Shelley's Italian Experience [Hardcover]

Focusing on Shelley's 'Italian experience', the present study both addresses itself to the living context which nurtured Shelley's creativity, and explores a neglected but essential component of his work. The poet's four years of self-exile in Italy (1818-1822) were, in fact, the most decisive of his career. As he responded to Italy, his poetry acquired a new subtlety and complexity of vision. Endowed with remarkably keen powers of absorption, the poet imaginatively reshaped the rich cultural heritage of Italy and the vital qualities of its landscape and climate.Chronology - Preface - Abbreviations, Foreign Texts and Translations - Introduction - The Exile in Search of Refuge: 'Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills' - Dual Perspectives and a Venetian Setting: 'Julian and Maddalo' - Shelley and Renaissance Italy: 'The Cenci' - Italian Origins, Sources and Precedents: 'Prometheus Unbound' - Emilia Viviani and Shelley's 'Vita Nuova': 'Epipsychidion' - Rome, Dante and the Soul's Ascent: 'Adonais' - Lerici and the Italian Visionary Epic: 'The Triumph of Life' - Conclusion - Select Bibliography - Index