the 1816 collection Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude: And Other Poems. Half of the poem is quoted in his wife Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) although his authorship is not acknowledged, while the 1816 poem by Leigh Hunt is acknowledged with the name of the author given. Only Percy Bysshe Shelley is not acknowledged as an author. There is also a prose version or further elaboration of the same themes of the poem in Frankenstein that immediately precedes the quotation of the poem.

<i>Wolfstein</i> (book)

Wolfstein; or, The Mysterious Bandit is an 1822 chapbook based on Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1811 Gothic horror novel St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian.

<i>Frankenstein</i> authorship question Debate over the identity of an author

Since the initial publication of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in 1818, there has existed uncertainty about the extent to which Mary Shelley's husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, contributed to the text. Whilst the novel was conceived and mainly written by Mary, Percy is known to have provided input in editing and publishing the manuscript. Some critics have alleged that Percy had a greater role—even the majority role—in the creation of the novel, though mainstream scholars have generally dismissed these claims as exaggerated or unsubstantiated. Based on a transcription of the original manuscript, it is currently believed that Percy contributed between 4,000 and 5,000 words to the 72,000 word novel.

On <i>Frankenstein</i>

"On Frankenstein" is a review of the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The review is written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1817 but was not published until 1832.

References

  1. MacEachen, Dougald B. "CliffsNotes on Shelley's Poems". CliffsNotes. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  2. The Temple of Nature By Erasmus Darwin. {1} ADDITIONAL NOTES. SPONTANEOUS VITALITY OF MICROSCOPIC ANIMALS. Hence without parent by spontaneous birth/Rise the first specks of animated earth. CANTO I. l. 227.
  3. Preface to Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
  4. Goulding, C (2002). "The real Doctor Frankenstein?". J R Soc Med. 95 (5): 257–9. doi:10.1177/014107680209500514. PMC   1279684 . PMID   11983772.
  5. Barcus 1975 qtd p. 243.
  6. Barcus 1975 qtd p. 256.
  7. Todhunter 1880 pp. 183–184.
  8. McMahan 1909 qtd. p. 400.
  9. IMDB link to The Cloud (1919).

Sources