Triumph of Life, The

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | 700+ words | Copyright

Triumph of Life, The, an unfinished visionary poem by P. B. Shelley, published from rough drafts 1824.

Composed in terza rima, the poem is strongly influenced by Dante's Inferno, Petrarch's Trionfi, and the carvings of Roman triumphal processions Shelley had seen in the Forum. The ‘triumph’ or masquerade (as the ‘Mask of Anarchy’) belongs to the cruel Chariot of Life, here shown as one of Shelley's Tyrant-figures. Life appears to vanquish the hope and ideals of all men, dragging in its train even the greatest, like Plato, Alexander, or Napoleon. Only the ‘sacred few’, like Jesus and Socrates, who early ‘Fled back like eagles to their native noon’, escape compromise and captivity.

The poet is conducted by the spirit of Rousseau (as Dante is led through Hell by Virgil); he observes that most men do not know themselves truly, and are destroyed by ‘the mutiny within’. The atmosphere of the poem, full of images drawn from the sea is darkly hypnotic.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Triumph of Life, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Triumph of Life, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-TriumphofLifeThe.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Triumph of Life, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-TriumphofLifeThe.html

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