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118:, and decided to set his poem in a similar landscape. He wrote that his verse was "composed under the immediate impression of the deep and powerful feelings excited by the objects which it attempts to describe; and, as an undisciplined overflowing of the soul, rests its claim to approbation on an attempt to imitate the untamable wilderness and inaccessible solemnity from which those feelings sprang". Later, when describing the mountains in general terms, he wrote, "The immensity of these aerial summits excited when they suddenly burst upon the sight, a sentiment of ecstatic wonder, not unallied to madness."
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recognised that nothing in the universe is truly free; he believed that there is a force in the universe to which the human mind is connected and by which it is influenced. Unlike
Coleridge, Shelley believed that poets are the source of authority in the world, and unlike Wordsworth, believed that there was a darker side of nature that is an inherent part of a cyclical process of the universe, a notion similar to the theory put forth by the French naturalist
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nature's truth through his poetry. The poet, in putting faith in the truth that he has received, has earned a place among nature and been given the right to speak on this truth. Nature's role does not matter as much as the poet's mediation between nature and man. Shelley, and the poet in "Mont Blanc", opposes organised religion and instead offers an egalitarian replacement. However, only a select few can truly understand the secrets of the universe.
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Its main theme examines the relationship between the human mind and the universe; the poem discusses the influence of perception on the mind, and how the world can become a reflection of the operation of the mind. Although
Shelley believed that the human mind should be free of restraints, he also
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and the original manuscript draft. An important distinction between the published text and the manuscript versions is the line "But for such faith", which reads "In such a faith" in both the Scrope Davies notebook and the original manuscript. Critic
Michael O'Neill argues that the Scrope Davies's
473:
While sometimes described as an ode, the poem is more intellectually rigorous than the title implies. A superb, sometimes personified portrait of the Alpine landscape, "Mont Blanc" also traces a journey through philosophical and scientific concepts that had yet to find a modern vocabulary. The
158:
editor Jeanne Moskal agrees with Reiman that the book was constructed to culminate in the poem and she notes that this was accomplished using a traditional hierarchy of genres—diary, letters, poem—a hierarchy that is gendered as Mary
Shelley's writings are superseded by Percy's. However, these
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The poem's relationship with the mountain becomes a symbol for the poet's relationship with history. The poet is privileged because he can understand the truth found in nature, and the poet is then able to use this truth to guide humanity. The poet interprets the mountain's "voice" and relays
70:
In "Mont Blanc", Percy
Shelley compares the power of the mountain against the power of the human imagination. Although he emphasised the ability of the human imagination to uncover truth through a study of nature, he questions the notion of religious certainty. The poet concludes that only a
133:
The published edition was not based on the first finished copy of
Shelley's poem, but on a second copy written after Shelley misplaced the first. The first manuscript copy contains many differences from the first published edition and was discovered in December 1976. Advertisements for the
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version "makes the more evident sense, though it possibly sacrifices some of the tension" of the published version; he contends that the published version "is cryptic and tortuous, and yet the fact remains that
Shelley chose to print the poem with this reading in his lifetime."
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in 1840. Circumventing the ban that Percy
Shelley's father had imposed upon her biographical writing, she added extensive editorial notes in these publications. She declared in 1824: "I am to justify his ways...I am to make him beloved to all posterity." As Mary Shelley scholar
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explains, "biographers and critics agree that Mary
Shelley's commitment to bring Shelley the notice she believed his works merited was the single, major force that established Shelley's reputation during a period when he almost certainly would have faded from public view".
512:
explains in his analysis of the reviews, "what points
Shelley seems to score with this reviewer are not based on his originality or the provocative implications of his descriptions, but on his approximation of a success already mapped out by other travel writers".
