Shelley’s poetry is regarded as abstract, lacking the note of high seriousness and having nothing solid and substantial. That’s why Mathew Arnold referred to Shelley as “a beautiful and ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain”. It is alleged that he cherishes fanciful ideals, weaves dreams and does not deal with real life.

In fact, Shelley does not get raw material from the day to day experiences of life as Byron or Wordsworth does, rather he obtains it from:

i- Mental process (Idealistic revolution)
ii- Wide study (Plato, Greek, Latin)
iii- Visions of future (The time of change)
iv- Dreams of the past (Past memories)

Primarily, he draws his raw material from these four sources and not from the rest world around. That’s why he is called a visionary idealist. Unmindful of the bitter realities of the woeful world, he dreams of a heavenly world, free from all evil. Arnold thinks, “Shelley is a vision of beauty, availing nothing and affecting nothing”.

It is true that Shelley’s poetry relating to love, beauty, nature and human life is very much near visionary picture. The reason is that throughout his life he remained in the grip of such visions. This affected his poetry as well. It is said that Shelley’s poetry is substanceless and almost a fabric of vision. He has ghostly and dreamy imagery in his poems. Despite this, no vagueness of effect or intellectual mistakenness involve his poetry. Outlines may be faint, but they are unmistakable.

We may not shun from the fact that Shelley was an idealist and a prophet. He conjured up idealistic pictures of the gracious future of mankind. He was a pessimist, rather he believed in the regeneration and reconstruction of mankind with equality, justice, peace and social brotherhood. He had a dream that the present odd world would disappear and a new world of glory would dawn. “Ode to the West Wind” is both idealistic and prophetic in which he is confident that, “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind”. In “Queen Mab” he hopes for new world and desires change. In “Prometheus Unbound” the poet hopes that humanity will rise from the stage of sufferings and miseries. Needless to mention, that the hope of the poet has gradually been realized. His ideals, which once looked visionary, now do have a practical shape. Many of his dreams have either come true or are in the process of being realized.

Visionary idealist, he was, yes to say, that he as ineffectual, divorced from reality, would be doing injustice to him. Though some of his visions were phantoms, yet he dealt with democracy, science and spirituality. He presented the struggle of the miserable and the downtrodden in hostile world. He was a revolutionary poet. He revolted against prejudices, customs, ignorance, even against dogmatic religion. He found religion in many cases, serving as an instrument of suppressing Man’s freedom and as an alloy of political despotism. Being a lover of liberty and freedom, he was a conformed rebel against all the existing institutions, conventions and traditions. The love of liberty and hatred of oppression made him to revolt against all the established institutions, political, moral, social etc. “Queen Mab”, “The Revolt of Islam”, “Prometheus Unbound” etc. stand testimony to it.

So, we cannot say that Shelley’s poetry was without substance. His visions were not of a mad man rather that of a person, devoted to the regeneration of mankind in a better world to come. His visions are of a sane and right minded person who thought good of mankind at heart. His visions are those of an idealist and a prophet, dissatisfied with the real world. In “Prometheus Unbound” this vision is paramount. In “Ode to the West Wind” he is optimistic about future. In “Hellas” he hopes that humanity will rise from the shape of suffering and miseries.

To Byron, Shelley was the best and the least selfish man he ever came across. He is not ineffectual, for he broke away from customs, traditions, conventions, sham morality and religion. He was a rebel and a reformer. He tried to reform by giving an idealized picture of the world. The conservative readers of his age could not accept his reform, however, today he is considered as a prophet and idealist – a man for advance of his time. Shelley interprets the longings and aspirations of his age. He reflects strive for freedom and justice. His prophecies are coming true. Arnold’s estimation is, therefore, unjust. He is, no doubt, beautiful, but not “ineffectual”. He is, in fact, a prophet of a new faith. Eliot has leveled upon him the charge of adolescence and Lewis and Tate, that of defective workmanship. Both are extreme views.

Daiches, giving a balanced view, points pout that the charge of adolescence cannot be completely ruled out because of hysteria, self-pity and emotionally, but there is poet of conviction in his best work. Byron preached liberty, but his approach was emotional. Wordsworth was a thinker, but lacked passion and Shelley, however, was that great poet who combined passion with intellect.