SHELLEY OZYMANDIAS The Shelleys' circle enjoyed setting each other themed writing contests: the most famous

work to have emerged from such a pastime is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's less well-known that Shelley's most famous short poem, Ozymandias, was the result of a competition between himself and his friend Horace Smith, a financier, verse-parodist and author of historical novels. Smith's rival sonnet is called, less memorably, In Egypt's Sandy Silence and disadvantages itself early on by the gauche reference to "a gigantic leg". Somehow, Shelley's "two vast and trunkless legs" are more impressive. But both poems, first Shelley's and then Smith's, were published by Leigh Hunt early in 1818 in consecutive issues of his monthly journal The Examiner. Shelley's interest in Egyptology was already established, as revealed by some of the imagery of an earlier poem, Alastor, but perhaps it had been rekindled in part by the news of the excavation of the colossal head of Rameses II. This head would later be shipped to the British Museum. Shelley could not have seen it at the time of writing, and he had never been to Egypt, but he would have certainly seen illustrations of ruined cities and statues. The various literary sources of the poem are fascinatingly explored in this essay which suggests that Volney's The Ruins of Empires (a French work appearing in English translation in 1792) was of major significance, and not only to Ozymandias. "The book was central to the evolution of Romanticism from a specifically English and insular aesthetic to a universal political and philosophical force," writes the anonymous author. As potently as the wilderness symbolised spiritual freedom for the Romantic writers, ancient ruins declared the triumph of time and nature over human tyranny. A competition, light-heartedly undertaken, may have been the sonnet's immediate occasion, but Shelley's passion for the politics of his theme is evident in the poem and integral to its solidity. Whether a writer is drawing on personal experience or literary research, imagination is crucial, and Shelley approaches the task with great imaginative flair. First, he sets a fictional scene, introducing a second character, a kind of Ancient Mariner, though one with the gift of brevity, to give his "personal account" of the ruined sculpture. Virtually all the sonnet is spoken by the traveller. His tale is strongly pictorial, and moves with the fluency and drive of recollection. Shelley's free, "romantic" way with the sonnet-form the unusual pattern of the rhymes, and the presence of half-rhymes is wholly appropriate. Another character in the poem is Ozymandias himself, his whole personality summed up in a few strokes. He seems to have had little facial resemblance to the benign, serenely smiling pharaoh familiar tovisitors to the British Museum. Shelley has created a monster, it seems, out of his own revulsion from tyranny. The "wrinkled lip" is a particularly brilliant detail that suggests an age of sneering and sensuality in its possessor. There is a third character, of course: the sculptor who, it seems, has revealed his master's true nature, and, moreover, must be responsible for the telling second half of the inscription: "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" The full irony of this is brought home by the final image of the boundless sands, stretching as far as the eye can see. If there is little left of the sculptor's work, there is enough, so far, to bear witness to

tyranny. Of the tyrant's works, nothing remains. Russian poets used to have a saying that the poet outlives the tsar. Here, the sculptor outlives the pharaoh, at least until nature reclaims the last vestiges of masonry, and these, too, are dissolved to sand. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jan/28/percy-bysshe-shelley-poetry

