A Defence of Poetry

Shelley argues that imagination is more powerful than reason, and reason is a tool for the imagination. According to Shelley, what is the difference between reason and imagination? Why is this difference important, and how does it have ramifications for society?

Shelley is reacting against his friend Thomas Love Peacock’s essay “The Four Ages of Poetry.” Peacock argues that poetry has become derivative and is in decline. What is Shelley’s argument in response to Peacock?

Shelley argued that poetry is moral. Can poetry only exist for morality’s sake? Are there any problems with this view of poetry’s role in society?

Shelley claims that all poets are philosophers, but not all philosophers are poets. How is the poet a visionary figure throughout the essay?

Shelley shows the timeline of western history through poetry starting with ancient Greece to his present-day England of the 18th century. How did poetry facilitate society and its changes from Ancient Greece to the England of the Romantic period?

Shelley claims that if certain advocates of reason, like Voltaire and Rousseau, had never lived humanity would have figured out the same things they did later. However, he claims that without poets like Shakespeare and Dante, the world would have been set back. Is Shelley’s view of reason and science too narrow? Where does he give less credit to scientists and reasoners than they deserve?

Poets are supposed to be committed to universal truths and not just the truths of their own time. How are poets supposed to live up to this lofty expectation?

According to Shelley, poets should go unrecognized in their own time. How is this idea of the poet as a misunderstood figure illustrated in Shelley’s own life?