Prometheus Unbound, with Other Poems is a volume by Percy Bysshe Shelley published in 1820. The title work is a lyrical drama in four acts in which the Titan Prometheus, chained for defying Jupiter, is freed and the world is renewed. The volume also contains Ode to the West Wind and To a Skylark.
The drama
Shelley reimagines a lost play by Aeschylus. His Prometheus, chained to a rock, renounces his curse against Jupiter and refuses hatred.
Jupiter falls, Prometheus is freed and reunited with Asia, and the final act celebrates a world liberated from tyranny.
Ode to the West Wind
Written near Florence in October 1819, the ode addresses the autumn wind as both destroyer and preserver.
The poet asks the wind to scatter his words among mankind like leaves and seeds, to bring about a new spring.
Other poems
The volume also contains To a Skylark, The Cloud and Ode to Liberty, among Shelley's most famous lyrics.
It was written during his years in Italy, where he lived from 1818 until his death in 1822.
Anecdotes
The baths of Caracalla
Shelley wrote much of Prometheus Unbound among the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, as he explained in his preface.
Drowned at sea
Shelley drowned in July 1822 when his boat sank in a storm off the Italian coast. He was not yet thirty.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Prometheus?
The Titan who gave fire to humans and was punished by the gods.
When was the volume published?
In 1820.
Which famous ode does it contain?
Ode to the West Wind.