A DEFENCE OF POETRY AND OTHER ESSAYS

By Percy Bysshe Shelley




ON LOVE
ON LIFE IN A FUTURE STATE
ON THE PUNISHMENT OF DEATH SPECULATIONS
ON METAPHYSICS SPECULATIONS
ON MORALS ON THE LITERATURE, THE ARTS AND THE MANNERS OF THE ATHENIANS
ON THE SYMPOSIUM, OR PREFACE TO THE BANQUET OF PLATO
A DEFENCE OF POETRY





ON LOVE

What is love? Ask him who lives, what is life? ask him who adores,
what is God?

I know not the internal constitution of other men, nor even thine,
whom I now address. I see that in some external attributes they
resemble me, but when, misled by that appearance, I have thought
to appeal to something in common, and unburthen my inmost soul to
them, I have found my language misunderstood, like one in a distant
and savage land. The more opportunities they have afforded me for