Manic Depressive Cycles of the Poet Shelley: Response to the Discussion of Milton L. Miller's Article

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To the Editors: There are several occasions for surprise in the discussions of Dr. Milton Miller's paper on Shelley [“Manic Depressive Cycles of the Poet Shelley,” The Psychoanalytic Forum, Vol. 1, No. 2]. A few of these justify comment.

While all agree on the excellence of this contribution, it is heralded in places as a new departure in understanding an author through his literary productions. The surprise lies in the absence of mention of Dr. Miller's substantial accomplishment by this method in his thorough study of Proust1 which receives notice only in the biographical paragraph on Dr. Miller. Nostalgia is required reading for all interested in this approach.

Then a minor point: In the famous ode, Shelley's explicit relation with the West Wind is not simple, or even primarily, identification. More emphatic is the plea for succor and for strength: