A Study On The Nature Imagery In P.B. Shelley's Poetry

Nature imagery is an important element in P.B. Shelley's poetry. It has particular characteristics, and it reflects Shelley's abundant feelings and profound thoughts. According to the features of the nature imagery in Shelley's poetry, this thesis will study it from the perspectives of science, Romantic Ecology, aesthetics and Shelley's individualism, trying to get a comprehensive and deep understanding on it.With a close reading, this thesis finds out that: Shelley embodied his scientific knowledge in many of the nature images; he imbued the nature imagery with his strong sense of ecological awareness; he attached great importance to the sublimity of the nature imagery and the linguistic defamiliarization to create it; the nature imagery, as the incarnation of the poet and a symbol system, is peculiar to Shelley, since it is inseparable from his radical individualism. The nature imagery also reveals Shelley's views on modern science, nature, aesthetics, and the significance of individual existence. As for modern science, Shelley embraced it, combined it with the nature imagery, attempting to open up a dialogue between science and poetry. As for nature, Shelley imbued the nature imagery with his ecological thinking. He challenged the views on nature held by the Enlightenment philosophers, revalued the worth of nature, and stressed on the harmony between nature and human beings. As for aesthetics, Shelley attached great importance to sublimity, regarding it as a stimulus to challenge the limits of language and imagination. The linguistic defamiliarization utilized in creating the nature imagery also demonstrated Shelley's great efforts to fight with the aesthetic habitualization. As far as the significance of individual existence is concerned, Shelley put an immensely high estimate on the potentialities of the"subject"or the"ego". Shelley was a great idealist, who rejected mediocrity, and pursued for the beautiful and the infinite.The unique features, abundant connotative information and unquestionable aesthetic values of the nature imagery demonstrate, in a particular aspect, the outstanding charm of Shelley's poetry.