Hellas A Lyrical Drama

Excerpt from Hellas: A Lyrical Drama The drama of Hellas was the last of Shelley's works published during his lifetime. Whilst engaged upon its composition the poet was residing at Pisa, where, early in 1821, he was introduced by his cousin Medwin to Lieutenant Edward Williams - then late of the 8th Dragoons - whose wife, Jane, soon became the object of one of the most earnest of his series of platonic attachments. For the husband also Shelley entertained strong feelings of friendship, and it would appear that it is to his inventive faculty that the "Lyrical Drama" is indebted for its name: - "He [Shelley] asked me yesterday" - wrote Williams in his diary - " what name he should fix to the drama he is engaged with. I proposed Hellas, which he will adopt." The earliest mention of Hellas to be found in its author's published correspondence occurs in a letter addressed to Mr. John Gisborne, and dated Pisa, October 22nd, 1821. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.