percy bysshe shelley described poets as the unacknowledged legislators of mankind.
percy bysshe shelley described poets as the unacknowledged legislators of mankind.
who described poets as the unacknowledged legislators of mankind?
percy bysshe shelley
a defence of poetry









































"a defence of poetry" is an essay by the english poet percy bysshe shelley, written in 1821 and first published posthumously in 1840 in "essays, letters from abroad, translations and fragments" by edward moxon in london. it contains shelley's famous claim that "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world".









































section::::background.









































the essay was written in response to his friend thomas love peacock's article "the four ages of poetry", which had been published in 1820. shelley wrote to the publishers charles and james ollier (who were also his own publishers): br









































to peacock, shelley wrote:
a defence of poetry
described as 'a celebration of percy shelley's assertion that 'poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world', the book contains thirty-eight essays on writers such as oscar wilde, p.g. wodehouse, george orwell, rudyard kipling, philip larkin, h.l. mencken, anthony powell, t.s. eliot and salman rushdie, in which hitchens attempts to 'dispel the myth of politics as a stone tied to the neck of literature'.









































section::::reception.









































in 2016, james ley of "the sydney morning herald" listed "unacknowledged legislation" among the books from hitchens that "[represent] the best of his work as a journalist, literary critic and cultural commentator."









































section::::see also.
unacknowledged legislation: writers in the public sphere