SHELLEY\u27S BELIEF SYSTEM: A STUDY OF THE STRUCTURE OF HIS THOUGHT

Shelley may be accurately labeled a skeptic, but the term defines him too narrowly. Even if he held a skeptical attitude, his characteristic patterns of thought provide a more fundamental aid to understanding his poetry. This dissertation describes a set of interrelated concepts found in Shelley\u27s writing, which incorporates a wide range of possible ways to construe metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and political principles. The theoretical justification for my reconstruction of this set of concepts is derived from George Kelly\u27s psychology of personal constructs and Ernst Cassirer\u27s notion of mythical thinking. The generalizing, systematizing bent of Shelley\u27s mind further encourages the effort. Shelly identifies his concepts by abstract terms, often capitalized, such as Love, Nature, Misery, and the like. Some of the concepts are represented by human or divine figures, such as the Witch of Atlas for Beauty or Rousseau for Mortality. Each concept is contrasted by another, as Hope by Despair or Freedom by Custom, and the system is divided into alternative perspectives, one optimistic and the other pessimistic. Shelley\u27s poetical works are an expression of this dichotomy. His poems are not, however, a manifestation of indecision, self-contradiction, or a skeptical reduction of assertions into antimonies. His belief system functions dialectically, allowing optimistic, ideal assertions of the imagination to be tested against pessimistic, realistic conclusions drawn from experience. The result of these comparisons, supported by the experience of poetic inspiration, which betokens a benevolent, eternal power, is a tendency to believe in the truth of the optimistic concepts. This dissertation follows the critical tradition that finds essential strains of philosophical Idealism and religious feeling in Shelley\u27s poetry, adducing evidence from his response to Empirical thought, however, rather than any form of Platonism. The reconstruction of Shelley\u27s belief system yields some new ways of reading Mont Blanc, The Witch of Atlas, Prometheus Unbound, The Triumph of Life, and other poems