Write a note on Shelley’s treatment of nature in “Adonais”. 

Answer

Write a note on Shelley’s treatment of nature in “Adonais”. 

Or, comment on the images used in “Adonais”. 

B. Shelley’s (1792-1822) “Adonais” (1821) is a famous pastoral elegy that mourns the untimely death of the Romantic poet John Keats. Nature plays a big role in this poem. Shelley uses nature and vivid imagery to express his grief over John Keats’ death. The poet also explores deep ideas about life and death, and celebrates Keats’ eternal spirit. The natural images in the poem are vivid, emotional, and symbolic.

Nature as a Mourner: Shelley begins the poem by showing how nature mourns for Keats. All natural things lament the poet’s death. Shelley describes elements like Spring, flowers, rivers, and winds as grieving beings. Hyacinth and Narcissus flowers are saddened by the loss of their dear poet. For example, Shelley portrays an image of the Spring season. We can see that the Spring season is wild with grief and it is throwing her flower buds down. As if the Spring has become Autumn and throwing the buds. The poet says:

“Grief made the young Spring wild, and she threw down

Her kindling buds, as if she Autumn were,”

This image shows that even Spring—the season of beauty and growth—is in sorrow because Keats is gone. Shelley portrays flowers as weeping, rivers as mourning, and winds as sobbing. These personifications create a feeling that all of nature feels the loss of Keats.

Keats as Part of Nature: Shelley believes Keats’ spirit has become a part of nature. Keats has become a part of the eternal force that we can find in nature. His voice lives on in all the sounds of nature—from the deep rumble of thunder to the sweet song of a bird at night. As the poet writes:

“He is made one with Nature: there is heard

His voice in all her [nature’s] music.”

Keats is no longer just a physical being—he is now part of something larger, something eternal.