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Although the power may seem removed from mankind, it can still serve as a teacher. By listening to the mountain, one can learn that nature can be both benevolent and malevolent; good and evil emerge from conscious choice and one's relationship to nature:
159:
traditional gender-genre associations are undercut by the implicit acknowledgment of Mary Shelley as the primary author, with her journal giving the entire work its name and contributing the bulk of the text. Moreover, those who see the
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He realises that knowledge is a combination of sensory perceptions and the ideas of the mind. The river can then serve as a symbol of a conscious power and a source for imaginative thought when he finishes the stanza, "thou art there!"
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After Percy Shelley's early death in 1822, Mary Shelley published two collected editions of her husband's poetry; both of which included "Mont Blanc". Mary's promotion of his poetry helped to secure his enduring reputation and fame.
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was the first, and it was the only publication of the poem during Percy Shelley's lifetime. In 1824, two years after his death, Mary Shelley included it in the first collection of his poems and later in her definitive
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mountains, falls and glaciers are not only geological entities as an explorer would see them or spiritual embodiments as they might be for Wordsworth: they inspire radical questions about meaning and perception."
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He was just short of his 25th birthday when he began the draft, which he finished before September. It was published the following year in the volume he and Mary Shelley jointly compiled, their
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In the second stanza, the narrator turns to the Arve River as a representation of consciousness in nature. The Arve River and the ravine surrounding the river increase the beauty of the other:
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When the narrator of the poem looks upon Mont Blanc, he is unable to agree with Wordsworth that nature is benevolent and gentle. Instead, the narrator contends that nature is a powerful force:
150:, promising a 6 November release. However, it was not until 12 and 13 November that the work was actually published. It has been argued by leading Percy Shelley scholar Donald Reiman that
167:
travel narrative argue that the descriptions of Alpine scenes would have been familiar to early nineteenth-century audiences and they would not have expected a poetic climax.
508:. The reviewer wrote that that poem was "too ambitious, and at times too close an imitation of Coleridge's sublime hymn on the vale of Chamouni". As critic
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Mont Blanc by Percy Bysshe Shelley - The snowy peak and riven Alpine landscape turn the Romantic poet to thoughts of meaning, perception and eternity
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Valley, and intended to reflect the scenery through which he travelled. "Mont Blanc" was first published in 1817 in Percy Shelley and
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privileged few can see nature as it really is, and are able to express its benevolence and malevolence through the device of poetry.
410:. The power of the universe is symbolised by Mont Blanc, but for that power to have any meaning, one must exercise the imagination:
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quoted extensive excerpts from the third stanza, which contains similar themes and symbols as the "Letters from Geneva" in the
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Although nature can teach one about the imagination and offer truths about the universe, the poem denies the existence of
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The power of the mountain, which encompasses both creation and destruction, parallels the power of the imagination.
247:'s "Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouni", which "credits God for the sublime wonders of the landscape".
126:
59:
890:
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Colbert, Benjamin. "Contemporary Notice of the Shelleys' History of a Six Weeks' Tour: Two New Early Reviews".
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In both language and philosophy, the first published edition of the poem varies from the copy found in the
106:, Europe's highest mountain. Percy Shelley was inspired by the scenery surrounding a bridge over the river
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1108:, 2nd ed., Ed. Donald H. Reiman and Neil Fraistat, 96–97. New York: Norton and Co., 2002.
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Percy Shelley formulated "Mont Blanc" at the end of July 1816, when along with Mary Godwin and
1039:
Jeffrey, Lloyd. "Cuvierian Catastrophism in Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound' and 'Mont Blanc'."
1087:, 2nd ed., Ed. Donald H. Reiman and Neil Fraistat, 616–626. New York: Norton and Co., 2002.
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49:. The poem was composed between 22 July and 29 August 1816 during Shelley's journey to the
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8:
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History of a Six Weeks’ Tour through a part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland
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Reider, John. "Shelley's 'Mont Blanc': Landscape and the Ideology of the Sacred Text."
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History of a Six Weeks' Tour Through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland
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History of a Six Weeks' Tour through a Part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland
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The third stanza introduces the connections between Mont Blanc and a higher power:
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received three reviews at the time of its publication, all generally favourable.
