Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Romantic poets Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...

. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets including

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

, and

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

. American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem." Shelly's reputation fluctuated during the 20th century, but in recent decades he has achieved increasing critical acclaim for the sweeping momentum of his poetic imagery, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist, and materialist ideas in his work. Among his best-known works are " Ozymandias" (1818), "

Ode to the West Wind "Ode to the West Wind" is an ode, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819 in Cascine wood near Florence, Italy. It was originally published in 1820 by Charles Ollier in London as part of the collection '' Prometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama in ...

" (1819), "

To a Skylark "To a Skylark" is a poem completed by Percy Bysshe Shelley in late June 1820 and published accompanying his lyrical drama '' Prometheus Unbound'' by Charles and James Collier in London. It was inspired by an evening walk in the country near L ...

" (1820), the philosophical essay "

The Necessity of Atheism "The Necessity of Atheism" is an essay on atheism by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, printed in 1811 by Charles and William Phillips in Worthing while Shelley was a student at University College, Oxford. An enigmatically signed copy o ...

" written alongside his friend T. J. Hogg (1811), and the political ballad " The Mask of Anarchy" (1819). His other major works include the verse drama ''

The Cenci ''The Cenci, A Tragedy, in Five Acts'' (1819) is a verse drama in five acts by Percy Bysshe Shelley written in the summer of 1819, and inspired by a real Italian family, the House of Cenci (in particular, Beatrice Cenci, pronounced CHEN-chee). ...

'' (1819) and long poems such as ''

Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude ''Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude'' is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, written from 10 September to 14 December in 1815 in Bishopsgate, near Windsor Great Park and first published in 1816. The poem was without a title when Shelley passed it a ...

'' (1815), ''

Julian and Maddalo ''Julian and Maddalo: A Conversation'' (1818– 19) is a poem in 617 lines of enjambed heroic couplets by Percy Bysshe Shelley published posthumously in 1824. Background This work was penned in the autumn of 1818 at a villa called I Capuccini, ...

'' (1819), ''

Hellas Hellas may refer to: Places in Greece *Ἑλλάς (''Ellás''), genitive Ἑλλάδος (''Elládos''), an ancient Greek toponym used to refer to: ** Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country i ...

'' (1822), and his final, unfinished work, '' The Triumph of Life'' (1822). Shelley also wrote

prose fiction Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include o ...

and a quantity of essays on political, social, and philosophical issues. Much of this poetry and prose was not published in his lifetime, or only published in expurgated form, due to the risk of prosecution for political and religious libel. From the 1820s, his poems and political and ethical writings became popular in Owenist, Chartist, and

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

political circles, and later drew admirers as diverse as

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, and

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

. Shelley's life was marked by family crises, ill health, and a backlash against his

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

, political views and defiance of social conventions. He went into permanent self-exile in Italy in 1818, and over the next four years produced what Leader and O'Neill call "some of the finest poetry of the Romantic period". His second wife, Mary Shelley, was the author of ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

''. He died in a boating accident in 1822 at the age of 29.

Life

Early life and education

Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at

Field Place Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

, Warnham,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

, England. He was the eldest son of Sir

Timothy Shelley Sir Timothy Shelley, 2nd Baronet (7 September 1753 – 24 April 1844) was an English politician and lawyer. He was the son of Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet of Castle Goring and the father of Romantic poet and dramatist Percy Bysshe Shelley. ...

(1753–1844), a Whig Member of Parliament for

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

from 1790 to 1792 and for Shoreham between 1806 and 1812, and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold (1763–1846), the daughter of a successful butcher. He had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. Shelley's early childhood was sheltered and mostly happy. He was particularly close to his sisters and his mother, who encouraged him to hunt, fish and ride. At age six, he was sent to a day school run by the vicar of Warnham church, where he displayed an impressive memory and gift for languages. In 1802 he entered the

Syon House Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The family's traditional central London residence had be ...

Academy of

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, where his cousin

Thomas Medwin Thomas Medwin (20 March 1788 –2 August 1869) was an early 19th-century English writer, poet and translator. He is known chiefly for his biography of his cousin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and for published recollections of his friend, Lord Byron. ...

was a pupil. Shelley was bullied and unhappy at the school and sometimes responded with violent rage. He also began suffering from the nightmares, hallucinations and sleep walking that were to periodically afflict him throughout his life. Shelley developed an interest in science which supplemented his voracious reading of tales of mystery, romance and the supernatural. During his holidays at Field Place, his sisters were often terrified at being subjected to his experiments with gunpowder, acids and electricity. Back at school he blew up a paling fence with gunpowder. In 1804, Shelley entered

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

, a period which he later recalled with loathing. He was subjected to particularly severe mob bullying which the perpetrators called "Shelley-baits". A number of biographers and contemporaries have attributed the bullying to Shelley's aloofness, nonconformity and refusal to take part in fagging. His peculiarities and violent rages earned him the nickname "Mad Shelley". His interest in the occult and science continued, and contemporaries describe him giving an electric shock to a master, blowing up a tree stump with gunpowder and attempting to raise spirits with occult rituals. In his senior years, Shelley came under the influence of a part-time teacher, Dr James Lind, who encouraged his interest in the occult and introduced him to liberal and radical authors. Shelley also developed an interest in Plato and idealist philosophy which he pursued in later years through self-study. According to Richard Holmes, Shelley, by his leaving year, had gained a reputation as a classical scholar and a tolerated eccentric. In his last term at Eton, his first novel '' Zastrozzi'' appeared and he had established a following among his fellow students.Holmes, Richard (1974) pp 25–30 Prior to enrolling for

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

in October 1810, Shelley completed '' Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire'' (written with his sister Elizabeth), the verse melodrama ''The Wandering Jew'' and the gothic novel '' St. Irvine; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance'' (published 1811). At Oxford Shelley attended few lectures, instead spending long hours reading and conducting scientific experiments in the laboratory he set up in his room. He met a fellow student,

Thomas Jefferson Hogg Thomas Jefferson Hogg (24 May 1792 – 27 August 1862) was a British barrister and writer best known for his friendship with the Romantic poetry, Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Hogg was raised in County Durham, but spent most of hi ...

