In the pantheon of English poets, Shelley has long occupied a lofty place, his poems as admired for their profound thought and subtle perceptions as for the music and fervor of their language. His life as well as his poetry embraced the passions, ideals, and causes of Romanticism, whose emergence and early influences coincided with the dates of his own brief life (1792?1822). This selection of many of Shelley's best-known and most representative poems will give readers an exciting encounter with one of the most original and stimulating figures in English poetry. Thirty-seven poems of varying lengths are included, among them such well-known verses as "Adonais," "Ode to the West Wind," "Ozymandias," "The Cloud," "To a Skylark," "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty," and "Arethusa."

"Stanzas: April, 1814"MutabilityHymn to Intellectual BeautyOzymandiasLines Written among the Euganean Hills"Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples""Sonnet: "Lift Not the Painted Veil . . ."Julian and Maddalo: A ConversationSong to the Men of EnglandSonnet: England in 1819Ode to the West WindAn ExhortationThe Indian SerenadeLove's PhilosophyThe Mask of AnarchyThe CloudTo a Skylark"To -: "I Fear Thy Kisses, Gentle Maiden"ArethusaHymn of PanThe QuestionThe Waning MoonTo the MoonLetter to Maria GisborneTo Night"To-: "Music, When Soft Voices Die""Song: "Rarely, Rarely, Comest Thou"A Lament"To-: "One Word Is Too Often Profaned"EpipsychidionAdonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats . . . Hellas: A Lyrical Drama [Excerpt: Final Chorus]"Lines: "When the Lamp Is Shattered"To Jane: The InvitationTo Jane: The Recollection"With a Guitar, to Jane"A DirgeAlphabetical List of TitlesAlphabetical List of First Lines