''The Triumph of Life'' was the last major work by Percy Bysshe Shelley before his death in 1822.Sandy, Mark. "The Triumph of Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7981, accessed 25 October 2010. The work was left unfinished. Shelley wrote the poem at Casa Magni in Lerici, Italy in the early summer of 1822. He modelled the poem, written in ''

terza rima ''Terza rima'' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rh ...

'', on

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

's '' Trionfi'' and

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...

''. Shelley was working on the poem when he accidentally drowned on 8 July 1822 during a storm on a voyage from Leghorn. The poem was first published in the collection ''Posthumous Poems'' (1824) published in London by John and Henry L. Hunt which was edited by his wife

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

, who emphasised the importance of the work. The theme of the poem is an exploration of the nature of being and reality. For Shelley, life itself, the "painted veil" which obscures and disguises the immortal spirit, is a more universal conqueror than love, death, fame, chastity, divinity, or time, and, in a dream vision, he sees this triumphal chariot pass, "on the storm of its own rushing splendour," over the captive multitude of men. Ultimately, natural life corrupts and triumphs over the spirit.

Synopsis

''The Triumph of Life'' consists of 548 lines in

. *Lines 1–40. Introduction: The narrator introduces himself, explains that his untold personal crisis must "remain untold", and describes the dream Vision. *Lines 41–175. The visionary triumphal pageant is described. :*41 The narrator describes a "stream of people" in the street. :*54 Each person is described as deficient, limited, and obsessed. :*67 They do not attend to nature. :*77 He sees an icy glaring light approach, and a chariot bearing the hooded figure of Life. :*94 The chariot is led by a blindfolded Janus figure, a Shadow. :*110 The pageant is attended by a crowd of a million, like a Roman triumph. :*128 There are also the sacred few who flee from the chariot. :*137 There is wild dancing. :*159 Some of them fall and the chariot passes over them. :*164 The old men and women left behind, sink to corruption. *Lines 176–295.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

identifies figures and warns against inaction. :*176 Saddened, he notices an old root is alive; Rousseau in state of nature. :*188 Rousseau is to tell the story of the procession. :*200 He relates his own failure to avoid corruption. :*208 He talks on those chained to the car: the wise and great who fail to know truth. :*215

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

is described. :*235 Other rulers are described: anarchs, demagogues, sage. :*254 The Greek philosopher

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

is described. :*269

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

is described. :*274 Classical bards, the first Christian emperors are described. :*292 They are leaders who ruled only to destroy. *Lines 296–543. Rousseau's own story is related in allegories. :*300 Rousseau begins to speak of his own plight. :*305 The narrator should turn from spectator to actor. :*308 Rousseau tells his story. :*316 He describes the grove of forgetfulness. :*331 This is the grove into which he was born. :*352 He describes the shape: the bright but perhaps deadly light of knowing. :*385 The dance of the shape effaces human thought, the memory of childhood. :*398 Rousseau asks where he has come from. :*404 He drinks from the cup of knowledge. :*411 He is given a new vision, the shape fades, and his past with it. :*434 He sees the chariot advancing with its captive crowd. :*460 Rousseau is swept on with it. :*480 The figures in the procession shed their shadows, with "Phantoms diffused around". :*500 Death resumes the power of monarchs. :*518 He sees the ageing of youth and beauty. :*526 From each fall numerous shadows or masks. *Lines 544–548. "What is Life?" he asks.

