Shelley
followed much in way of Romantic tendencies in his work. Yet, I also believe that there were
some distinctly different elements in his writing. Whereas thinkers like Byron and Wordsworth
were animated by the expression of Romanticism in the present, there was often a condition of
the future tense invoked in Shelley's writing. He is concerned with his place in poetry, how he
will be perceived, and how art has the capacity to last longer than more human endeavors. For
example, in the poem "Ozymandias," the theme is to explore the immortality of human
deeds and actions. While the individual will be reduced to dust and ashes, the question that
emerges is what does last. In "Ode to the West Wind," the probing issue throughout
the poem is how Shelley, as a poet, will gain immortality and how will his work live on even
when he does not.
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