From “The Cimmerian Ravines of Modern Cities” to the “Upaithric” Temples of Pastoral Greece
Résumé
The concept of ruins has evolved in Percy Bysshe Shelley's poetry since his gothic beginnings. Discovering the ruins of Rome especially indeed led him to reconsider the place of nature. Formerly a contributor to the sublime picture of ancient castles built in a forest or in mountains, as well as a challenger of such places of power as towers and pyramids, nature eventually played a more transcendent part in human architecture, recreating it, "opening" it and sending the viewer to other places and times. Studying the place of nature in Shelley's ruins also leads to the analysis of the creation of new images for his poetry, as he describes the Coliseum or the Baths of Caracalla in his letters.