"Ozymandias" The first-person poetic persona states that he met a traveler who had been to an antique land. The traveler told him that he had seen a vast but ruined statue, where only the legs remained standing. The face was sunk in the sand, frowning and sneering. The sculptor interpreted his subject well. There also was a pedestal at the statue, where the traveler read that the statue was of Ozymandias, King of Kings. Although the pedestal told mighty onlookers that they should look out at the Kings works and thus despair at his greatness, the whole area was just covered with flat sand. All that is left is the wrecked statue. Analysis "Ozymandias" is a fourteen-line, iambic pentameter sonnet. It is not a traditional one, however. Although it is neither a Petrarchan sonnet nor a Shakespearean sonnet, the rhyming scheme and style resemble a Petrarchan sonnet more, particularly with its 8-6 structure rather than 4-4-4-2. Here we have a speaker learning from a traveler about a giant, ruined statue that lay broken and eroded in the desert. The title of the poem informs the reader that the subject is the 13th-century B.C. Egyptian King Ramses II, whom the Greeks called Ozymandias. The traveler describes the great work of the sculptor, who was able to capture the kings passions and give meaningful expression to the stone, an otherwise lifeless thing. The mocking hand in line 8 is that of the sculptor, who had the artistic ability to mock (that is, both imitate and deride) the passions of the king. The heart is first of all the kings, which fed the sculptors passions, and in turn the sculptors, sympathetically recapturing the kings passions in the stone. The final five lines mock the inscription hammered into the pedestal of the statue. The original inscription read I am Ozymandias, King of Kings; if anyone wishes to know what I am and where I lie, let him surpass me in some of my exploits. The idea was that he was too powerful for even the common king to relate to him; even a mighty king should despair at matching his power. That principle may well remain valid, but it is undercut by the plain fact that even an empire is a human creation that will one day pass away. The statue and surrounding desert constitute a metaphor for invented power in the face of natural power. By Shelleys time, nothing remains but a shattered bust, eroded visage, and trunkless legs surrounded with nothing but level sands that stretch far away. Shelley thus points out human mortality and the fate of artificial things. The lesson is important in Europe: Frances hegemony has ended, and Englands will end sooner or later. Everything about the kings exploits is now gone, and all that remains of the dominating civilization are shattered stones alone in the desert. Note the use of alliteration to emphasize the point: boundless and bare; lone and level.

It is important to keep in mind the point of view of Ozymandias. The perspective on the statue is coming from an unknown traveler who is telling the speaker about the scene. This helps create a sense of the mystery of history and legend: we are getting the story from a poet who heard it from a traveler who might or might not have actually seen the statue. The statue itself is an expression of the sculptor, who might or might not have truly captured the passions of the king. Our best access to the king himself is not the statue, not anything physical, but the kings own words. Poetry might last in a way that other human creations cannot. Yet, communicating words presents a different set of problems. For one thing, there are problems of translation, for the king did not write in English. More seriously, there are problems of transcription, for apparently Shelleys poem does not even accurately reproduce the words of the inscription. Finally, we cannot miss the general comment on human vanity in the poem. It is not just the mighty who desire to withstand time; it is common for people to seek immortality and to resist death and decay. Furthermore, the sculptor himself gets attention and praise that used to be deserved by the king, for all that Ozymandias achieved has now decayed into almost nothing, while the sculpture has lasted long enough to make it into poetry. In a way, the artist has become more powerful than the king. The only things that survive are the artists records of the kings passion, carved into the stone. Perhaps Shelley chose the medium of poetry in order to create something more powerful and lasting than what politics could achieve, all the while understanding that words too will eventually pass away. Unlike many of his poems, Ozymandias does not end on a note of hope. There is no extra stanza or concluding couplet to honor the fleeting joys of knowledge or to hope in human progress. Instead, the traveler has nothing more to say, and the persona draws no conclusions of his own.

"England in 1819" This sonnet provides a kind of journalistic report on the state of England in 1819. King George III was old, mad, blind, despised, and dying, with his son ruling England because George III was unable to do so. The people are starved and stabbed, while the army and the laws simultaneously exert power and hurt the people. The Christian leaders are Christless. Yet, maybe some new, calm light will arise from the best of old England. Analysis Another example of Shelleys devotion to liberty and equality and his radical denouncement of tyranny and power, The sonnet England in 1819 directly attacks the King and his successor, his son. The current King has gone mad in old age and is hated by the people of England. The problem is, under the current system the only thing to replace him with, when he dies, is a continuing monarchy under the Kings son, who is not expected to improve matters for England. Shelley accuses the monarchy of having no true human emotion, relying on the labor of the countrys poor to provide for the ruling class, at least until the common people are killed for no reason by their own army, which they live to provide for and serve.

