\u3ci\u3eMetaphasia\u3c/i\u3e: Shelley and the Language of Remoter Worlds

The aim of this project was to trace the evolution of Percy Shelley\u27s metaphasic narrative, or language of the dead, chronologically through the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, Mont Blanc, and Prometheus Unbound. Proceeding from Earl Wasserman\u27s detailed map of Shelley\u27s mythopoeic structure, I charted this evolution while identifying a fifth discrete entity within the mythological hierarchy of what Harold Bloom has characterized as a mythopoeic trilogy (36). Concurrently, I examined the ongoing debate concerning Shelley\u27s influences, as well as the early formation of his personality, as it pertains to the poems in question, and his fascination with worlds beyond the grave