SOURCE: “The Science in Shelley's Theory of Poetry,” in Modern Language Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 3, September, 1997, pp. 298-321.

In the following essay, Underwood evaluates Shelley's engagement with contemporary debates on science and natural philosophy, remarking on the connections between his scientific studies and poetic theories.

Awareness of Percy Shelley's interest in science has had surprisingly little effect on criticism of his poetry. Romanticists have known since the publication of Carl Grabo's Newton among Poets that many of Shelley's images were modeled on the science of his time.¹ But when critics offer extended readings of his works, they generally choose to view those connections as something to note briefly and set aside. Some still feel, with C. M. Bowra, that “scientific speculations” are “not very relevant” to studies of Shelley, because “he transforms them to suit his own system. They concern, in his view, not matter but spirit.”²

The skeptical...