Working at the height of the Romantic Era, Percy Bysshe Shelley set the standard for the literature of the period. Constantly using conventional comparisons between man and nature, Shelley in his poetry emphasizes man's ability to move away from the commonplace and initiate change, and to produce new ideas through the power of imagination and creativity. Similarly in A Defense of Poetry, Shelley attempts to establish poetry's place in a rapidly changing industrialized world. He wrote his defense in response to Thomas Love Peacock's The Four Ages of Poetry, which urged great minds to stop wasting their time on the humanities, especially poetry, and to devote their intellectual efforts toward the emerging sciences . That said, A Defense of Poetry argues for the utilitarian function of poetry, arguing that the use of language demonstrates the human impulse to imitate rhythm and order that is instinctively embedded in creative activities. Accordingly, Shelley's poem “Mutability” uses the same structure, following traditional expectations of a lyric poem, to present life as ephemeral. A solemn and thoughtful poem, "Mutability" explains the ever-changing nature of humanity. In both poetry and prose, Shelley emphasizes the inevitability of change, poetry's contribution to society, and individual insignificance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay By definition, “mutable” refers to something fickle and prone to change. Interestingly, in his poem “Mutability” Shelley presents this change as the only reliable aspect of life. His final proclamation of “nothing can endure except Mutability” highlights perpetual impermanence, the overall theme of the poem (16). Furthermore, in A Defense of Poetry, Shelley writes: “All high poetry is infinite (…) a fountain ever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and pleasure; and after one person and one age has exhausted all its divine outpouring, which their peculiar relations enable them to share, another and another take over” (Defense xvii). In essence, Shelley suggests that a poem never results in a final, definite interpretation; instead, the meaning adapts to future generations. Similarly, in “Mutability,” Shelley emphasizes man's ongoing struggle to deal with the ever-changing state of the universe. Another example of Shelley reiterating the imminence of change involves his comparisons to an aeolian lyre in both “Mutability” and A Defense of Poetry. . In "Mutability", Shelley describes humans as "forgotten lyres whose dissonant strings / give different responses to each varying outburst, / to whose fragile frame no second movement brings / such a mood or modulation as the last" (5-8). With this materialistic imagery, Shelley presents the fragility of human mortality and the speed with which human beings, as well as their art, can easily be forgotten. However, the analogy between humans and Aeolian harps suggests that humans are capable of achieving melody as well as harmony. Implicitly, Shelley indicates that humanity has the ability to build from a thought or experience (a note) and expand its thoughts (to a musical series of notes) so as to make a change that will lead to an existence more fulfilling (developing the music). harmony). Thus, in A Defense of Poetry, Shelley similarly states that “man is an instrument on which a series of external and internal impressions are guided, like the alternations of an ever-changing wind on an aeolian lyre” (Defense 2). AND.