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Vol. VI. Julian Edition. ed. Roger Ingpen and Walter Peck. London: Benn, 1930.
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However, this force only seems to have power in relation to the human mind.
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462:"Mont Blanc" concerns the human mind and its ability to comprehend truth.
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63:, which some scholars believe to use "Mont Blanc" as its culmination.
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When the narrator witnesses the power of the Arve River, he claims:
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Audiorecording of "Mont Blanc" read by Julian Jamison by LibriVox:
1015:, Ed. Harold Bloom, 1–30. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.
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The fourth stanza discusses the greater power behind the mountain:
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and as a "defiant reaction" against the "religious certainties" of
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1134:. Ed. Esther Schor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
1072:. Ed. Esther Schor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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1020:
The Visionary Company: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry
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Silence and solitude were vacancy?(Lines 127–129, 139–144)
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Kapstein, I. J. "The Meaning of Shelley's 'Mont Blanc'."
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39:
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The Role of Consciousness: Mont Blanc and Tintern Abbey
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With the clear universe of things around; (Lines 35–40)
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Reiman, Donald H. and Fraistat, Neil. "Mont Blanc" in
1117:. London: T. Hookham, Jr. and C. and J. Ollier, 1817.
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Interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel.(Lines 76–83)
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And wind among the accumulated steeps; (Lines 60–66)
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Bursting through these dark mountains like the flame
1149:, 2nd ed., Ed. Duncan Wu. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
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434:And what were thou, and earth, and stars, and sea,
414:Mont Blanc yet gleams on high:—the power is there,
257:Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,
1101:, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Winter, 1981) pp. 778–798.
1043:, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter, 1978) pp. 148–152.
1034:The Diary of Frances Lady Shelley 1787–1817
1000:Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
336:Pile around it, ice and rock; broad vales between
292:Of lightning through the tempest... (Lines 15–19)
35:Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamouni
1184:
1050:, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Dec. 1947) pp. 1046–1060.
286:From the ice gulphs that gird his secret throne,
263:Now lending splendour, where from secret springs
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428:Which governs thought, and to the infinite dome
420:And many sounds, and much of life and death....
372:By all, but which the wise, and great, and good
1178:http://librivox.org/long-poems-collection-004/
396:On which I gaze, even these primeval mountains
283:Where Power in likeness of the Arve comes down
266:The source of human thought its tribute brings
154:is arranged so as to lead up to "Mont Blanc".
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1055:The Novels and Selected Works of Mary Shelley
998:Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: An Introduction.
330:Mont Blanc appears,—still, snowy, and serene—
260:Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom—
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369:Large codes of fraud and woe; not understood
366:Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repeal
357:Which teaches awful doubt, or faith so mild,
1083:O'Neill, Michael. "Shelley's Lyric Art" in
1057:. Vol. 8. London: William Pickering, 1996.
651:Bennett, "Finding Mary Shelley", pp 300–301
399:Teach the adverting mind.... (Lines 96–100)
342:Blue as the overhanging heaven, that spread
333:Its subject mountains their unearthly forms
1036:. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.
417:The still and solemn power of many sights,
363:But for such faith with nature reconciled;
327:Far, far above, piercing the infinite sky,
309:Now renders and receives fast influencing,
98:(Mary Godwin's step-sister) he toured the
1022:. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.
300:I seem as in a trance sublime and strange
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1132:The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley
1070:The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley
981:"Finding Mary Shelley in her Letters".
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354:The wilderness has a mysterious tongue
306:My own, my human mind, which passively
177:Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
1053:Moskal, Jeanne. "Introductory note".
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431:Of heaven is as a law, inhabits thee!
383:Power dwells apart in its tranquility
360:So solemn, so serene, that man may be
339:Of frozen floods, unfathomable deeps,
233:. It serves as Shelley's response to
303:To muse on my own separate phantasy,
170:The publication of "Mont Blanc" in
13:
1068:Moskal, Jeanne. "Travel writing".
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584:Moskal, "Introductory note", p. 2.