The speaker thus has no faith left in the leading institutions in England; he condemns the army, the law, religion, and the senate. The speaker goes into detail over the troubles in England: the madness and blindness of the King; the muddied genetic line that includes the Prince; the ignorance of the nations Rulers; and the tired and hungry masses. Shelley also alludes again to the Peterloo Massacre (see The Mask of Anarchy), calling the people stabbed in an untilled field. His disgust with the state of the nation is deepened with his use of imagery and metaphor (dregs, muddy, leeches, blood, sanguine). The ruling classes are figured as blood-sucking leeches who are mainly parasites on the people. The army is needed, yet it has turned against the people; similarly the laws are a two-edged sword, and even the religion of the rulers is Christless and a tool of oppression instead of its opposite. Still, as Shelley often does, the poet ends in optimism. The last two lines optimistically yearn for revolution. Despite all of these corrupt establishments throughout the land, there is a chance the people will rise up and a revolution of illumination (signifying reason) will calm the anarchic tempests of the ruling class. The glorious Phantom of line 13 is, we know from other poems, something like the recovery of reason and understanding, the basis for a revolution that will revitalize the best old traditions and institutions of England on a new basis of rationality and appreciation for nature. This sonnet uses an ababab rhyme scheme in the first six lines, followed by cdcdccdd in the final octet. There is no clear break between the two parts of the poem, however, for the whole poem is a single sentence. There is not even a break between the pessimistic first 12 and a half lines and the final optimistic one and a half lines. It is one complete thought about the state of England in 1819. If there is to be revolution, it will occur later; the phantom of enlightenment has not yet arrived among the people. "Song to the Men of England" Once again, the poet takes eight stanzas to call upon the people on England to understand and do something about their state of oppression. People plow for the sake of the lords, who are like drone bees that do no work but live off of the work of others. The people of England are doing the real workbut, the poet asks, are they gaining any benefit from this system? They are not enjoying the fruits of their labor, and the tyrants are taking their wealth and very lives without giving them the recompense they deserve. The call is to sow their own seed, weave their own robes, and forge their own arms in their own defense. Otherwise, the people are merely digging their own graves. Analysis The speaker is speaking directly to the men of England in what today we recognize as Marxist tones: the people of England are a vast proletariat. This is another revolution song, a lyric poem that could even be set to music. The structure of four-line stanzas rhyming aabb does give the poem a songlike lyric character. This simple structure and rhyme scheme is less intellectual and more accessible to uneducated people. The diction is less difficult than usual, and the bee metaphor is easy to understand. The tone of the speaker is condescending, almost daring his readers to rise up to his challenging call to action. Thematically, Shelley wants the rest of England to see the country they way he sees it: a

tyrannical, imbalanced usurper of the peoples power, where the rich reap all the fruits of the poors hard labor. The bee metaphor reduces both rulers and ruled to animalsinsectsall are bees. The poet asks: Where is your sting, men of England? Why do you perform all this labor just so that tyrant rulers can reap the benefits? The nations upper class are stingless drones (bees that do not work), yet they exert undue power over the laboring classes. Shelleys opening condescending tone turns into all-out pompousness as he insults the workers by accusing them of being too cowardly to rise up in arms: shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells, he says, understanding that revolution can be hard and bloody but daring the Englishmen to do what they need to do to get what they deserve from their own labor. The alternative is that a worker will trace your grave, and build your tomb, and are the people really so dumb and blind as to fail to recognize this fate? The last two stanzas are a warning to the men of England that if they do not change their ways and their country, they are digging their own graves and will never experience the joys of equality and liberty. Stanza four suggests that the people are not paying attention to their situation. Not only do they put up with engaging in hard labor to appease the rich, but they also do not understand that they are reaping meager benefits from their own employment. Stanza six, hidden in the middle of the poem, is where the poet changes from the inquisitive to the suggestive, no longer asking questions, but encouraging the people to retain the fruits of their own labor in preparation for fighting back. The call is for a kind of tax strike whereby the people keep working but only for themselves. This radical and pretentious approach is Shelleys way of daring his countrymen to act more like the French, who were capable of starting a revolution. Shelley leaves it to other poems to explain the principles on which the revolution and the new order should be based, but here the key principle is that people deserve to get the full benefits of their work. "Ode to the West Wind" A first-person persona addresses the west wind in five stanzas. It is strong and fearsome. In the first stanza, the wind blows the leaves of autumn. In the second stanza, the wind blows the clouds in the sky. In the third stanza, the wind blows across an island and the waves of the sea. In the fourth stanza, the persona imagines being the leaf, cloud, or wave, sharing in the winds strength. He desires to be lifted up rather than caught low on the thorns of life, for he sees himself as like the wind: tameless, and swift, and proud. In the final stanza, he asks the wind to play upon him like a lyre; he wants to share the winds fierce spirit. In turn, he would have the power to spread his verse throughout the world, reawakening it. Analysis The poet is directing his speech to the wind and all that it has the power to do as it takes charge of the rest of nature and blows across the earth and through the seasons, able both to preserve and to destroy all in its path. The wind takes control over clouds, seas, weather, and more. The poet offers that the wind over the Mediterranean Sea was an inspiration for the poem. Recognizing its power, the wind becomes a metaphor for natures awe-inspiring spirit. By the final stanza, the speaker has come to terms with the winds power over him, and he requests inspiration and subjectivity. He looks to natures power to assist him in his work of poetry and prays that the wind will deliver his words across the land and through time as it does with all other objects in nature.

