Epipsychidion (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- First Published: 1821
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Prisoners, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Nature, Nineteenth century, Poetry or poets, Italy or Italians, Moon or moons, Free love, Sun, Moths
The Poem
Epipsychidion is a love lyric of 604 lines, written for Emilia Viviani, whom Percy Bysshe Shelley met while she was “imprisoned” by her family in a convent near Pisa, Italy, in 1820. The title is Greek for “concerning a little soul.”
Epipsychidion opens with an invocation to Emilia as a spiritual sister of the speaker. He addresses her as a “captive bird,” for whose nest his poem will be soft rose petals. He calls her an angel of light, the light of the moon seen through mortal clouds, a star beyond all storms, and a mirror like the sun...
[The entire page is 2023 words long]
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