Epipsychidion sample

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Epipsychidion
By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Narrated by Denis Daly

This poetic exploration of the subject of love was composed in Italy 1821, and published anonymously, as the poet wished its circulation to be restricted to the "esoteric few."

The title means "concerning or about a little soul", the subject in this case being Shelley's innamorata of the time, Countess Teresa (designated "Emily" in the poem) Viviani, a young woman who was immured in the Convent of Saint Anna by her father. Shelley had had a number of contacts with her by letter and in person. The poet did not wish the poem to be interpreted biographically, describing it rather as "an idealized history of my life and feelings".

It is understandable that the father would wish his impressionable daughter to be shielded from the attentions of an advocate of free love such as Shelley, who had a very disparaging view of traditional marriage.