The form of the poem is consistent in pattern. Each stanza is fourteen lines in length, using the rhyming pattern of aba bcb cdc ded ee. This is called terza rima, the form used by Dante in his Divine Comedy. Keeping in mind that this is an ode, a choral celebration, the tone of the speaker understandably includes excitement, pleasure, joy, and hope. Shelley draws a parallel between the seasonal cycles of the wind and that of his ever-changing spirit. Here, nature, in the form of the wind, is presented, according to Abrams as the outer correspondent to an inner change from apathy to spiritual vitality, and from imaginative sterility to a burst of creative power. Thematically, then, this poem is about the inspiration Shelley draws from nature. The breath of autumn being is Shelleys atheistic version of the Christian Holy Spirit. Instead of relying on traditional religion, Shelley focuses his praise around the winds role in the various cycles in nature death, regeneration, preservation, and destruction. The speaker begins by praising the wind, using anthropomorphic techniques (wintry bed, chariots, corpses, and clarions) to personalize the great natural spirit in hopes that it will somehow heed his plea. The speaker is aware of his own mortality and the immortality of his subject. This drives him to beg that he too can be inspired (make me thy lyre) and carried (be through my lips to unawakened earth) through land and time. The first two stanzas are mere praise for the winds power, covered in simile and allusion to all that which the wind has the power to do: loosen, spread, shed, and burst. In the fourth and fifth stanzas, the speaker enters into the poem, seeking (hoping) for equal treatment along with all other objects in nature, at least on the productive side. The poet offers humility in the hope that the wind will assist him in achieving his quest to drive *his+ dead thoughts over the universe. Ultimately, the poet is thankful for the inspiration he is able to draw from natures spirit, and he hopes that it will also be the same spirit that carries his words across the land where he also can be a source of inspiration. "To a Skylark" The persona extols the virtues of the skylark, a bird that soars and sings high in the air. It flies too high to see, but it can be heard, making it like a spirit, or a maiden in a tower, or a glow-worm hidden in the grass, or the scent of a rose. The skylarks song is better than the sound of rain and better than human poetry. What is the subject of the birds song, so free of the pains of love? Perhaps it sings because it knows that the alternative is death. The bird does not have the same longings and cares that interfere with human happiness. Yet, it is these things that help us appreciate the pure beauty of the birdsong; perhaps the skylarks song could become the personas muse. Analysis The speaker seems a bit jealous of the freedom of the skylark, which travels where it pleases. It doesnt matter when or wherewhether it is dusk (the sunken sun) or morning (the silver sphere refers to the morning star)the speaker feels that the skylark is always flying high above. Even if we do not see it, or even hear it, we feel it is there. The speaker admits to not knowing whether the bird is happy, however, or from where it receives its joy. He puts five stanzas in the middle of the poem in metaphors, comparing the skylark to other living objects in nature (poets, a maiden, worms, and roses), which express love, pain, and sorrow.

