Publisher's Synopsis
Shelley continues to stimulate debate, more so perhaps than most of his Romantic contemporaries. The present volume brings together papers read at the International Shelley Conference held at Unisa in 1992, to mark the bicentenary of the poet's birth. They reflect the altered conception of Shelley in recent times and present Shelley as a far-sighted confrontational author and thinker, one who would not take his society or its achievements for granted. To Shelley poetry is 'an unfailing herald', a social force that is uniquely attuned to the process of dynamic and purposeful change. Beyond their convergence on the theme of the 'unfailing herald', individual essays offer varied and sometimes contrary positions.