, who became his closest friend. Shelley became increasingly politicised under Hogg's influence, developing strong radical and anti-Christian views. Such views were dangerous in the reactionary political climate prevailing during Britain's war with Napoleonic France, and Shelley's father warned him against Hogg's influence. In the winter of 1810–1811, Shelley published a series of anonymous political poems and tracts: ''

Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson ''Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson'' was a collection of poetry published in November, 1810 by Percy Bysshe Shelley and his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg while they were students at Oxford University. The pamphlet was subtitled: "Being P ...

'', ''

'' (written in collaboration with Hogg) and ''A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things''. Shelley mailed ''The Necessity of Atheism'' to all the bishops and heads of colleges at Oxford, and he was called to appear before the college's fellows, including the Dean, George Rowley. His refusal to answer questions put by college authorities regarding whether or not he authored the pamphlet resulted in his expulsion from Oxford on 25March 1811, along with Hogg. Hearing of his son's expulsion, Shelley's father threatened to cut all contact with Shelley unless he agreed to return home and study under tutors appointed by him. Shelley's refusal to do so led to a falling-out with his father.

Marriage to Harriet Westbrook

In late December 1810, Shelley had met Harriet Westbrook, a pupil at the same boarding school as Shelley's sisters. They corresponded frequently that winter and also after Shelley had been expelled from Oxford. Shelley expounded his radical ideas on politics, religion and marriage to Harriet, and they gradually convinced each other that she was oppressed by her father and at school. Shelley's infatuation with Harriet developed in the months following his expulsion, when he was under severe emotional strain due to the conflict with his family, his bitterness over the breakdown of his romance with his cousin Harriet Grove, and his unfounded belief that he might be suffering from a fatal illness. At the same time, Harriet Westbrook's elder sister Eliza, to whom Harriet was very close, encouraged the young girl's romance with Shelley. Shelley's correspondence with Harriet intensified in July, while he was holidaying in Wales, and in response to her urgent pleas for his protection, he returned to London in early August. Putting aside his philosophical objections to matrimony, he left with the sixteen-year-old Harriet for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 25 August 1811, and they were married there on the 28th. Hearing of the elopement, Harriet's father, John Westbrook, and Shelley's father, Timothy, cut off the allowances of the bride and groom. (Shelley's father believed his son had married beneath him, as Harriet's father had earned his fortune in trade and was the owner of a tavern and coffee house.) WilliamGodwin

Surviving on borrowed money, Shelley and Harriet stayed in Edinburgh for a month, with Hogg living under the same roof. The trio left for

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in October, and Shelley went on to Sussex to settle matters with his father, leaving Harriet behind with Hogg. Shelley returned from his unsuccessful excursion to find that Eliza had moved in with Harriet and Hogg. Harriet confessed that Hogg had tried to seduce her while Shelley had been away. Shelley, Harriet and Eliza soon left for Keswick in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, leaving Hogg in York. At this time Shelley was also involved in an intense platonic relationship with Elizabeth Hitchener, a 28-year-old unmarried schoolteacher of advanced views, with whom he had been corresponding. Hitchener, whom Shelley called the "sister of my soul" and "my second self", became his confidante and intellectual companion as he developed his views on politics, religion, ethics and personal relationships. Shelley proposed that she join him, Harriet and Eliza in a communal household where all property would be shared. The Shelleys and Eliza spent December and January in Keswick where Shelley visited Robert Southey whose poetry he admired. Southey was taken with Shelley, even though there was a wide gulf between them politically, and predicted great things for him as a poet. Southey also informed Shelley that

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous for ...

, author of '' Political Justice'', which had greatly influenced him in his youth, and which Shelley also admired, was still alive. Shelley wrote to Godwin, offering himself as his devoted disciple. Godwin, who had modified many of his earlier radical views, advised Shelley to reconcile with his father, become a scholar before he published anything else, and give up his avowed plans for political agitation in Ireland. Meanwhile, Shelley had met his father's patron, Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, who helped secure the reinstatement of Shelley's allowance. With Harriet's allowance also restored, Shelley now had the funds for his Irish venture. Their departure for Ireland was precipitated by increasing hostility towards the Shelley household from their landlord and neighbours who were alarmed by Shelley's scientific experiments, pistol shooting and radical political views. As tension mounted, Shelley claimed he had been attacked in his home by ruffians, an event which might have been real or a delusional episode triggered by stress. This was the first of a series of episodes in subsequent years where Shelley claimed to have been attacked by strangers during periods of personal crisis. Early in 1812, Shelley wrote, published and personally distributed in Dublin three political tracts: ''An Address, to the Irish People; Proposals for an Association of Philanthropists;'' and ''Declaration of Rights''. He also delivered a speech at a meeting of O'Connell's Catholic Committee in which he called for

Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, repeal of the Acts of Union and an end to the oppression of the Irish poor. Reports of Shelley's subversive activities were sent to the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

. Returning from Ireland, the Shelley household travelled to Wales, then Devon, where they again came under government surveillance for distributing subversive literature. Elizabeth Hitchener joined the household in Devon, but several months later had a falling out with the Shelleys and left. The Shelley household had settled in Tremadog, Wales in September 1812, where Shelley worked on ''

Queen Mab Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', where "she is the fairies' midwife". Later, she appears in other poetry and literature, and in various guises in drama and cinema. In the play, her activity i ...