312:Holding an unremitting interchange
254:The everlasting universe of things
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1163:" at Representative Poetry Online
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1090:Pite, Ralph. "Shelley in Italy."
1011:Bloom, Harold. "Introduction" in
437:If to the human mind's imaginings
393:, the naked countenance of earth,
386:Remote, serene, and inaccessible:
1094:, Vol. 34 (2004) pp. 46–60.
629:Wolfson, pp. 193, 209; Bennett,
425:...The secret strength of things
25:First page of "Mont Blanc" from
1092:The Yearbook of English Studies
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1170:" by Valerie Steinberg at the
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602:Moskal, "Travel writing", 244.
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593:Moskal, "Travel writing", 243.
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537:Reiman and Fraistat 2002 p. 96
501:Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine
138:appeared on 30 October in the
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110:in the Valley of Chamonix in
1145:Wu, Duncan. "Mont Blanc" in
845:History of a Six Weeks' Tour
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221:"Mont Blanc" is a 144-line
75:Composition and publication
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1130:. "Mary Shelley, editor".
1106:Shelley's Prose and Poetry
1085:Shelley's Prose and Poetry
1041:The South Central Bulletin
1147:Romanticism: An Anthology
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192:also wrote a poem titled
1032:Edgcumbe, Richard (ed).
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269:Of waters... (Lines 1–5)
948:Reider 1981 pp. 786–787
939:Reider 1981 pp. 780–781
675:Wu 1998 p. 845, note 1.
465:Carol Rumen in 2013 in
245:Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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188:Shelley's contemporary
957:Qtd. in Colbert, p. 28
825:Bloom 1993 pp. 295–296
451:Scrope Davies Notebook
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196:, incorporated in his
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1027:Keats-Shelley Journal
912:Kapstein 1947 p. 1046
754:Kapstein 1947 p. 1050
701:Kapstein 1947 p. 1049
642:Qtd. in Wolfson, 193.
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144:and on 1 November in
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1013:Percy Bysshe Shelley
217:viewed from Chamonix
84:Percy Bysshe Shelley
47:Percy Bysshe Shelley
16:Ode by Percy Shelley
930:Jeffrey 1978 p. 151
872:O'Neill 2002 p. 619
863:O'Neill 2002 p. 618
996:Bennett, Betty T.
983:Romantic Revisions
921:Reider 1981 p. 778
881:Reider 1981 p. 790
235:William Wordsworth
225:divided into five
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1029:48 (1999): 22–29.
979:Bennett, Betty T.
834:Bloom 1993 p. 296
768:Bloom 1993 p. 295
713:Bloom 1993 p. 294
663:Bloom 1993 p. 293
141:Morning Chronicle
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1120:Shelley, Percy.
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55:Mary Shelley
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546:"Preface",
223:natural ode
165:picturesque
100:Arve Valley
86:painted by
1198:1816 poems
1187:Categories
1161:Mont Blanc
973:References
445:Variations
215:Mont Blanc
194:Mont Blanc
190:Lord Byron
104:Mont Blanc
491:Reception
147:The Times
51:Chamonix
227:stanzas
199:Manfred
114:, near
90:in 1819
42:by the
1138:
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847:, pp.
567:, pp.
458:Themes
116:Geneva
38:is an
29:(1817)
813:, p.
797:, p.
781:, p.
742:, p.
726:, p.
688:, p.
550:, p.
517:Notes
112:Savoy
1136:ISBN
1074:ISBN
1059:ISBN
1048:PMLA
1002:ISBN
987:ISBN
506:Tour
391:this
389:And
206:Poem
161:Tour
156:Tour
136:Tour
108:Arve
1099:ELH
849:182
815:180
799:179
783:178
744:177
728:176
690:175
573:152
569:151
237:'s
130:.
102:by
57:'s
40:ode
1189::
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853:83
759:^
706:^
668:^
656:^
552:vi
524:^
483:.
471::
202:.
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851:–
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571:–
554:.
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