Digital Commons Network^™

The Prophetic Imagination Of P. B. Shelley, Andrew O. Winckles

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In his “Defence of Poetry,” Shelley claims, “Poets… were called in the earlier epochs of the world legislators or prophets.” As such, even a cursory glance at Shelley’s poetry and political beliefs reveals an interest in what is wrong with the world, how to fix it, and what will happen if no action is taken. However, current studies fail to fully assess what makes up the prophetic imagination. They confine discussions of Romantic prophecy to discussions of prophetic inspiration, futurity, and rhetoric – divorcing the work from its impetus for social change. The prophetic imagination, as utilized by Shelley, is …