Queen Mab by Percy Bysshe Shelley
While Ianthe sleeps, Queen Mab takes her soul to a celestial palace, shows her past and present human suffering, and condemns monarchy, war, commerce and religious persecution. Mab reveals a future of peace, equality and harmony with animals before Ianthe's soul returns to her body and she wakes beside Henry. The prose notes argue for economic equality, freedom in love, causal necessity, rejection of a creator God, and a vegetable diet as a means of improving health and society.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley · Genre: Philosophical Poetry, Political Poetry, Narrative Poetry · 10 chapters · 48,972 words
First lines
How wonderful is Death, / Death and his brother Sleep! / One, pale as yonder waning moon / With lips of lurid blue; / The other, rosy as the morn / When throned on ocean's wave / It blushes o'er the world: / Yet both so passing wonderful!
Genres
- Philosophical Poetry — Mab teaches Ianthe's spirit about necessity, virtue and human happiness; the accompanying notes argue for causal determinism and against a creator God.
- Political Poetry — Mab condemns monarchy, warfare and the exploitation of labour, while the notes advocate economic equality and freedom from compulsory marriage.
- Narrative Poetry — Ianthe's soul leaves her sleeping body, travels with Mab to a celestial palace, witnesses visions and returns before she wakes beside Henry.
Tags
determinism · religious persecution · monarchy · economic inequality · anti-war · vegetarianism · free love · utopia
What this Textopian page supports
Queen Mab is listed on Textopian as a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Philosophical Poetry, Political Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 48,972 words
- Structure: 10 chapters, 289 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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- Work identity for Queen Mab by Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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