[1] I remember very well that my own father (who was born in 1793, that
is, one year later than Shelley)--though of active and original mind
and quite advanced views--did strongly disapprove of the poet’s ideas,
as generally represented and reported, especially on the subject of
Marriage. Knowing my father so well, and through him having obtained
glimpses of the current public opinion of that period, I appreciate all
the more the mental clarity and boldness of the growing boy (for such
Shelley was at that time) who so decisively cast aside the conventions
that surrounded him at Eton and in his highly respectable home, and
walked forth single-minded and unafraid into the great world, and to
“dare the unpastured dragon in his den.”
[2] See Shelley’s _Witch of Atlas_, stanza xviii (quoted below, p. 18).
There are several other references to “Gold and Blood,” which show what
importance he ascribed to the association; as for instance:
_Queen Mab_, section 4, line 195:
“when his doom is sealed in gold and blood”
_Triumph of Life_, line 287:
“and spread the plague of gold and blood abroad”
_Charles the First_, line 61:
“he looks elate, drunken with blood and gold”
_Hellas_, line 246:
“blood is the seed of gold.”
[3] Plato’s _Banquet_.
[4] _I.e._ To think.
[5] See for reference to this general prophecy, ch. ix of _Pagan and
Christian Creeds_, by E. Carpenter. (George Allen & Unwin, 1921.)
[6] Stanza xlvii.
[7] “The charge of fickleness in friendship, so often brought against
Shelley, is disproved by the simple fact that to the last day of his
life he remained true to those who called him friend Leigh Hunt,
Peacock, Hogg, Medwin, Williams, Trelawny” (_Percy Shelley, Poet and
Pioneer_, by H.S. Salt, p. 62, footnote).
After the quantity of somewhat trashy stuff that has been poured out
concerning Shelley, it is, indeed, a joy to come upon a book so keen
and clear, and withal so well-based on the fundamental facts and
principles of social life, as Mr. Salt’s _Shelley as Poet and Pioneer_
(George Allen & Unwin).
[8] See also in this connexion the writings of the great Goethe--his
_Wilhelm Meister_, his references to Griechische Liebe in his Diaries,
etc.
[9] For these and many other similar references see _Intermediate
Types Among Primitive Folk_ (George Allen & Unwin, 1919); also _The
Intermediate Sex_, pp. 24, 25, 46, 47, 58, 59, etc.
[10] See _Intermediate Types Among Primitive Folk_, p. 63.
[11] See _Primitive Folk_, by Elie Reclus (Contemporary Science
Series), p. 72.
[12] See _Intermediate Types_, p. 24.
[13] See _Life of Shelley_, by Dowden, vol. i. p. 19.
[14] See _The Witch of Atlas_, stanza lxxvii.
[15] The Vaertings, in their book, _The Dominant Sex_, (George
Allen & Unwin), question how far these and other secondary sexual
characteristics are in reality fundamental to, and inherent in either
sex. They suggest that in any society the dominant sex acquires
certain traits, while the subordinate sex acquires others. But this
view does not affect the present argument. Shelley lived in our modern
male-dominant civilisation, and yet was born with, or else acquired,
traits which, in that society, are characteristic of women, and not of
men. He therefore approximated to the current feminine type.
[16] Sec Crichton Miller: _New Psychology and the Teacher_.
[17] I follow Dowden, in assigning this passage to a letter written in
December 1812 to Hogg. Hogg prints it without date, as a fragment of a
novel.
[18] See _Life of Michelangelo_, by J. A. Symonds.
[19] See _Shelley’s Prose Works_, ed. Buxton Forman.
[20] Compare this with his reminiscence of his Sion House friend.
[21] Shelley’s other delusions, which may have been variations on the
original one, are as follows:
At York (1811). That Hogg had made overtures to Harriet? If this was a
delusion, then the content of jealousy, as often happens, has replaced
that of persecution, and the father has been replaced by the older
friend.
At Keswick (1812). That he was attacked by a robber outside his
lodgings.
At Tanyrallt (February 1813). The attempted assassination in his house,
with threats of rape of his sister by the imaginary intruder.
In 1813 that he had contracted Elephantiasis.
At Pisa (1820). That he was attacked by a stranger in the Post Office.
There is also recorded a nightmare of his, in which he dreamed that he
was strangling his own wife, but this might be interpreted in many ways.
[22] Dr. Paul Bousfield (_Elements of Practical Psychoanalysis_),
states: “In all the cases of paranoid hysteria which I have seen,
repressed homosexuality seems to be the most striking feature;
homosexuality is always very strongly developed in these subjects,
although the patient may be totally unaware of it.”
Similarly Ferencszi, in his _Contributions to Psychoanalysis_, says:
“The observation of several cases, presently to be related, seems to
justify the surmise that in the pathogenesis of paranoia, homosexuality
plays not a chance part, but the most important one; and that paranoia
is perhaps nothing else at all than disguised homosexuality.”
Finally we may quote Freud (_Introductory Lectures_):
_Lecture 20_: “One particular mental disorder, paranoia ... invariably
arises from the attempt to subdue unduly powerful homosexual
tendencies.”
_Lecture 26_: “In the case of delusions of persecution, however, we
observed things which led us to follow up a certain clue. In the first
place we noticed that in the great majority of cases the persecuting
person was of the same sex as the persecuted one; this was capable of
a harmless explanation, it is true, but in certain cases, which were
closely studied, it appeared that the person of the same sex who had
been most beloved while the patient was normal became the persecutor
after the disease broke out....
From these observations, which were continually corroborated, we drew
the conclusion that persecutory paranoia is the means by which a person
defends himself against a homosexual impulse which has become too
powerful.”
[23] Shelley appears to have been easily hypnotised, since both Tom
Medwin and Jane Williams succeeded in mesmerising him (see Dowden, vol.
2, ch. ix).
[24] Dr. R. M. Bucke, _Cosmic Consciousness_.
[25] Dowden’s _Life of Shelley_, vol. 2, ch. xii.