Focalization in PB Shelley’s “The Sensitive Plant”

Focalization is a central concept in narrative theory, yet it remains one of the most arguable conceptions. Its application to poetic texts is still underexplored, probably due to its subsuming beneath the techniques of narrative theory; however, its role in both poetic and prosaic fiction cannot be ignored, and applying it empirically remains a real challenge since it has possibly reached no fixed ground yet. Although a few studies have been conducted on “The Sensitive Plant,” it has received no attention from a focalization-based perspective. Therefore, this paper aims to apply this proliferating term and its various hyponyms to this often-neglected poem. It is studied through analytical, interpretive, and integrative approaches. It reveals a dynamic and multi-layered focalization that mediates between sensory immediacy and metaphysical abstraction to create a tension between subjective perception and objective reality, a hallmark in the poetic innovation of the most sensitive and most spirited trans-focalizer.