Footnotes

Sources

Sandy, Mark. "The Triumph of Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002, accessed 25 October 2010.
*Bradley, A. C. "Notes on Shelley's 'Triumph of Life'." ''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 9, No. 4 (Oct. 1914), pp. 441–456. *''The Cambridge history of English and American literature: An encyclopaedia in eighteen volumes'', ed. by A.W. Ward, A.R. Waller, W.P. Trent, J. Erskine, S.P. Sherman, and C. Van Doren. NY: Putnam, 1907–1921. *Baker, Carols, "Shelley : The Triumph of Life," Master Poems of the English Language. Ed Oscar Williams New York Trident Press, 1966. *Bloom, Harold "The Two spirits, Adonis and 'The Triumph of Life', Shelley; A collection of critical Essays. Ed. George M. Ridenowr. New Delhi, Prentice Hall of India 1980. *Shelley, Percy Bysshe.'' The Triumph of Life, Master Poems of the English Language''. Edited by Oscar Williams. New York Trident Press, 1966. *''Shelley's The Triumph of Life: A Critical Study''. Edited and with an introd. by Donald Henry Reiman. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1965. *Rieger, James. Review: ''Shelley's "The Triumph of Life": A Critical Study. Based on a Text Newly Edited from the Bodleian Manuscript by Donald H. Reiman.'' ''Keats-Shelley Journal'', Vol. 15, (Winter, 1966), pp. 128–130. * Butter, P. H. "Sun and Shape in Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life'." ''Review of English Studies,'' Volume XIII, Issue 49, 1962, pp. 40–51. *Matthews, G. M. "On Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life'," ''Studia Neophilologica'', Volume 34, Issue 1, 1962, pp. 104–134. *Mooney, Jennifer. "''The Fathers'' and the Power of Love: Allen Tate's Modern ''Triumph of Life''." ''Border States: Journal of the Kentucky-Tennessee American Studies Association'', No. 8 (1991).

*Arditi, Neil. "T. S. Eliot and 'The Triumph of Life'." ''Keats-Shelley Journal'', Vol. 50, (2001), pp. 124–143. *Hodgson, John A. "The World's Mysterious Doom: Shelley's The Triumph of Life." ''ELH'', 42 (1975): 595–622. *Milne, Fred L. "The Eclipsed Imagination in Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life.'" ''Studies in English Literature'', 21 (1981): 681–702. *Quint, David. "Representation and Ideology in The Triumph of Life." ''Studies in English Literature'', 18 (1978): 639–57. *Shelley, Bryan. "The Interpreting Angel in ‘The Triumph of Life’." ''Review of English Studies'', (1988), XXXIX, 155: pp. 386–399. *Todhunter, John. "Notes on Shelley's Unfinished Poem 'The Triumph of Life'." Printed for private circulation, 1887.
Ginsberg, Allen. Allen Ginsberg Class 19th Century Poetry, part 4 (22 October 1981). AG class on 19th Century Poetry, particularly Shelley's "Epipsychidion" and "Triumph of Life." Audiorecording on Naropa University Archive Project.
*Weisman, Karen A. "Shelley's Triumph of Life over Fiction." ''Philological Quarterly'', 71.3 (1992): 337–60. *Vassallo, Peter. "From Petrarch to Dante: The Discourse of Disenchantment in Shelley's The Triumph of Life." ''Journal of Anglo-Italian Studies'' 1 (1991): 102–10. *Wang, Orrin N. C. "Disfiguring Monuments: History in Paul de Man's 'Shelley Disfigured' and Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life.'" ''ELH'', 58.3 (1991): 633–55. *Swaminathan, S. R. "Vedanta and Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life.'" ''Keats-Shelley Review'', 9 (1995): 63–78. *Dawson, P. M. S. "'The Mask of Darkness': Metaphor, Myth, and History in Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life.'" Behrendt, Stephen C. (ed.). ''History and Myth: Essays on English Romantic Literature''. Detroit, MI: Wayne State UP, 1990. 235–44. *Chaudhary, Mukhtar. "Shelley's Pickings in 'The Triumph of Life' and 'Hellas'." ''Umm Al-Qura University Journal for Languages & Literature'', January 2009.

External links

Online edition of "The Triumph of Life".

Audiorecording of "The Triumph of Life" by LibriVox, selection 41.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Triumph of Life, The 1824 poems Unfinished poems Poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley Poems in terza rima