USE OF MYTH IN SHELLEY’S ADONAIS

Use of Myth in Shelley’s Adonais

Adonais is a pastoral elegy written by Percy Bysshe Shelley to commemorate the death of his poet-friend John Keats, who died at an early age of 26.  Like Milton's Lycidas, Adonais is an English adaptation of the classical form of elegy.  It was composed in 1821, when Shelley heard of Keats' death, and was widely regarded as one of Shelley's best and most well-known works. The poem consists of 495 lines in 55 Spenserian stanzas.

SONNET

WHAT IS SONNET

A sonnet refers to a short lyric consisting of 14 lines that follow a strict rhyme scheme. The sonnet traditionally reflects upon one single idea, with a volta or a specific ‘turn’ of thought in its concluding lines. The word sonnet is derived from the Italian word ‘sonetto’, which means a ‘little song’ or small lyric.

ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF SONNET

The 13th-century Italian poet Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the invention of sonnet during the time of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick-II in Palermo, Sicily. A number of followers practiced this new type of poetry; but the most famous early sonneteer was Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) commonly anglicized as Petrarch,