Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Alastor; or, the Spirit of Solitude: and other Poems.

London, Baldwin, Cradock and Joy ; Carpenter and Son, 1816.

Petit in-8 (159 x 98 mm). Veau glacé fauve, dos à nerfs orné, filet sur les coupes (Reliure de la fin du XIX^e siècle).

Édition originale : "first authentic and unmistakable poem... the tragedy of the idealist who seeks in reality the counterpart of his ideal" (Cambridge History of English Literature).

"As first published, it is accompanied by ten minor poems (Stanzas, Sonnets, etc.) and the first part of The Daemon of The World... In an article on Young Poets in The Examiner for December 1, constituting perhaps the 'first public recognition of Shelley's poetical gifts,' Leigh Hunt characterized the author of Alastor (then a stranger to him) as 'a very striking and original thinker.' It is generally conceded that in Alastor Shelley showed himself a greater master of blank verse than any other poet of the time" (Granniss, Shelley 32).

Dans son roman Frankenstein (1818), Mary Shelley cite l’un des courts poèmes qui suit Alastor.