None of them, however, has the expressive ability of the singing bird. The poet hopes to learn about the realm of spirit from the bird, plainly asking to teach him how it manages to continue on with its rapture so divine without ever wavering in pain or sorrow. Even the happiest of human songs, like a wedding song (Chorus hymeneal), does not compare to the song of a skylark. The song of the skylark, rather than the skylark itself, is what holds all the power. It is the song that can have the light of thought of the poet, the soothing love of the maiden, invisible existence as the glow-worm golden, and the aura of a rose. It is this power to awaken so many different parts in nature, and make them aware to the human mind, that Shelley wants to be taught. Eventually, the speaker seems to come to terms with the idea that in some ways, ignorance can be bliss. Yet, this makes the skylarks joy inhuman. We look before and after, and pine for what is not, but a bird lives in the moment. Nevertheless, recognizing the beauty in the simple brain of this skylark, the speaker would be happy to know only half its gladness, seeking the ability to inspire others the way he was inspired by the bird. This poem goes hand-in-hand with Ode to the West Wind in that Shelley uses objects in nature as a catalyst for both inspiration and introspection as to what his own purpose is as poet. Immediately referring to the skylark as a blithe spirit makes the bird a supernatural object Shelley is doting upon. As he watches the bird climb higher and higher into the sky, he begins to employ natural metaphors commonly found in religion and mythology to describe the aesthetic beauty and poetic devotion he has for this unbodied joy. The bird continues its upward flight until it is no longer visible, turning its song into climatic-like events in nature: like a cloud of fire, like the golden lightning, like a star in heaven, and keen as the arrows from the morning star. These metaphoric elements help create the myth and power of the skylark, and represent it as a kind of celestial being. What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? is Shelley showing his vulnerability as a poet and his jealousy of the blithe ignorance of the bird. Setting up the closing stanzas, where he admits to wanting only half of its gladness, the redirection of the poem into the mind of the poet rather than a description of its subject reflects the struggle Shelley has with the intellectual side of experience. Like Keats nightingale, Shelleys skylark is a window into the poets understanding of the relationship between sadness and joy, experience and knowledge, and his desire to only be under the influence of joy and knowledge, even though he knows that is not possible. Finally, beyond recognizing the difference between himself and the glorious song of the skylark, Shelley keeps the hope that someday his words will be heard and heeded the way he is listening to and being inspired by his avian muse. The fifteenth stanza, the question stanza, marks the beginning of Shelleys separation of the mortal from the spiritual. Asking questions creates room for the poet to provide answers. The answer he comes up with is that we, unlike the song of the skylark, are mortals capable of dreaming sweet melodies. It is not good enough to have unreflective joy, and thus even our sincerest laughter is often accompanied with our saddest thought, yet this is the reality we must acknowledge. Atheism

The theme of a godless universe cannot be separated from Shelleys continuous reference to the inspiration he received from Nature. As with his Romantic contemporary poets (of both of the first two generations), Shelley maintained a philosophy that looked to the unfolding of our universe as a natural progress of time. Because of Shelleys early convictions and his expulsion as a result of his inexorable atheistic views, he learned how unpopular atheism was in his society. As he matured, he became much better job at hiding his religious doubt and masking it in references to mythologies, biblical absurdity, and the comfort of self-admitted ignorance of the worlds greatest mysteries. The Power of Nature Shelley discusses the power of both seen and unseen nature throughout his entire canon. This is primarily how critics have come to classify the bard as a "Romantic." Due to Shelley's fervid defense of a godless universe, he often turned to the sheer majestic power of the natural world. In the place of religious doctrine he wanted substantiated evidence of reality. Related Poems: "Mutability" "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" "Mont Blanc" "Ozymandias" "Ode to the West Wind" "To a Skylark" "Adonais" Oppression/Injustice/Tyranny/Power Although Shelley expresses it in many different ways, the idea of a majority being unjustly ruled by an oppressive few (with sometimes the few being unjustly persecuted by the many) is perhaps the most common theme in Shelleys work. If there is one element of social theory to take from Shelley's poetry, it should be his determination to inspire the oppressed classes to engage in revolution against the tyranny of wicked institutions (the royal court, legal courts, other government systems, and churches). The upheaval in France during his lifetime, with the motions of the French Revolution fresh in the minds of many in Europe, was a strong influence on him (see, for example, his political pamphlet asserting a "Declaration of Rights"). Atheism is one example of this frequent theme. Yet, beyond his outcry against the oppressive elements of religion, Shelley saw himself as a radical voice for the people of his time in the broad fight against unjust governments and laws. Social tyranny, however, involved personal injustices directed at Shelley. He was never able to come to terms with society's rejection of his unconventionality, especially in his romantic life. Although he was standing up against the wickedness of authority in the name of free people, he was outcast by

