Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Parenthetical Citations
- Introduction: A Philosophical Poet (of Ordinary Language)
- The Constitution of Shelley's Poetry
- Chapter 1 The Everlasting Universe of Things as Shelley Found It in 1816: “Mont Blanc” and “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”
- Chapter 2 Where Shelley Wrote and What He Wrote for: The Signature of “Ode to the West Wind”
- Chapter 3 Knowing What We Do (With Words): Act I of Prometheus Unbound
- Chapter 4 Recounting Reverses, Recovering the Initiative: Act II of Prometheus Unbound
- Chapter 5 The Congregated Powers of Language: Act III of Prometheus Unbound
- Chapter 6 Resounding Celebrations and Constraining Commissions: Act IV of Prometheus Unbound
- Coda: A Voice to Be Accomplished
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - The Congregated Powers of Language: Act III of Prometheus Unbound
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Parenthetical Citations
- Introduction: A Philosophical Poet (of Ordinary Language)
- The Constitution of Shelley's Poetry
- Chapter 1 The Everlasting Universe of Things as Shelley Found It in 1816: “Mont Blanc” and “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”
- Chapter 2 Where Shelley Wrote and What He Wrote for: The Signature of “Ode to the West Wind”
- Chapter 3 Knowing What We Do (With Words): Act I of Prometheus Unbound
- Chapter 4 Recounting Reverses, Recovering the Initiative: Act II of Prometheus Unbound
- Chapter 5 The Congregated Powers of Language: Act III of Prometheus Unbound
- Chapter 6 Resounding Celebrations and Constraining Commissions: Act IV of Prometheus Unbound
- Coda: A Voice to Be Accomplished
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
und da ergabt sich, dass sie nicht aus List
und nicht aus Angst in sich so leise weren,
sondern aus Hören. Brüllen, Schrei, Geröhr
schien klein in ihren Herzen. Und wo eben
kaum eine Hütte war, dies zu empfangen,
ein Unterschlupf aus dunkelstem Verlangen
mit einem Zugang, dessen Pfosten beben —
da schufst du ihnen Tempel im Gehör.
About the opening scene of Act III of Prometheus Unbound, there is general agreement that it “is an example of irony in the classical sense in which everything the speaker says is true, but in a way that he does not comprehend” (NS 256). The “fatal child” of Jupiter's eager anticipation will be fatal to him, not for him. Drunk with power and sexually aroused, Jupiter calls for Idaean Ganymede to “fill the daedal cups” and for a “wide voice” of exultation to rise up circling into a full-throated plenum of song and celebration. But in reality this tyrant of the world is on the brink of an annihilation toward which he will plunge with the “Ai! Ai!” (III.i.79) of Prometheus's pain and Apollo's written grief on his lips. What Jupiter has brought forth will not dynastically seal his sovereignty as the only potent begetter; instead, its advent will put an end to him just as he previously put an end to Saturn. All this is true enough. The enthroned tyrant of heaven does incarnate the old story of pride running before a fall.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Constitution of Shelley's PoetryThe Argument of Language in Prometheus Unbound, pp. 149 - 192Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009