ABSTRACT
Shelley probably began 'Queen Mab' at Lynmouth in 1812, though fragments of verse written before that time are said to be contained in it. Shelley revised parts of it and the first two sections thus revised were published in 1816, with 'Alastor', under the title of the 'Daemon of the World'. The musical opening is the best-known part of it, and this has given it more reputation than it deserves. The subject of 'Queen Mab' is really the same as the subject of 'Prometheus Unbound': the past and present misery of mankind and their future regeneration. Growth and experience only gave him a greater power of expressing them. In 'Prometheus' he dramatized his ideas of evil and good and made shadowy persons of them. Religion is the cause of all this evil and must be superseded by the Spirit of Nature, 'all-sufficing power'. Ianthe is now to see the beautiful future, and this is the best part of the poem.
