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Post by akmaples on Dec 4, 2017 17:53:14 GMT -6
In Percy Bryce Shelley’s poem “Mutability”, he talks about how humans affect the natural world and how this causes things to change, whether this change be positive or negative. Shelley begins by using the pronoun, “We.” This is supposed to stand for humans and mankind as a whole. He talks about clouds and the moon, leading me to believe this is a romantic piece of literature. I believe Shelley is trying to use the sublime effect when he speaks about humans and nature at the same time. In the third stanza, Shelley refers to when humans are sleep and awake. When we are asleep, we dream, he says they have the power to, “poison sleep.” I believe he is referring to nightmares. And when we are awake, we are full of thoughts and emotions. The ending is clear, Shelley believes humans have the ability understand the world, even as it goes through constant changes, since this can be a very sublime feeling.
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Post by andrea on Dec 5, 2017 21:15:26 GMT -6
In the poem "Mutability" by Percy Bryce Shelley, one thing he does is describes how dreams and thoughts act in our lives. Whether awake or sleep, bad dreams and or thoughts cloud our minds. They act as a veil hiding our true happiness, and can even sway our true happiness. Shelley makes the assertion that dreams whether good or bad have the power to poison our sleep just as a wandering thought can pollute the day. The connection to human thoughts and emotions that Shelley makes is also really interesting. Human thoughts are always changing. Thoughts and emotions can also lead us “laugh” or “cast our cast away.” This meaning we have the ability to adapt who we are to suit our thoughts. We evolve as a species as new obstacles are put in place to block us.
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taj
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Post by taj on Dec 6, 2017 9:12:46 GMT -6
"Mutability" by Percy Bysshe Shelly gives a very romantic view on the nature of human existence. By comparing "us" to nature and creating a consistent rhyme scheme, Shelly shows the reader "mutability" - a change in ourselves that is inevitable and naturally a part of the human condition. Shelly also comments on the importance of human perspective. While this may somewhat conflict with the romantic tone of the poem, it is important to note that the world and nature change according to what humans see and notice, as evidenced by the clouds being "lost forever" when "Night closes round". Each action we take is individual and special, however the use of the word "forgotten" implies that there is a catch to this individuality. Perhaps if a lyre is "broken" then it becomes "forgotten", implying that once one loses that individual aspect of themselves, they are no longer remembered. Overall, the piece praises the uniqueness of humanity, as Shelly describes a spectrum of emotions stating that "It is the same!-", meaning that we as humans may feel anywhere on this spectrum, however, they are all normal. There should not be a reason to seek an ideal image for a human as our mutability makes that impossible. Perhaps mutability allows for both our faults and our strengths. In the end, "Nought may endure but Mutability", meaning that the ability to change is the only thing that will remain constant in an ironic twist.
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Post by nikymbaw on Dec 7, 2017 20:28:20 GMT -6
It is relatively evident that the poem is referring to humanities ever changing condition, since the title “Mutability” itself refers to the liability or tendency to change. In the first stanza, Shelley establishes a direct connect to the audience using the pronoun “We” while they continue to muse about the “clouds that veil the midnight moon;” These clouds are obviously referring to how human minds are often clouded by a variety of thoughts even with things such as a beautiful moon being presented before us. This is very reminiscent of typical romantic language, as it puts nature on a higher plane where it never changes as quickly or as dramatically as humans do. In fact, Shelly goes on to compare human thoughts as things “like forgotten lyres” with “no second motion brings// One mood or modulation like that last.” The human mind is like a conglomeration of thoughts and emotions, all of which can have the “power to poison sleep” and affect humans negatively, or help humans “...feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep//” By describing the human mind like an almost melting pot of ideas, Shelly is able to account that it is this “mutability” that makes humanity unique, as not one day goes by exactly the same as another.
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Post by jordan on Dec 7, 2017 21:58:39 GMT -6
I agree with Taj and Nikymba that "Mutability" by Percy Bysshe Shelley is a romantic poem. Since mutability means the tendency to change like Nikymba said, and the romantic era was focused on the sublime of nature to man's smallness, I believe that Shelley was kept comparing man to nature. Shelley compares man to "clouds that veil the midnight moon" at one moment, but we are so "restless" that in the next moment we are "lost for ever." Nothing is constant in the concrete world just like nothing is constant in natural world; something is always changing. The lyres "dissonant string", or the clashing strings, has the same meaning as the clouds analogy because if we don't live harmoniously, there is always conflict. I respectfully disagree with Aliyah's thought about "poison sleep" meaning nightmares because I think that would be to basic. I think that Shelley in the third stanza, instead of comparing man and nature, is comparing man and his emotions. He is noting that even when "we rest", or "rise", our dreams, or thoughts, have the ability to "poison sleep" or "pollute the day" because they are also constantly changing. Overall, Shelley to me is using multiple analogies to address the inevitable change between nature and man.
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mari
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Post by mari on Dec 7, 2017 23:34:17 GMT -6
I agree with akmaples. Since the first sentence claimed that all humans are like "veils to the midnight moon" It's using this idea of humans covering the moons light. The affect of this drastic imagery would be extremely depressing during the romantic era, since overall the idea of nature being more powerful than humanity would be completely crushed by the idea of the moons defeat from the human race. The more depressing understanding of the moons defeat would be of how fast the clouds were able to block it. " How restlessly they speed and gleam and quiver, Streaking the darkness radiantly!" We grow too tangled too quickly in greed that we begin to grow so "lost forever" in this need for what is wanted that we arent capable of seeing change, "Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;" therefore since the change cannot be seen, it also cannot be stopped.
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