Welcome back to The Daily Poem. I'm David Kern, and today is Wednesday, August 19th, 2020.

As I mentioned on Monday, I'm going to be sharing some poems from poets whose birthdays were in August.

August has to be. It must be the month that has the most famous poet birthdays.

And so today I'm going to read a poem by Percy Shelley, who was born on August 4th. He

lived from August 4th, 1792 to July 8th, 1822, and was of course one of the major romantic poets.

The poem that I'm going to read today is a tad bit long, just like quite a bit of Shelley's

poetry. And so I'm not going to read it twice.

I'm just going to read the one time.

And before I do that, I'm just going to read a few lines here from Harold Bloom

on the influence of Percy Shelley.

Quote,

Shelly is a central influence upon Beddows, Browning, Swinburne, Yates, Shaw, and Hardy.

His urbane control is the crucial element in his poetry. He is a superb craftsman,

a lyrical poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced skeptical intellects ever to

write a poem. He can be seen as a blend of English pindar and an English lucretius. His poetry

has never had total appeal among literary people because it is idiosyncratic enough to be menacing.

Also, to be honest, certain readers will always be alienated by Shelley's descent in political, religious, and sexual matters, and yet he stands as the modern lyrical poet proper.

End quote.

The poem that I'm going to read today is, as I said, a tad bit long, and it's called

Mont Blanc.

It's a classic romantic poem about the power and beauty of nature.

It goes like this.

...