Concentrating on the major poems, Earl R. Wasserman provides a comprehensive critical reading that is organized in terms of conceptual structure of Shelley's work. This achronological structure originates in the poet's contradictory impulses toward wordly perfection and an ideal postmortal existence. Through analyses of discrete poems-- the proper object of criticism-- the author maps Shelley's conceptual universe and traces his efforts to resolve the fundamental contradictions of his philosophy.