At Casa Magni in Lerici, in early summer 1822, Shelley started composition of his final major poem,

, fashioned after Dante's

and Petrarch's

. Written in

Shelley's last work was never completed, as he was accidental drowned, along with Edward Williams, in a squall on 8 July, during their return voyage from Leghorn. Stressing the significance of this poetical fragment, Mary Shelley included the first published version of

in her edition of Shelley's

(1824).

Shelley's unfinished fragment is characterised by ontological and epistemological speculation about the nature of being and reality. Within the fragment's Dantean dream framework, these philosophical anxieties are evident in Shelley's ambivalent

1261 words

Citation: Sandy, Mark. "The Triumph of Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7981, accessed 26 November 2024.]