the very people he sought to encourage, for they disapproved of his unconventional lifestyle in love and marriage in addition to his personal godlessness. Related Poems: "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" "Ozymandias" "The Mask of Anarchy" "Song to the Men of England" "England in 1819" "Ode to the West Wind" "To a Skylark" "Adonais" Revolution/Mutation/Change/Cycle Given Shelley's general discontent, it is no surprise to see Shelley frequently considering the theme of change. In Shelley and Byrons own beliefs, this is what separated them from their firstgeneration Romantic counterparts. While Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge merely worked to define and express the injustices of various powers in the years leading up to (and then during) the French Revolution, Shelley and Byron took more of a call-to-arms approach. Shelley was never content with just discussing the issues of state tyranny. Living by example and principle, even if it meant expulsion from Oxford, exile from London society, and being disowned by his family, like it or not, Shelley used his poetry to dare his readers to act upon the ideas he was promoting. Philosophically, recognizing that nothing in this world, whether natural or manmade, is constant, Shelley believed in a cyclical nature of our universe and of humanity and argued that man had the right and duty to live actively. Shelley was always on the move. Related Poems: "Mutability" "Mont Blanc" "Ozymandias" "The Mask of Anarchy" "Song to the Men of England" "England in 1819" "Ode to the West Wind" Inspiration

Shelley never stopped believing in the changes that could end all oppression in this world (in the Western world in particular). Wearing a bracelet inscribed with the verse of Milton, il buon tempo verr(the good time will come),, Shelley held firm to the conviction that the turn of the nineteenth century had been a pivotal point in the way human beings interacted with one another. Without doubt, there are examples of Shelley's times of pessimism and cynicism about the contemporary state of affairs. Yet, behind all of the skepticism and scorn lies a determined voice, full of hope, believing that people will eventually gather to overthrow various kinds of despotism. Related Poems: "Mutability" "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" "Song to the Men of England" "England in 1819" "Ode to the West Wind" "To a Skylark" "Adonais" Narcissism/Vanity/Self Richard Holmes biography, Shelley: The Pursuit, strongly suggests that as motivated as Shelley was to inspire social and political change and overcome oppression, the changes he advocated hardly went beyond changes that would benefit himself. Arguments can be made for either side of the coin: On the one hand, Shelley can be viewed as a selfish and adulterous lover, an absentee father, and a disloyal countryman. On the other hand, he is a bard devoted to altruistic goals and especially freedom--calling upon a revolutionary voice much greater than his own--and a radical willing to sacrifice his own reputation for the betterment of mankind. Upon Shelley's death, Byron, in reply to a somewhat unkind elegy on Shelley by John Murray, wrote: You are brutally mistaken about Shelley, who was without exception, the best and least selfish man I ever knew. I never knew one who was not a beast in comparison. The ambiguity is hard to escape in Shelley's poetry. Is he, as speaker, a metaphor for the voice of everyman? Or does Shelley see himself as a superior being, primarily pompous and condescending with his vigilante tone? Poems to Consider: "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" "Ode to the West Wind" "The Indian Serenade" "A Dirge"

Immortality vs. Mortality Shelley did not really challenge the apparently scientific proof of mortality, but he did struggle with the notion of death in spirit. Death, represented often through water and reference to Greek mythology in his works, is a common occurrence in Shelley's canon. He is often found questioning both the future of the Romantic voice and the immortality of other voices (Plato, Milton, Dante, Greek and Roman myths, and so on). Related Poems: "Mutability" "Mont Blanc" "Ozymandias" "Ode to the West Wind" "Adonais" "A Dirge"

The Necessity of Atheism This is part one of a three part post series that explores some issues and ideas proposed to me by Mack Hassler as part of the independent study that hes conducting for me on the works of Philip K. Dick. He asked me to consider the ways in which the thinking of Shelley and Dick are interrelated on the level of metaphysics and belief. Also, he suggested that I bring those things around to the way their ideas were disseminated as well as the way I communicate online through this blog. This and the following three posts represent my findings. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Necessity of Atheism. Romantic Period Writings 1798-1832: An Anthology. Eds. Zachary Leader and Ian Haywood. New York: Routledge, 1998. 77-79. You may find The Necessity of Atheism online here. NB: Shelley and his friend, T.J. Hogg, were kicked out of Oxford for publishing this (69). Shelley begins his proof by examining belief. Mind/active and perception/passive. The mind is active in investigating that which is perceived in order to clarify, but the mind cannot disbelief that which it perceives to be true. What Shelley calls, the strength of belief, is determined by, in order of highest to lowest importance, our senses, our experience (reason), and the experience of others. And it from these things that belief in a Deity derives. Working through these three strengths, he admits that if the Deity appears to someone via the senses, then that person must belief the Deity exists. However, he employs what is best described as Occams Razor to seek the simpler explanation for the cause and effect of the creation of the

