Laughter as Sympathy in Percy Shelley’s Poetics

Percy Shelley’s portrayal of sympathy tends to be associated with sadness, and is frequently linked to his first-hand experience of suffering. In contrast, this article illustrates the way he conceives of laughter as a vehicle for sympathy. In Shelley’s verse, laughter is a means of sharing emotions and ideas, and is related to his hopes for the circulation and influence of poetry. Attending to Shelley’s fascination with laughter offers a counterbalance to the myth of the melancholic and solitary genius, uncovering a playful poetic personality whose ambivalence toward sympathy is sometimes relayed through the performance of it.