ABSTRACT

In March Shelley wrote the 'Sensitive Plant', a poem of pure fancy and description, full of beautiful verses, but with a theme too slight for its length. In June, 1820, the Shelleys and Claire went to Leghorn, where the Gisbornes lent them their house, Casa Ricci. Shelley had heard that Southey was the author of the virulent article upon 'The Revolt of Islam' in the Quarterly Review. At the beginning of August, Shelley and his family left Leghorn because of the heat, and went to a village, San Giuliano di Pisa, about four miles from Pisa and at the foot of the mountains. The 'Ode to Naples' is made up of answering epodes, strophes, and antistrophes. It matters little that they are not arranged on any classical plan. The poem has the same beauties and defects as the 'Ode to Liberty'.