The Triumph of Life (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- First Published: 1824
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Power, personal or social, Nature, Slavery or slaves, Dreams, Jesus Christ, Life, philosophy of, Sun
The Poem
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Triumph of Life is a long fragment of 547 lines (ending abruptly in the middle of line 548) written in terza rima, an interlocking three-line stanza form employed by Dante and Petrarch. The poem’s title is taken from Petrarch, who wrote a series of Triumphs, or Trionfi (1470), each one presenting the triumph of an allegorical figure. For example, Petrarch’s Triumphus Amoris celebrates the triumph of love. In Shelley’s poem, Life is the triumphant figure, but its “triumph” is far from positive.
The poem...
[The entire page is 2071 words long]
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