Talk:The Revolt of Islam

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This page is listed in the Islamic Poetry category. Islamic Poetry is defined as 'poetry written by Muslims on the topic of Islam'. Shelley was certainly not a Muslim (he was an atheist, and--at least at times--a pantheist), and the poem isn't truly on the topic of Islam either. For these reasons I am removing the entry from the aforementioned category. Hereticam 19:23, 13 May 2007 (UTC) helo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.141.195.6 (talk) 19:28, 19 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The synopsis contained an account of the poem different from the one I recently read in a collected edition of Shelley's works; Laon and Cythna are not captured, but gives themselves up; Laon to save Cythna, and Cythna as refusing to leave him to his fate. It is mentioned in the article that Shelley revised the poem somewhat extensively, so maybe that is the source of the contradiction. the rest of the synopsis is perfectly accurate and well done, so I incline to the latter view. Nonetheless, I performed the edit; if anyone knows anything about this, feel free to mention both versions. RPride (talk) 22:40, 17 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The page as it currently stands gives the setting of the poem as 'the fictional state of Argolis, modelled on the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire'. But Argolis is a real place, and was really ruled by the Ottoman Empire at the time Shelley was writing. The poem also seems to make reference to Greek ruins taken over by the Ottomans ('monuments of less ungentle creeds' upon which a later people 'have stamped the sign of power', II.11-12). Is there any reason to suppose Shelley was writing about a fictional state, as opposed to the real Argolis under Ottoman rule? Note that all the other place names mentioned in the poem are real places on Earth. Vorziblix (talk) 15:26, 19 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Having now read Shelley's 1817 letter (quoted in the article), it's clear that Argolis is indeed intended to be the real place, and not a fictional state; I'll change the article accordingly. Vorziblix (talk) 16:11, 19 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]