'', a utopian allegory with extensive notes preaching atheism, free love, republicanism and vegetarianism. The poem was published the following year in a private edition of 250 copies, although few were initially distributed because of the risk of prosecution for seditious and religious libel. In February 1813, Shelley claimed he was attacked in his home at night. The incident might have been real, a hallucination brought on by stress, or a hoax staged by Shelley in order to escape government surveillance, creditors and his entanglements in local politics. The Shelleys and Eliza fled to Ireland, then London. Back in England, Shelley's debts mounted as he tried unsuccessfully to reach a financial settlement with his father. On 23 June Harriet gave birth to a girl, Eliza Ianthe Shelley, and in the following months the relationship between Shelley and his wife deteriorated. Shelley resented the influence Harriet's sister had over her, while Harriet was alienated by Shelley's close friendship with an attractive widow, Harriet Boinville, and her daughter Cornelia Turner. Following Ianthe's birth, the Shelleys moved frequently across London, Wales, the Lake District, Scotland and Berkshire to escape creditors and search for a home. In March 1814, Shelley remarried Harriet in London to settle any doubts about the legality of their Edinburgh wedding and secure the rights of their child. Nevertheless, the Shelleys lived apart for most of the following months, and Shelley reflected bitterly on: "my rash & heartless union with Harriet".

Elopement with Mary Godwin

In May 1814, Shelley began visiting his mentor Godwin almost daily, and soon fell in love with Mary, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Godwin and the late feminist author

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...

. Shelley and Mary declared their love for each other during a visit to her mother's grave in the churchyard of

St Pancras Old Church St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in Somers Town, Central London. It is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, and is believed by many to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England. The church i ...

on 26 June. When Shelley told Godwin that he intended to leave Harriet and live with Mary, his mentor banished him from the house and forbade Mary from seeing him. Shelley and Mary eloped to Europe on 28 July, taking Mary's step-sister Claire Clairmont with them. Before leaving, Shelley had secured a loan of £3,000 but had left most of the funds at the disposal of Godwin and Harriet, who was now pregnant. The financial arrangement with Godwin led to rumours that he had sold his daughters to Shelley. Shelley, Mary and Claire made their way across war-ravaged France where Shelley wrote to Harriet, asking her to meet them in Switzerland with the money he had left for her. Hearing nothing from Harriet in Switzerland, and unable to secure sufficient funds or suitable accommodation, the three travelled to Germany and Holland before returning to England on 13 September. Shelley spent the next few months trying to raise loans and avoid bailiffs. Mary was pregnant, lonely, depressed and ill. Her mood was not improved when she heard that, on 30 November, Harriet had given birth to Charles Bysshe Shelley, heir to the Shelley fortune and baronetcy. This was followed, in early January 1815, by news that Shelley's grandfather, Sir Bysshe, had died leaving an estate worth £220,000. The settlement of the estate, and a financial settlement between Shelley and his father (now Sir Timothy), however, was not concluded until April the following year. HistorySixWeeksTourMap

In February 1815, Mary gave premature birth to a baby girl who died ten days later, deepening her depression. In the following weeks, Mary became close to Hogg who temporarily moved into the household. Shelley was almost certainly having a sexual relationship with Claire at this time, and it is possible that Mary, with Shelley's encouragement, was also having a sexual relationship with Hogg. In May Claire left the household, at Mary's insistence, to reside in Lynmouth. In August Shelley and Mary moved to Bishopsgate where Shelley worked on ''

Alastor Alastor (; Ancient Greek: Ἀλάστωρ, English translation: "avenger") refers to a number of people and concepts in Greek mythology: *Alastor, an epithet of the Greek God Zeus, according to Hesychius of Alexandria and the ''Etymologicum Ma ...

'', a long poem in blank verse based on the myth of

Narcissus Narcissus may refer to: Biology * ''Narcissus'' (plant), a genus containing daffodils and others People * Narcissus (mythology), Greek mythological character * Narcissus (wrestler) (2nd century), assassin of the Roman emperor Commodus * Tiberiu ...

and Echo. ''Alastor'' was published in an edition of 250 in early 1816 to poor sales and largely unfavourable reviews from the conservative press. On 24 January 1816, Mary gave birth to William Shelley. Shelley was delighted to have another son, but was suffering from the strain of prolonged financial negotiations with his father, Harriet and William Godwin. Shelley showed signs of delusional behaviour and was contemplating an escape to the continent.

Byron

Claire initiated a sexual relationship with

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

in April 1816, just before his self-exile on the continent, and then arranged for Byron to meet Shelley, Mary and her in Geneva. Shelley admired Byron's poetry and had sent him ''Queen Mab'' and other poems. Shelley's party arrived in Geneva in May and rented a house close to Villa Diodati, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Byron was staying. There Shelley, Byron and the others engaged in discussions about literature, science and "various philosophical doctrines". One night, while Byron was reciting Coleridge's '' Christabel'', Shelley suffered a severe panic attack with hallucinations. The previous night Mary had had a more productive vision or nightmare which inspired her novel ''Frankenstein''. Shelley and Byron then took a boating tour around Lake Geneva, which inspired Shelley to write his " Hymn to Intellectual Beauty", his first substantial poem since ''Alastor''. A tour of Chamonix in the French Alps inspired " Mont Blanc", which has been described as an atheistic response to Coleridge's "Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamoni". During this tour, Shelley often signed guest books with a declaration that he was an atheist. These declarations were seen by other British tourists, including Southey, which hardened attitudes against Shelley back home. Relations between Byron and Shelley's party became strained when Byron was told that Claire was pregnant with his child. Shelley, Mary, and Claire left Switzerland in late August, with arrangements for the expected baby still unclear, although Shelley made provision for Claire and the baby in his will. In January 1817 Claire gave birth to a daughter by Byron who she named Alba, but later renamed Allegra in accordance with Byron's wishes.

Marriage to Mary Godwin

Shelley and Mary returned to England in September 1816, and in early October they heard that Mary's half-sister

Fanny Imlay Frances Imlay (14 May 1794 – 9 October 1816), also known as Fanny Godwin and Frances Wollstonecraft, was the illegitimate daughter of the British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the American commercial speculator and diplomat Gilbert Imla ...

had killed herself. Godwin believed that Fanny had been in love with Shelley, and Shelley himself suffered depression and guilt over her death, writing: "Friend had I known thy secret grief / Should we have parted so." Further tragedy followed in December when Shelley's estranged wife Harriet drowned herself in the

Serpentine Serpentine may refer to: Shapes * Serpentine shape, a shape resembling a serpent * Serpentine curve, a mathematical curve * Serpentine, a type of riding figure Science and nature * Serpentine subgroup, a group of minerals * Serpentinite, a ...

