State the grounds on which Percy Bysshe Shelley defends poetry.

While Plato suggests that poets are irrational and
ignorant, Shelley considers poets to be speakers of universal truth and conveyors of the
motives of human nature. The large topic of how Shelly defends poetry can only be
briefly touched upon in this format, but this will get you
started.

Shelley defends poetry by asserting that "poetry
is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted." Shelley's point here is that
poetry is "the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth." Shelley upholds the
mimetic principle espoused by Aristotle and contends that poetry produces analogies to
things of life through imagery that participates in mimesis, thus also participates in
"the life of truth":

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words unveil the permanent analogy of things by
images which participate in the life of
truth;

Shelly further defends
poetry by attributing to poets "almost superhuman wisdom" and likening poets to
nightingales who sing in darkness and illuminate human, emotional, psychological
"darkness" by the sweet truth and sound of poetry. Shelly states that there is divinity
in poetry that works at a depth beyond that of
consciousness.

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[poetry] acts in a divine and unapprehended
manner, beyond and above
consciousness

The defence of
poetry as the sweet song of truth by a nightingale might have a forced fit with today's
poetry, however Shelley has anticipated this in further defence of poetry. He stresses
that each poet, though a master of the traditionally prescribed form of poetry, must
adapt his poetic song and harmony to his particular versification in his particular
era.