Shelleys Mont Blanc What Is the Mountain Outside of the Mind Essay Example

Shelleys Mont Blanc: What Is the Mountain Outside of the Mind? Paper Percy Shelley encountered in Nature a phenomenon which for him recreated the clear, cognizant thinking unlocked only in dreams. His excursion to the valley of Charmonix in the south of France resulted in the awe inspiring sight of Mont Blanc actively challenging his knowledge of the limits of the human mind, allowing a murky idealism inspired by the philosopher David Hume to come to the forefront of his writing. He questioned outright whether the mountain, or at least his interpretation of it, existed outside of the imaginings of his mind. Though his conclusion may have been infinitely doubtful, his thesis was clear: there can exist no purely objective reality. Though the physicality of the mountain was unquestionable, its true purpose was not. Thus the poem examines Nature in two ways: the traditional view of Nature as an alien and indifferent entity which exists outside of our minds, to touch and feel, and Nature as a construct of the human mind. It is also a poem which, despite its conventions, is alogical, and lends itself to understanding only in impressions. We must swiftly ignore the interpretation of Nature as an entity in competition with man, something which exists for a solely physical purpose. By this point it is outdated and it is clear that the mountain of which Shelley speaks is inseparable from the experiences occurring in his mind. There is something about the construct of the mountain, its stark, majestic appearance, its springing forth from the darkness that has unlocked a thought process for Shelley which was hitherto accessible only in a dreamlike state. Dizzy Ravine! We will write a custom essay sample on Shelleys Mont Blanc: What Is the Mountain Outside of the Mind? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Shelleys Mont Blanc: What Is the Mountain Outside of the Mind? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Shelleys Mont Blanc: What Is the Mountain Outside of the Mind? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer And when I gaze on thee I seem as in a trance sublime and strange To muse on my own separate phantasy, My own, my human mind, which passively Now renders and receives fast influencings, Holding an unremitting interchange With the clear universe of things around, When Shelley gazed upon the mountain he had no choice but to look within himself as well. It is well-known that Shelley was well versed in the philosophy of Locke and Hume, thinkers who in general terms believed that our ideas are derived from sensory impressions. That is not to say that we analyze our ideas into copies of experiences, but rather that we synthesize, actively generate these beliefs through imagination. This perhaps explains Shelleys immediacy in the opening verses of the poem: The everlasting universe of things Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves, Now dark? now glittering? now reflecting gloom? Now lending splendour, where from secret springs The source of human thought its tribute brings In some sense Shelley looks to the mountain as a source of omnipotence, for he addresses it directly with his questions: Some say that gleams of a remoter world Visit the soul in sleep,? that death is slumber, And that its shapes the busy thoughts outnumber Of those who wake and live.? I look on high, Shelley concerns himself deeply with Nature, and by consequence Mans capacity for good and evil. It is the struggle to ascertain whether it is possible to reconcile humans with nature, or whether it remains alien and aloof to human needs, as the judgment of good and evil is a purely man made concept. Thou hast a voice, great Mountain, to repeal Large codes of fraud and woe, not understood By all, but which the wise, and great, and good Interpret, or make felt, or deeply feel. It is interesting that Shelley, being an idealist, employs commonsense realism in his verse. All things that move and breathe with toil and sound Are born and die, revolve, subside and swell. This knowledge is the result of past observation, it is concrete and knowable. What remains unknown is the mountain, Nature, himself. What is perhaps most important in Shelleys poem, and perhaps the vaguest element, is his use of circular imagery: In dream, and does the mightier world of sleep Spread far around and inaccessibly Its circles? The breath and blood of distant lands, for ever Rolls its loud waters to the ocean waves, Breathes its swift vapours to the circling air There is a circular interplay between the physical manifestation of the mountain and the perception within Shelleys mind. It is a process in which what he sees informs him, and thus he informs what he sees. This process by which Shelley receives the mountain in waves is exactly how he relates it to us: in sublime bursts and raves. Indeed, the entire functioning of the mountain is based on this circular philosophy, the cycle of destruction and regeneration with no regard for life. As Shelley muses, ? So much of life and joy is lost.? Ultimately, in the event that there is no God, it is Nature that reconciles us through this process to life and death. What amount of this is revelation to Shelley through the omnipotence of the mountain, and what amount of knowledge did he already have within him? The mountain as Shelley defines it, with these questions of life and death, is purely his own creation. We may reason that it is just a mountain, a physical existence, no less and no more. But for Shelley the mountain embodies all the thoughts he has projected onto it and all those in turn which it has exchanged with him. At the end of the poem, he begs: And what were thou, and earth, and stars, and sea, If to the human minds imaginings Silence and solitude were vacancy? Evidently Shelleys verse demands closer analysis than that of Wordsworth, for he is dealing with a deep psychology in his analysis of Mont Blanc. Is it possible to separate Shelleys manifestation of his own thoughts from his perception of the mountain? The answer is that they are intertwined by design. Mont Blanc did not exist for Shelley to touch, smell or feel. It existed to unlock a state of reflectiveness within himself. The mountain, its concept, was everlasting in Shelleys mind, and he carried it with him over time, transforming it not into metaphor but synthesizing it into experience. WORKS CITED Mont Blanc by P. B. Shelley, 1817