Fulfilling His Religious Needs: Shelley's View of Nature
             There are many forms of religion, and many ways that people have found to give credit to a higher being. Some people have a religious belief that God, or a greater being, is in present in all which He created. They are able to find a religious quality in nature and the many wonders associated with it. Percy Shelley found in nature things that he could relate to in a religious sense. He also used his observations of nature to express his fear of the future mankind was headed towards. The following essay will examine three of Percy Shelley's poems and will show how he found his religious needs fulfilled by occurrences in nature.
             In his poem "A Dirge," Shelley writes with a solemn tone. He begins by telling about the "Rough wind, that moanest loud/Grief too sad for song;" (1751). In these two lines he is expressing his view that the wind is full of sadness. The fact that he cannot even imagine the noise of the wind as being some sort of song shows that he truly finds it very mournful.
             In the next three lines of the poem, Shelley writes not only of the wind but also of clouds and rain, and tells the reader of a "Sad storm, whose tears are vain;" (1751). The tears refer to the rain that is part of the storm. They are vain because they are falling without having any lasting effect on mankind.
             The final line of the poem gives a warning to the reader when it says "Wail, for the world's wrong!" (1751). This line is referring to all the occurrences in nature that were presented to the reader in the first seven lines of the poem. The combined effect of the storm is as if nature is crying because of the wrong doings of mankind. It is reminiscent to the story of Noah in the Bible, where storms and rain came when God became unhappy with man and decided to destroy His creation (Genesis 6). The warning actually being given in...