Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam

Mark Sandy (University of Durham)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Appearing in January 1818,

The Revolt of Islam

was a significantly revised and re-issued version of

Laon and Cythna; or The Revolution of the Golden City

, which Shelley had composed between the spring and early autumn 1817 and Charles Ollier had first published in December 1817 and, then, fearing prosecution, quickly withdrawn from publication. The judicious changes made to

Laon and Cythna

, before its re-issue as

The Revolt of Islam

, included altering specific phrases that pertained to the subject of religion and the precise nature of the relationship between the male and female protagonists of the poem (explicitly brother and sister in the original version), as well as the removal of the Preface’s final paragraph, in which Shelley questioned the moral sensibilities of his readership by…

559 words

Citation: Sandy, Mark. "The Revolt of Islam". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 August 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7582, accessed 19 March 2024.]

7582 The Revolt of Islam 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.