Imagining anyone more widely read than Percy Shelley is difficult, but O'Neill (Durham Univ., UK) has the ability to discover Shelley's slightest allusions and to trace his inheritance in later texts -- an ability that speaks to O'Neill's mastery of a remarkable range of texts. ... O'Neill's nuanced and perceptive tracing of Shelley's allusiveness reveals how Shelley re-created texts and genres, but O'Neill also produces an original, sophisticated understanding of Shelley's complex relations with his predecessors and contemporaries, and of how his poetry initiates a rewarding dialogue with future readers and writers. This study will be of interest to scholars of Shelley and 19th-century British poetry, but also to those interested in rethinking the complexity of intertextuality. ... Highly recommended.
Michael O'Neill was Professor of English at Durham University. He was Head of Department for two three-year periods and a Director of the University's Institute of Advanced Study. His research was concentrated on questions of literary achievement and on literary dialogue and influence. He published widely on Romantic poetry, especially Percy Bysshe Shelley, and on an array of Victorian and twentieth- and twenty-first century poets. He co-founded and co-edited Poetry Durham from 1982 to 1994. He received many awards for his criticism and poetry, including Distinguished Scholar Award from the Keats-Shelley Association of America for 2019.