Working at the height of the Romantic era, Percy Bysshe Shelley set the standard for literature of the period. Constantly using conventional comparisons between humans and nature, Shelley in his poetry emphasizes man's ability to break away from the commonplace and initiate change, and to produce new ideas through the power of imagination and creativity. Similarly, in A Defense of Poetry, Shelley attempts to establish the place of poetry in a rapidly changing industrialized world. He wrote his defense in response to Thomas Love Peacock's Four Ages of Poetry, which urged great minds to stop wasting their time with the humanities, especially poetry, and to devote their intellectual efforts to the new, emerging sciences. That being said, A Defense of Poetry argues for the utilitarian function of poetry, arguing that the use of language demonstrates the human impulse to imitate rhythm and order that are instinctively incorporated into creative activities. Accordingly, Shelley's poem "Mutability" uses the same structure, following the traditional expectations of a lyric poem, in order to present life as fleeting. A solemn and thoughtful poem, “Mutability” explains the ever-changing nature of humanity. In both poetry and prose, Shelley emphasizes the inevitability of change, poetry's contribution to society, and individual insignificance. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay By definition, “mutable” refers to something that is inconstant and subject to change. Interestingly, in his poem “Mutability,” Shelley presents this change as the only reliable aspect of life. His final proclamation of “nothing can endure except mutability” highlights perpetual impermanence, the overall theme of the poem (16). Furthermore, in A Defense of Poetry, Shelley writes: “All high poetry is infinite (…) a fountain forever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and delight; and after one person and one age has exhausted all its divine effluence, which their particular relationships enable them to share, another and yet another succeed” (Defense XVII). Essentially, Shelley suggests that a poem never gives rise to a final, definitive interpretation; instead, the meaning adapts to future generations. Similarly, in “Mutability,” Shelley emphasizes man's continual struggle to cope with the ever-changing state of the universe. Another example of Shelley reiterating the imminence of change concerns his comparisons to an Aeolian lyre in "Mutability" and A Defense of Poetry. . In “Mutability,” Shelley depicts humans as “forgotten lyres whose dissonant strings / give diverse responses to each varying explosion, / to whose fragile frame no second movement brings / a mood or modulation like the last” ( 5-8). With this materialistic imagery, Shelley presents the fragility of human mortality and how quickly humans, and their art, can be easily forgotten. Yet the analogy between humans and Aeolian harps suggests that humans are capable of achieving melody as well as harmony. Implicitly, Shelley indicates that humanity has the ability to build on a thought or experience (a note) and extend its thoughts (to a musical sequence of notes) in such a way as to bring about change that will lead to to a more fulfilling existence (by developing music). harmony). Thus, in A Defense of Poetry, Shelley similarly asserts that "man is an instrument upon which a series of external impressions..