Shelley and the Ambivalence of Idealism

In a departure from critics such as Stuart Sperry, who views The Triumph of Life as revealing Shelley’s movement into “mature skepticism,” this article will argue that Shelley’s skepticism is constant throughout his work, as is his preoccupation with embodying visionary thought in language. Burning with potential, the “electric life” in Shelley’s poetry is propelled by uncertainty and indefinability. The “peculiarly melodious” notes of his early poem Alastor show the embattled idealism that persists until The Triumph of Life. Idealism, though aspired towards, remains from first to last, a fraught and questioned goal in Shelley’s poetic universe.