Read about "A Defence of Poetry"
Class Discussion Questions:
- Why does Shelley make a distinction between reason and imagination? Is this a productive distinction?
- According to Shelley, language is the most direct medium of representation. What does he mean by this claim?
- Is this true: "poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted"? Are we the ones who create order? Why is the natural state of a thing distorted?
- How, according to Shelley, can poetry make us better people? How can it save us from utter ruin?
- What are the ethical and artistic implications of the final sentence: "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world"?
