Shelley's Adonais

A detailed Summary of Shelley's Adonais

Throughout time poets have used many different instruments to portray their ideas. In some instances they have used similes, metaphors, and even symbols to exemplify their poetry. Poets feel that by substituting their ideas and actions into symbols, helps the reader to gain a better understanding of the poem, and make the poem more beautiful. Shelley, a great poet from the 19th century uses these symbols sporadically throughout his works. In Adonais, (Shelley's elegy on the death of Keats) we see symbols that continue throughout the poem and serve a higher purpose then that which the word means.

The first symbol we encounter in the poem is that of a flower. The flower is used quite frequently throughout the text, and symbolizes Adonais before his change into immortality. He uses the flower image as early as the prelude. "The genius of the lamented person to whose memory I have dedicated these unworthy verses, was not less delicate and fragile then it was beautiful; and where cankerworms abound, what wonder, if its young flower was blighted in the bud?" (Ln 16-19 preface). Shelley is alluding to John Keats's here while he is comparing him to a flower that is both beautiful and weak. His poetry is wonderful and pretty

The second and last image I would like to discuss is the star imagery. The stars have many meanings throughout the poem and contribute to the belief of immortality.

Death becomes an important image in many of the subsequent stanzas while Shelley portrays his views on death. An interesting aspect of Shelley's view on death can be seen as he corresponds death, with an image of coldness or water. The water is incorporated throughout the poem and gives

Adonais is lifted from a flower up into the stars. This transformation is symbolic of nature's transformations in the poem. The original myth of Adonis and Aphrodite (Venus) entails how his death makes her weep. " Ah woe is me! Winter has come and gone, but grief returns with the revolving year;" (Ln 154). This crying and weeping is thusly the resultant factor in creating the seasons. We see in the poem how nature is blooming and change is always happening. However this does not help the dead poet. The birds and streams may come again new but death is finality in humans. "The airs and streams renew their joyous tone; The ants, the bees, the swallows reappear; Fresh leaves and flowers deck the dead Seasons' bier;" (Ln 156). We can see how he shows us this finality of death in where nature is springing up all around his dead body, but no movement from him is evident. The image of Adonais is shown to us in its final stage in lines 494. "The soul of Adonais, like a star, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are."(Ln 494-495). This line tells us the ensuing placement of the soul of Adonais. It is rumored that all great poets will be projected up to Venus at their death. I feel that this line tells us that this is true. His soul has been placed on Venus, where the eternal are. Shelley's use of this myth here is wonderful because of the myth he has already used in Adonis. Adonis's lover was none other then Venus. So we can see this corre

Some common words found in the essay are:
Adonis Adonis's, Aphrodite Venus, Keat's Death, John Keat's, Adonais Shelley's, , John Keats's, Silverman Adonais, Urania Adonais, throughout poem, flower blighted bud, flower image, imagery stars, soul adonais, sleeping flower, star imagery, myth adonis, water image, death image, multiplicity pg,

Approximate Word count = 1294
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English