Discuss in small groups

‘Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world’.

Shelly, in his essay ‘A Defense of Poetry’, says that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. He believes that poetry makes immortal the beauty in the world and records the happiest moments. It is the center and circumference of knowledge and it is what comprehends all science. According to him, poets are mirrors or the shadows which futurity casts upon the present. Poets not only work towards appreciating the beauty in this world but also participate as critics who strive to make the world better with their words.