The Witch of Atlas

poem by Shelley

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July 15, 2026

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"The Witch of Atlas" is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1820 and published in 1824. It is composed in ottava rima, a stanza form consisting of eight lines of iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABABABCC. The poem tells the story of a powerful and benevolent witch who sails through the sky in a celestial boat, accompanied by a crew of spirits. She travels the world, bestowing blessings and wonders upon humanity, and observing the follies and virtues of mankind. The witch embodies an ideal of benevolent power and detached wisdom, offering a vision of a better world. The poem reflects Shelley's interest in mythology, the supernatural, and his philosophical ideas about the potential for human improvement.1

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Percy Bysshe Shelley
Political protest works and poets as the unacknowledged legislators of the world
…Gisborne” in heroic couplets and “The Witch of Atlas” in ottava rima (both 1820; published 1824) combine the mythopoeic mode of Prometheus Unbound with the urbane self-irony that had emerged in Peter Bell the Third, showing Shelley’s awareness that his ideals might seem naive to others. Late that year, Oedipus…
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…Gisborne” in heroic couplets and “The Witch of Atlas” in ottava rima (both 1820; published 1824) combine the mythopoeic mode of Prometheus Unbound with the urbane self-irony that had emerged in Peter Bell the Third, showing Shelley’s awareness that his ideals might seem naive to others. Late that year, Oedipus…
Read More