. Harriet, pregnant and living alone at the time, believed that she had been abandoned by her new lover. In her suicide letter she asked Shelley to take custody of their son Charles but to leave their daughter in her sister Eliza's care. Shelley married Mary Godwin on 30 December, despite his philosophical objections to the institution. The marriage was intended to help secure Shelley's custody of his children by Harriet and to placate Godwin who had refused to see Shelley and Mary because of their previous adulterous relationship. After a prolonged legal battle, the Court of Chancery eventually awarded custody of Shelley and Harriet's children to foster parents, on the grounds that Shelley had abandoned his first wife for Mary without cause and was an atheist. In March 1817 the Shelleys moved to the village of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where Shelley's friend Thomas Love Peacock lived. The Shelley household included Claire and her baby Allegra, both of whose presence was resented by Mary.Bieri, James, (2005), pp 41–42 Shelley's generosity with money and increasing debts also led to financial and marital stress, as did Godwin's frequent requests for financial help. On 2 September Mary gave birth to a daughter, Clara Everina Shelley. Soon after, Shelley left for London with Claire, which increased Mary's resentment towards her step-sister. Shelley was arrested for two days in London over money he owed, and attorneys visited Mary in Marlowe over Shelley's debts. Shelley took part in the literary and political circle that surrounded Leigh Hunt, and during this period he met William Hazlitt and

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

. Shelley's major work during this time was '' Laon and Cythna'', a long narrative poem featuring incest and attacks on religion. It was hastily withdrawn after publication due to fears of prosecution for religious libel, and was re-edited and reissued as '' The Revolt of Islam'' in January 1818. Shelley also published two political tracts under a pseudonym: ''A Proposal for putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom'' (March 1817) and ''An Address to the People on the Death of Princess Charlotte'' (November 1817). In December he wrote "Ozymandias", which is considered to be one of his finest sonnets, as part of a competition with friend and fellow poet Horace Smith.

Italy

Joseph Severn - Posthumous Portrait of Shelley Writing Prometheus Unbound 1845

On 12 March 1818 the Shelleys and Claire left England to escape its "tyranny civil and religious". A doctor had also recommended that Shelley go to Italy for his chronic lung complaint, and Shelley had arranged to take Claire's daughter, Allegra, to her father Byron who was now in Venice. After travelling some months through France and Italy, Shelley left Mary and baby Clara at Bagni di Lucca (in today's Tuscany) while he travelled with Claire to Venice to see Byron and make arrangements for visiting Allegra. Byron invited the Shelleys to stay at his summer residence at Este, and Shelley urged Mary to meet him there. Clara became seriously ill on the journey and died on 24 September in Venice. Following Clara's death, Mary fell into a long period of depression and emotional estrangement from Shelley. The Shelleys moved to Naples on 1 December, where they stayed for three months. During this period Shelley was ill, depressed and almost suicidal: a state of mind reflected in his poem "Stanzas written in Dejection – December 1818, Near Naples". While in Naples, Shelley registered the birth and baptism of a baby girl, Elena Adelaide Shelley (born 27 December), naming himself as the father and falsely naming Mary as the mother. The parentage of Elena has never been conclusively established. Biographers have variously speculated that she was adopted by Shelley to console Mary for the loss of Clara, that she was Shelley's child to Claire, that she was his child to his servant Elise Foggi, or that she was the child of a "mysterious lady" who had followed Shelley to the continent. Shelley registered the birth and baptism on 27 February 1819, and the household left Naples for Rome the following day, leaving Elena with carers. Elena was to die in a poor suburb of Naples on 9 June 1820. In Rome, Shelley was in poor health, probably suffering from nephritis and tuberculosis which later was in remission. Nevertheless, he made significant progress on three major works: ''

'', '' Prometheus Unbound'' and ''

''. ''Julian and Maddalo'' is an autobiographical poem which explores the relationship between Shelley and Byron and analyses Shelley's personal crises of 1818 and 1819. The poem was completed in the summer of 1819, but was not published in Shelley's lifetime. ''Prometheus Unbound'' is a long dramatic poem inspired by Aeschylus's retelling of the Prometheus myth. It was completed in late 1819 and published in 1820. ''The Cenci'' is a verse drama of rape, murder and incest based on the story of the Renaissance Count Cenci of Rome and his daughter Beatrice. Shelley completed the play in September and the first edition was published that year. It was to become one of his most popular works and the only one to have two authorised editions in his lifetime. Shelley's three-year-old son William died in June, probably of malaria. The new tragedy caused a further decline in Shelley's health and deepened Mary's depression. On 4 August she wrote: "We have now lived five years together; and if all the events of the five years were blotted out, I might be happy".The Shelleys were now living in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

where, in September, Shelley heard of the Peterloo Massacre of peaceful protesters in Manchester. Within two weeks he had completed one of his most famous political poems, '' The Mask of Anarchy'', and despatched it to Leigh Hunt for publication. Hunt, however, decided not to publish it for fear of prosecution for seditious libel. The poem was only officially published in 1832. The Shelleys moved to Florence in October, where Shelley read a scathing review of the ''Revolt of Islam'' (and its earlier version ''Laon and Cythna'') in the conservative ''Quarterly Review''. Shelley was angered by the personal attack on him in the article which he erroneously believed had been written by Southey. His bitterness over the review lasted for the rest of his life. On 12 November, Mary gave birth to a boy,

Percy Florence Shelley Sir Percy Florence Shelley, 3rd Baronet (12 November 1819 – 5 December 1889) was the son of the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his second wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, novelist and author of ''Frankenstein''. He was the only child ...

. Around the time of Percy's birth, the Shelleys met

Sophia Stacey Sophia Stacey (1791– December 11, 1874) was a friend of the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, to whom he dedicated the ''Ode'' which begins: ''Thou art fair, and few are fairer, ''Of the nymphs of earth or ocean,'' ''They are robes that fi ...

