Mutability

Percy Bysshe (pronounced “Bish”) Shelley is the author of “Mutability”—a Romantic lyric published in 1816. The poem fits the lyric genre because it’s short and expresses personal feelings. The poem exemplifies the English Romantic movement because its message revolves around the volatility of the individual. Romantics believed that humans were not stable, rational creatures. Instead, people were as stormy and evanescent as their environment. No human has the power to make their identity concrete and overcome mutability. Change always wins, and this impermanence marks Shelley’s personal life. Born in 1792, he rebelled against his family’s wealth and the secure life his parents wanted for him. He championed revolution and advocated for a complete makeover of society.

With love, too, Shelley demonstrates transitory traits. He left his first wife, Harriet Westbrook, for Mary Goodwin, who’d become Mary Shelley and the author of the classic horror novel Frankenstein (1818), which features lines from “Mutability.” Shelley also loved the ephemeral quality of water and sailing, and, in 1822, his boat, Ariel, met a storm, and Shelley drowned—dying shortly before his 30th birthday. A prolific writer, Shelley didn’t receive much positive publicity during his life. Now, he’s best known for poems such as

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