Shelley's Recasting of Southey: from Ghost to Monster

Abstract

This paper explores the aspects that both unite and divide the two English romantic poets Robert Southey and Percy Bysshe Shelley through the consideration of poems in which Shelley takes up some stylistic aspects from his predecessor. Despite their disagreement on political issues and other values to uphold, similarities point our attention to the Jacobin legacy which Southey bequeathed to Shelley. Nevertheless, Shelley did not leave this legacy untouched, but used it in order to criticize Southey and make his own radical points. The paper develops two overlapping images of the poets: on the one hand a Southeyan Shelley re-using prosodic elements taken up from the older poet, and on the other hand a reconstruction of Southey by Shelley as a poet defending deep conservative values in the midst of his most radical views.

L’articolo esamina le analogie e le differenze di due poeti inglesi del Romanticismo, Robert Southey e Percy Bysshe Shelley, studiando le poesie di quest’ultimo che ripropongono alcuni tratti stilistici del predecessore. Nonostante il loro disaccordo su temi politici e ideologici, certe affinità richiamano l’attenzione sull’eredità giacobina che Southey ha trasmesso a Shelley e che Shelley ha rielaborato, per criticare lo stesso Southey e svolgere le proprie idee radicali. Si propongono due immagini complementari dei poeti: da una parte Shelley che reimpiega elementi prosodici già usati dall’autore più anziano; dall’altra un ritratto shelleyano di Southey come poeta profondamente conservatore, nonostante le sue posizioni progressiste.