Shelley and Plato’s Symposium: the poet’s revenge*

Abstract

Shelley's translation of Plato's Symposium has been studied primarily for the insights it provides into Shelley's poetry. The translation, however, also deserves study as a contribution in its own right to the Classical tradition. Shelley's translation is flawed due to Shelley's refusal to use a lexicon, the speed at which the translation was com posed, and Shelley's largely Neoplatonic interpretation of the dialogue. These same factors, however, also contribute to the translation's unique sensitivity to the rhythm of Plato's prose and the counterplay within the dialogue of abstract ideas and concrete detail. Shelley's translation succeeds largely because he does not attempt simply to re produce Plato's particular balance of abstract against concrete, but rather substitutes instead his own, Neoplatonic, sense of the counterpoint of the ideal and the physical.