ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the context and strategies of Shelley's 'exoteric' poems of 1819, poems written in a relatively straightforward style and designed to stir a working-class readership into responsive and responsible political action. Of all Shelley's work, the exoteric political poems of 1819 best demonstrate the validity of Marilyn Butler's observation that the arts 'do not exist faithfully to reproduce political realities or real-life political arguments'. Poems of 'the exoteric species' on 'ordinary topics' Shelley intended for both his disciples and the general public. Leigh Hunt had reacted to Shelley's political poems in December of 1819, when he warned him about the new associations Charles Oilier seemed to be making. Both Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci had been sent off to England, attended by Shelley's high hopes particularly for the latter; if it succeeded, the former might gain by association. Julian and Maddalo was in Hunt's hands, and The Mask of Anarchy had been posted to him.
