ABSTRACT
Shelley wrote little during this year. The Poem entitled “The Sunset” was written in the spring of the year, while still residing at Bishopsgate.a He spent the summer on the shores of the Lake of Geneva. “The Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” was conceived during his voyage round the lake with Lord Byron. He occupied himself during this voyage, by reading the Nouvelle Héloïse for the first time.b The reading it on the very spot where the scenes are laid, added to the interest; and he was at once surprised and charmed by the passionate eloquence and earnest enthralling interest that pervades this work. There was something in the character of Saint-Preux, in his abrogation22 of self, and in the worship he paid to Love, that coincided with Shelley’s own disposition; and though differing in many of the views, and shocked by others, yet the effect of the whole was fascinating and delightful.c