, who was a ward of one of Shelley's uncles and was staying at the same pension as the Shelleys. Sophia, a talented harpist and singer, formed a friendship with Shelley while Mary was preoccupied with her newborn son. Shelley wrote at least five love poems and fragments for Sophia including "Song written for an Indian Air". The Shelleys moved to Pisa in January 1820, ostensibly to consult a doctor who had been recommended to them. There they became friends with the Irish republican Margaret Mason ( Lady Margaret Mountcashell) and her common-law husband

George William Tighe George William Tighe (25 February 1776March 1837) was an Irish agricultural theorist who spent much of his life in Italy. Through his marriage to Margaret King, he exerted an influence on the radical poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Agriculture and sc ...

. Mrs Mason became the inspiration for Shelley's poem "The Sensitive Plant", and Shelley's discussions with Mason and Tighe influenced his political thought and his critical interest in the population theories of

Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book '' An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...

. In March Shelley wrote to friends that Mary was depressed, suicidal and hostile towards him. Shelley was also beset by financial worries, as creditors from England pressed him for payment and he was obliged to make secret payments in connection with his "Neapolitan charge" Elena. Meanwhile, Shelley was writing '' A Philosophical View of Reform'', a political essay which he had begun in Rome. The unfinished essay, which remained unpublished in Shelley's lifetime, has been called "one of the most advanced and sophisticated documents of political philosophy in the nineteenth century". Another crisis erupted in June when Shelley claimed that he had been assaulted in the Pisan post office by a man accusing him of foul crimes. Shelley's biographer James Bieri suggests that this incident was possibly a delusional episode brought on by extreme stress, as Shelley was being blackmailed by a former servant, Paolo Foggi, over baby Elena. It is likely that the blackmail was connected with a story spread by another former servant, Elise Foggi, that Shelley had fathered a child to Claire in Naples and had sent it to a foundling home. Shelley, Claire and Mary denied this story, and Elise later recanted. In July, hearing that John Keats was seriously ill in England, Shelley wrote to the poet inviting him to stay with him at Pisa. Keats replied with hopes of seeing him, but instead, arrangements were made for Keats to travel to Rome. Following the death of Keats in 1821, Shelley wrote ''

Adonais ''Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc.'' () is a pastoral elegy written by Percy Bysshe Shelley for John Keats in 1821, and widely regarded as one of Shelley's best and best-known works.Harold Bloom considers one of the major pastoral elegies. The poem was published in Pisa in July 1821, but sold few copies. In early July 1820, Shelley heard that baby Elena had died on 9 June. In the months following the post office incident and Elena's death, relations between Mary and Claire deteriorated and Claire spent most of the next two years living separately from the Shelleys, mainly in Florence. That December Shelley met Teresa (Emilia) Viviani, who was the 19-year-old daughter of the Governor of Pisa and was living in a convent awaiting a suitable marriage. Shelley visited her several times over the next few months and they started a passionate correspondence which dwindled after her marriage the following September. Emilia was the inspiration for Shelley's major poem ''

Epipsychidion ''Epipsychidion'' is a major poetical work published in 1821 by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The work was subtitled: ''Verses addressed to the noble and unfortunate Lady Emilia V, now imprisoned in the convent of''. The title is Greek for "concerning o ...

''. In March 1821 Shelley completed "

A Defence of Poetry "A Defence of Poetry" is an essay by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, written in 1821 and first published posthumously in 1840 in ''Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments'' by Edward Moxon in London. It contains Shelley's ...

", a response to Peacock's article "The Four Ages of Poetry". Shelley's essay, with its famous conclusion "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world", remained unpublished in his lifetime. Shelley went alone to Ravenna in early August to see Byron, making a detour to Livorno for a rendezvous with Claire. Shelley stayed with Byron for two weeks and invited the older poet to spend the winter in Pisa. After Shelley heard Byron read his newly completed fifth canto of ''Don Juan (poem), Don Juan'' he wrote to Mary: "I despair of rivalling Byron." In November Byron moved into Villa Lanfranchi in Pisa, just across the river from the Shelleys. Byron became the centre of the "Pisan circle" which was to include Shelley, Thomas Medwin, Edward Ellerker Williams, Edward Williams and Edward John Trelawny, Edward Trelawny. In the early months of 1822 Shelley became increasingly close to Jane Williams, who was living with her partner Edward Williams in the same building as the Shelleys. Shelley wrote a number of love poems for Jane, including "The Serpent is shut out of Paradise" and "With a Guitar, to Jane". Shelley's obvious affection for Jane was to cause increasing tension between Shelley, Edward Williams and Mary. Claire arrived in Pisa in April at Shelley's invitation, and soon after they heard that her daughter Allegra had died of typhus in Ravenna. The Shelleys and Claire then moved to Villa Magni, near Lerici on the shores of the Gulf of La Spezia. Shelley acted as mediator between Claire and Byron over arrangements for the burial of their daughter, and the added strain led to Shelley having a series of hallucinations. Mary almost died from a miscarriage on 16 June, her life only being saved by Shelley's effective first aid. Two days later Shelley wrote to a friend that there was no sympathy between Mary and him and if the past and future could be obliterated he would be content in his boat with Jane and her guitar. That same day he also wrote to Trelawny asking for Hydrogen cyanide, prussic acid. The following week, Shelley woke the household with his screaming over a nightmare or hallucination in which he saw Edward and Jane Williams as walking corpses and himself strangling Mary. During this time, Shelley was writing his final major poem, the unfinished ''The Triumph of Life'', which Harold Bloom has called "the most despairing poem he wrote".

