The New Times and Its Poetry—Guoxiong

During the 18TH century, there was an evolution that shocked and remarked thought human history, yet it still continue influencing our civilization—French Evolution. In 1789, in order to rebuild a better and fair structure of society, every stage of oppressions in French were joined to fight the absolute monarchy. Finally, the angry and oppressed people executed their extravagant spending king and made a declaration of the rights of man of the citizen. This success of the uprising inspired people around the world. The evolution enlightened people about freedom, independence and better future.

The enlightenment of French evolution not only affected varies of social structures, but also inspired the processing of the western literature; poetry was one of extreme examples. Before the French revolution, the poetry was typically written about the superiors and aristocrats. After then, the evolution brought the light of a better future that charged many writers’ minds about what life was. The writers began changing their subject from the upper class to the working class. Percy Bysshe Shelly was one of the most influential writer back in that time, along with other famous Romantic poet creators, such as William Wordsworth and John Keats, they all felt sympathy for the people living in the oppression by unfair rules and believed the French Evolution was a point of an upcoming new world.

“Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds” According to the “A defense of Poetry,” Shelly defined his new idea about what poetry should be and It should be about humanity. The happiest things happened to every single human being. Poetry was a universal sense, which combined the color and images in our interlunation of lives. As a response to modern poetry after the evolution, Shelly also idealized what anther meaning was to poetry. It was “the most unfailing herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great people to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution.” Poetry in the past was dependent on the unsuitable principles so that writers sometimes had to compromise to authorities in most of their works. Instead of the unwilling thoughts, real poetry should be about free thinking and opinions.

Additionally, “Poetry are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” As Shelly indicated, poetry are unacknowledged legislators which nobody can defined what poetry should be like. The really poetry in the new times is about humanity, freedom, the world, and everything.

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