universe or ones own birth rather than the more complicated idea of a Deity. Finally, he establishes that we cannot trust others belief in a Deity that, commanded that he should be believed, he proposed the highest rewards for faith, eternal punishments for disbelief (79). Belief for Shelley must be voluntary and established by the perception of an individuals senses. He closes the essay by reprimanding those who would punish disbelievers, because one must and should only belief what they experience via the senses. Furthermore, one has no choice but to believe this way without the influence of external pressure. And, any person with a reflective mind will admit that there has been no proof for the existence of a Deity.
In The Necessity of Atheism, Shelley presents a few views. One of which concerns ones beliefs are involuntary so atheists should not be persecuted. Whether or not it is a choice, does it particularly warrant maltreatment? Supposedly, Shelley claimed to have "refuted all the possible types of arguments for God's existence," encouraging readers to offer their newer proofs. Even today, some people are still too ashamed to use the word atheist to describe their lack of belief. Its wondrous and amazing how Percy Bysshe Shelley used it openly in his day. He stood up to the powers that be and suffered some consequences.

Continue reading on Examiner.com The necessity of Percy Bysshe Shelley - Las Vegas atheism | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-las-vegas/the-necessity-of-percy-byssheshelley#ixzz1r6Qst3T2 As an Oxford undergraduate in the early 19th century, Percy Bysshe Shelley developed an argument for the non-existence of God. He entitled it The Necessity of Atheism, and 2011 is the bicentenary of his being expelled from the university for printing it. The argument itself is simple. If you have seen or heard God, then you must believe in God. If you haven't, then the only possible reasons to believe in God are reasonable argument or the testimony of others. The main argument given for believing in a deity that the universe must have had a first cause is not persuasive because there is no reason to believe either that the universe must have had a first cause or that this cause, if it existed, was a deity. The testimony of others a third-rate source of knowledge in any case is invariably contrary to reason. This is not least because it reports God as commanding belief, which would be irrational of God, given that belief is involuntary and not an act of will. So there is no reason to believe in God. It is not a particularly shocking argument these days, but remembering this Shelley anniversary is important for other reasons. Atheists today are too often castigated as materialistic calculators whose lack of spirituality sucks their universe empty of all beauty. Remembering Shelley's atheism gives us an opportunity to counter this stereotype and to reflect on the aesthetic of enchantment with which a non-theistic world-view can be associated. The works of Shelley join the novels, poems, songs, sculptures, paintings, architecture and plays of generations of godless artists in exposing the straw man of the desiccated rationalist for what it is, and showcasing a humanist vision of life. More timely is a remembrance of the social and political consequences of Shelley's argument. In The Necessity of Atheism he reminds us of the mistake that people make when they think that "belief is an act of volition, in consequence of which it may be regulated by the mind" and the way that "continuing this mistake they have attached a degree of criminality to disbelief of which in its

nature it is incapable". We cannot pillory someone for their disbelief it is not an area in which choice operates. Today in Britain, non-religious people are not thrown out of universities because they don't believe in God, but in other parts of the world many suffer this fate and worse. There are still places where it is illegal to declare yourself as non-religious on your identity papers or official records. One of the most upsetting stories I was ever told was by a young humanist from Saudi Arabia who grew up so frightened of what would happen if he spoke out loud about his beliefs to another person that the only outlet for his thoughts was to go on long walks away from all people, and speak his mind only to the air. In fact, he never spoke to another human being about his most fundamental beliefs until coming to Britain in his late 20s, and experiencing then for the first time what those of us who live in freedom take for granted: the joyful dynamic of testing and developing our own ideas in conversation and dialogue with others. In this country the blasphemy laws have been abolished, but elsewhere our fellow men and women face death for speaking and thinking freely. Remembering Shelley so eloquent himself on the subject of human solidarity provides a dynamic call for us to address these injustices internationally. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/02/shelley-the-necessity-of-atheism

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/shelley/percy_bysshe/s54cp/ http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/shelley/percy_bysshe/prometheus_unbound/ http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/shelley-athe6.html http://www.punkerslut.com/articles/percivalbyssheshelley.html

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