Death

On 1 July 1822, Shelley and Edward Williams sailed in Shelley's new boat the ''Don Juan'' to Livorno where Shelley met Leigh Hunt and Byron in order to make arrangements for a new journal, ''The Liberal''. After the meeting, on 8 July, Shelley, Williams and their boat boy sailed out of Livorno for Lerici. A few hours later, the ''Don Juan'' and its inexperienced crew were lost in a storm. The vessel, an open boat, had been custom-built in Genoa for Shelley. Mary Shelley declared in her "Note on Poems of 1822" (1839) that the design had a defect and that the boat was never seaworthy. In fact, however, the ''Don Juan'' was overmasted; the sinking was due to a severe storm and poor seamanship of the three men on board."The Sinking of the ''Don Juan''" by Donald Prell, ''Keats–Shelley Journal'', Vol. LVI, 2007, pp. 136–54 Shelley's badly decomposed body washed ashore at Viareggio ten days later and was identified by Trelawny from the clothing and a copy of Keats's ''Lamia (poem), Lamia'' in a jacket pocket. On 16 August, his body was cremated on a beach near Viareggio and the ashes were buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Protestant Cemetery of Rome. Louis Edouard Fournier - The Funeral of Shelley - Google Art Project

Louis Edouard Fournier - The Funeral of Shelley - Google Art Project

The day after the news of his death reached England, the Tory London newspaper ''The Courier'' printed: "Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned; ''now'' he knows whether there is God or no." Percy Shelley gravestone with clear text

Percy Shelley gravestone with clear text

Shelley's ashes were reburied in a different plot at the cemetery in 1823. His grave bears the Latin inscription ''Cor Cordium'' (Heart of Hearts), and a few lines of "Ariel's Song" from Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'':

Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and strange.

Shelley's remains

When Shelley's body was cremated on the beach, his presumed heart resisted burning and was retrieved by Trelawny. The heart was possibly calcified from an earlier tubercular infection, or was perhaps his liver. Trelawny gave the scorched organ to Hunt, who preserved it in spirits of wine and refused to hand it over to Mary. He finally relented and the heart was eventually buried either at St Peter's Church, Bournemouth or in Christchurch Priory. Hunt also retrieved a piece of Shelley's jawbone which, in 1913, was given to the Shelley-Keats Memorial in Rome.Anthony Holden, ''The Wit in the Dungeon: A Life of Leigh Hunt'' (2005), ch. 7 'I never beheld him more': 1821-2, p. 166

Family history

Shelley's paternal grandfather was Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet, Bysshe Shelley (21 June 1731 – 6 January 1815), who, in 1806, became Sir Bysshe Shelley, First Baronet of Castle Goring. On Sir Bysshe's death in 1815, Shelley's father inherited the baronetcy, becoming Timothy Shelley, Sir Timothy Shelley. Shelley was the eldest of several legitimate children. Bieri argues that Shelley had an older illegitimate brother but, if he existed, little is known of him. His younger siblings were: John (1806–1866), Margaret (1801–1887), Hellen (1799–1885), Mary (1797–1884), Hellen (1796–1796, died in infancy) and Elizabeth (1794–1831). Shelley had two children by his first wife Harriet: Eliza Ianthe Shelley (1813–1876) and Charles Bysshe Shelley (1814–1826). He had four children by his second wife Mary: an unnamed daughter born in 1815 who only survived ten days; William Shelley (1816–1819); Clara Everina Shelley (1817–1818); and

(1819–1889). Shelley also declared himself to be the father of Elena Adelaide Shelley (1818–1820), who might have been an illegitimate or adopted daughter. His son Percy Florence became the Third Baronet of Castle Goring in 1844, following the death of Sir Timothy Shelley.

Ancestry

Political, religious and ethical views

Politics

Shelley was a political radical who was influenced by thinkers such as Rousseau, Paine, Godwin, Wollstonecraft, and Leigh Hunt. He advocated Catholic Emancipation, republicanism, parliamentary reform, the extension of the franchise, freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, an end to aristocratic and clerical privilege, and a more equal distribution of income and wealth. The views he expressed in his published works were often more moderate than those he advocated privately, because of the risk of prosecution for seditious libel and his desire not to alienate more moderate friends and political allies. Nevertheless, his political writings and activism brought him to the attention of the Home Office and he came under government surveillance at various periods. Shelley's most influential political work in the years immediately following his death was the poem ''Queen Mab'', which included extensive notes on political themes. The work went through 14 official and pirated editions by 1845, and became popular in Owenist and Chartist circles. His longest political essay, ''A Philosophical View of Reform'', was written in 1820, but not published until 1920.

Nonviolence

Shelley's advocacy of nonviolent resistance was largely based on his reflections on the French Revolution and rise of Napoleon, and his belief that violent protest would increase the prospect of a military despotism. Although Shelley sympathised with supporters of Irish independence, such as Peter Finnerty and Robert Emmet, he did not support violent rebellion. In his early pamphlet ''An Address, to the Irish People'' (1812) he wrote: "I do not wish to see things changed now, because it cannot be done without violence, and we may assure ourselves that none of us are fit for any change, however good, if we condescend to employ force in a cause we think right." In his later essay ''A Philosophical View of Reform'', Shelley did concede that there were political circumstances in which force might be justified: "The last resort of resistance is undoubtably [''sic''] insurrection. The right of insurrection is derived from the employment of armed force to counteract the will of the nation." Shelley supported the Trienio Liberal, 1820 armed rebellion against absolute monarchy in Spain, and the Greek War of Independence, 1821 armed Greek uprising against Ottoman rule. Shelley's poem "The Mask of Anarchy" (written in 1819, but first published in 1832) has been called "perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent resistance". Gandhi was familiar with the poem and it is possible that Shelley had an indirect influence on Gandhi through Henry David Thoreau's ''Civil Disobedience (Thoreau), Civil Disobedience''.

Religion

Shelley was an avowed atheist, who was influenced by the materialist arguments in Baron d'Holbach, Holbach's ''The System of Nature, Le Système de la nature''. His atheism was an important element of his political radicalism as he saw organised religion as inextricably linked to social oppression. The overt and implied atheism in many of his works raised a serious risk of prosecution for religious libel. His early pamphlet ''The Necessity of Atheism'' was withdrawn from sale soon after publication following a complaint from a priest. His poem ''Queen Mab'', which includes sustained attacks on the priesthood, Christianity and religion in general, was twice prosecuted by the Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1821. A number of his other works were edited before publication to reduce the risk of prosecution.

