highest wisdom

Percy Bysshe Shelley asserts, ?A poet, as he is the author to others of the highest wisdom, pleasure virtue and glory, so he out personally to be the happiest, the best, the wisest, and the most illustrious of men.? After this claim, Shelly loses some credibility in the eye of the reader. In his efforts to glorify both the poet and the art form, Shelly, on more than one occasion, contradicts himself. Earlier in his defense Shelly suggests that only ?Time? and the ?selectest of the wise of many generations? can ultimately determine a poet?s true brilliance and worth. This contradicts his claim that the poet by trade is already the ?happiest, the best, the wisest, and the most illustrious of trade.? These contradictions call Shelly?s argument into question and greatly weaken his defense of poetry.