Shelly and Byron

Shelly stands with Byron as a poet of revolt, but his devotion to liberty is purer, his love for man is readier to declare in deeds of hope and sympathy, his philosophy of life is ennobled by loftier and more selfless aims. Byron's cry  is, "I am unhappy". Shelly's "The World is Unhappy and I hope to brighten it. The two poets in their 

different ways represent two sides of the French Revolution. Byron its backward destructive side, Shelly, its forward reconstructive idealists side. Byron's heroes are engrossed egotists at war with society, while

Shelly's typical hero is a noble minded enthusiast, who willingly becomes a martyr for the cause of man. Shelly applied his noble ideas to his own conduct while Byron was very much like his own Don Juan. In Byron the intellect is superior and the imagination is subordinate. Byron's note is one of chaotic despondency, while Shelly is a prophet of hope, looking  forward to the Golden Age, when love will save mankind