Free love

Shelley's advocacy of free love drew heavily on the work of Mary Wollstonecraft and the early work of William Godwin. In his notes to ''Queen Mab'', he wrote: "A system could not well have been devised more studiously hostile to human happiness than marriage." He argued that the children of unhappy marriages "are nursed in a systematic school of ill-humour, violence and falsehood". He believed that the ideal of chastity outside marriage was "a monkish and evangelical superstition" which led to the hypocrisy of prostitution and promiscuity.Holmes, Richard (1974), pp 204–8 Shelley believed that "sexual connection" should be free among those who loved each other and last only as long as their mutual love. Love should also be free and not subject to obedience, jealousy and fear. He denied that free love would lead to promiscuity and the disruption of stable human relationships, arguing that relationships based on love would generally be of long duration and marked by generosity and self-devotion. When Shelley's friend T. J. Hogg made an unwanted sexual advance to Shelley's first wife Harriet, Shelley forgave him of his "horrible error" and assured him that he was not jealous. It is very likely that Shelley encouraged Hogg and Shelley's second wife Mary to have a sexual relationship.

Vegetarianism

Shelley converted to a vegetable diet in early March 1812 and sustained it, with occasional lapses, for the remainder of his life. Shelley's vegetarianism was influenced by ancient authors such as Hesiod, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Ovid and Plutarch, but more directly by John Frank Newton, author of ''The Return to Nature, or, A Defence of the Vegetable Regimen'' (1811). Shelley wrote two essays on vegetarianism: ''A Vindication of Natural Diet'' (1813) and "On the Vegetable System of Diet" (written circa 1813–1815, but first published in 1929). William Owen Jones argues that Shelley's advocacy of vegetarianism was strikingly modern, emphasising its health benefits, the alleviation of animal suffering, the inefficient use of agricultural land involved in animal husbandry, and the economic inequality resulting from the commercialisation of animal food production. Shelley's life and works inspired the founding of the Vegetarian Society in England (1847) and directly influenced the vegetarianism of George Bernard Shaw and perhaps Gandhi.

Reception and influence

Shelley's work was not widely read in his lifetime outside a small circle of friends, poets and critics. Most of his poetry, drama and fiction was published in editions of 250 copies which generally sold poorly. Only ''The Cenci'' went to an authorised second edition while Shelley was alive – in contrast, Byron's ''The Corsair'' (1814) sold out its first edition of 10,000 copies in one day. The initial reception of Shelley's work in mainstream periodicals (with the exception of the liberal ''Examiner'') was generally unfavourable. Reviewers often launched personal attacks on Shelley's private life and political, social and religious views, even when conceding that his poetry contained beautiful imagery and poetic expression. There was also criticism of Shelley's intelligibility and style, Hazlitt describing it as "a passionate dream, a straining after impossibilities, a record of fond conjectures, a confused embodying of vague abstraction". Shelley's poetry soon gained a wider audience in radical and reformist circles. ''Queen Mab'' became popular with Owenists and Chartists, and ''Revolt of Islam'' influenced poets sympathetic to the workers' movement such as Thomas Hood, Thomas Cooper and William Morris.Holmes, Richard (1974), pp 208–10, 402 However, Shelley's mainstream following did not develop until a generation after his death. Bieri argues that editions of Shelley's poems published in 1824 and 1839 were edited by Mary Shelley to highlight her late husband's lyrical gifts and downplay his radical ideas. Matthew Arnold famously described Shelley as a "beautiful and ineffectual angel". Shelley was a major influence on a number of important poets in the following decades, including Robert Browning, Swinburne, Hardy and Yeats.Bloom, Harold (2004), p 410 Shelley-like characters frequently appeared in nineteenth-century literature, such as Scythrop in Peacock's ''Nightmare Abbey'', Ladislaw in George Eliot's ''Middlemarch'' and Angel Clare in Hardy's ''Tess of the d'Urbervilles''. Twentieth-century critics such as T. S. Eliot, Eliot, F. R. Leavis, Leavis, Allen Tate and W. H. Auden, Auden variously criticised Shelley's poetry for deficiencies in style, "repellent" ideas, and immaturity of intellect and sensibility.Howe and O'Neill (2013) pp 3–5 However, Shelley's critical reputation rose from the 1960s as a new generation of critics highlighted Shelley's debt to Edmund Spenser, Spenser and John Milton, Milton, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist and materialist ideas in his work. American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem". According to Donald H. Reiman, "Shelley belongs to the great tradition of Western writers that includes Dante, Shakespeare and Milton".

Legacy

Keats Shelly Museum, Spanish Steps, Rome

Shelley died leaving many of his works unfinished, unpublished or published in expurgated versions with multiple errors. There have been a number of recent projects aimed at establishing reliable editions of his manuscripts and works. Among the most notable of these are: * Reiman, D. H. (gen ed), ''The Bodleian Shelley Manuscripts'' (23 vols.), New York (1986–2002) * Reiman, D. H. (gen ed), ''The Manuscripts of the Younger Romantics: Shelley'' (9 vols., 1985–97) * Reiman, D. H. and Fraistat, N., (et al) ''The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley'' (3 vols.), 1999–2012, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press * Cameron, K. N. and Reiman, D. H. (eds), ''Shelley and his Circle 1773–1822'', Cambridge, Mass., 1961– (8 vols.) * Everest K, Matthews, G. et al (eds), ''The Poems of Shelley, 1804–1821'' (4 vols.), Longman, 1989–2014 * Murray, E. B. (ed), ''The Prose Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley'', Vol. 1, 1811–1818, Oxford University Press, 1995 Shelley's long-lost "Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things" (1811) was rediscovered in 2006 and subsequently made available online by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. John Lauritsen and Charles E. Robinson have argued that Shelley's contribution to Mary Shelley's novel ''Frankenstein'' was extensive and that he should be considered a collaborator or co-author. Professor Charlotte Gordon and others have disputed this contention. Fiona Sampson has said: "In recent years Percy's corrections, visible in the ''Frankenstein'' notebooks held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, have been seized on as evidence that he must have at least co-authored the novel. In fact, when I examined the notebooks myself, I realised that Percy did rather less than any line editor working in publishing today." The Keats–Shelley Memorial Association, founded in 1903, supports the Keats–Shelley House in Rome which is a museum and library dedicated to the Romantic writers with a strong connection with Italy. The association is also responsible for maintaining the grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley in the non-Catholic Cemetery at Testaccio. The association publishes the scholarly ''Keats–Shelley Review''. It also runs the annual Keats–Shelley and Young Romantics Writing Prizes and the Keats–Shelley Fellowship.

Selected works

Works are listed by estimated year of composition. The year of first publication is given when this is different. Source is Bieri, unless otherwise indicated.

Poetry, fiction and verse drama

* (1810) '' Zastrozzi'' * (1810) '' Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire'' (collaboration with Elizabeth Shelley) * (1810) ''

: Being Poems Found Amongst the Papers of That Noted Female Who Attempted the Life of the King in 1786'' * (1810) ''St. Irvyne, St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian'' (published 1811) * (1812) ''The Devil's Walk: A Ballad'' * (1813) ''Queen Mab (poem), Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem'' * (1815) ''

'' (Published 1816) * (1816) '' Mont Blanc'' * (1816) ''On Death'' * (1817) '' Hymn to Intellectual Beauty'' (s:Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, text) * (1817) '' Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century'' (published 1818) * (1818) '' The Revolt of Islam, A Poem, in Twelve Cantos'' * (1818) '' Ozymandias'' (s:Ozymandias (Shelley), text) * (1818) ''Rosalind and Helen, Rosalind and Helen: A Modern Eclogue'' (published in 1819) * (1818) ''Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills, October 1818'' * (1819) ''

, A Tragedy, in Five Acts'' * (1819) ''

'' (s:Ode to the West Wind, text) * (1819) ''The Mask of Anarchy'' (published 1832) * (1819) ''England in 1819'' * (1819) ''

: A Conversation'' * (1820) ''Peter Bell the Third'' (published in 1839) * (1820) '' Prometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama, in Four Acts'' * (1820) ''

'' * (1820) ''The Cloud (poem), The Cloud'' * (1820) ''The Sensitive Plant'' * (1820) '' Oedipus Rex, Oedipus Tyrannus ; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts'' * (1820) ''The Witch of Atlas'' (published in 1824) * (1821) ''

Adonais ''Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc.'' () is a pastoral elegy written by Percy Bysshe Shelley for John Keats in 1821, and widely regarded as one of Shelley's best and best-known works.Epipsychidion ''Epipsychidion'' is a major poetical work published in 1821 by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The work was subtitled: ''Verses addressed to the noble and unfortunate Lady Emilia V, now imprisoned in the convent of''. The title is Greek for "concerning o ...

'' * (1822) ''

, A Lyrical Drama'' * (1822) '' The Triumph of Life'' (unfinished, published in 1824)

Short prose works

* "The Assassins, A Fragment of a Romance" (1814) * "The Coliseum, A Fragment" (1817) * "The Elysian Fields: A Lucianic Fragment" (1818) * "Una Favola (A Fable)" (1819, originally in Italian)

Essays

(with T. J. Hogg) (1811) * Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things (1811) * An Address, to the Irish People (1812) * Declaration of Rights (1812) * A Letter to Lord Ellenborough (1812) * A Vindication of Natural Diet (1813) * A Refutation of Deism (1814) * Speculations on Metaphysics (1814) * On the Vegetable System of Diet (1814–1815; published 1929) * On a Future State (1815) * On The Punishment of Death (1815) * Speculations on Morals (1817) * On Christianity (incomplete, 1817; published 1859) * On Love (1818) * On the Literature, the Arts and the Manners of the Athenians (1818) * On ''The Symposium'', or Preface to ''The Banquet'' Of Plato (1818) * On Frankenstein, On ''Frankenstein'' (1818; published in 1832) * On Life (1819) * A Philosophical View of Reform (1819–20, first published 1920) *

(1821, published 1840)

Chapbooks

* ''Wolfstein (book), Wolfstein; or, The Mysterious Bandit'' (1822) * ''Wolfstein, The Murderer; or, The Secrets of a Robber's Cave'' (1830)

Translations

* The Banquet (or The Symposium) of Plato (1818) (first published in unbowdlerised form 1931) * Ion of Plato (1821)

Collaborations with Mary Shelley

* (1817) ''History of a Six Weeks' Tour'' * (1820) ''Proserpine (play), Proserpine'' * (1820) ''Midas (Shelley play), Midas''.

References

Notes Bibliography * Edmund Blunden, ''Shelley: A Life Story'', Viking Press, 1947. * James Bieri, ''Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Biography'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, . * Richard Altick, Altick, Richard D., ''The English Common Reader''. Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1998. * Cameron, Kenneth Neill. ''The Young Shelley: Genesis of a Radical''. First Collier Books ed. New York: Collier Books, 1962, cop. 1950. * Edward Chaney. 'Egypt in England and America: The Cultural Memorials of Religion, Royalty and Religion', ''Sites of Exchange: European Crossroads and Faultlines'', eds. M. Ascari and A. Corrado. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2006, pp. 39–69. * Holmes, Richard. ''Shelley: The Pursuit.'' New York: E.P. Dutton, 1975. * Meaker, M.J. ''Sudden Endings, 12 Profiles in Depth of Famous Suicides'', Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1964 pp. 67–93: "The Deserted Wife: Harriet Westbrook Shelley". * Maurois, André, ''Ariel ou la vie de Shelley'', Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1923 * William St Clair, St Clair, William. ''The Godwins and the Shelleys: A Biography of a Family''. London: Faber and Faber, 1990. * William St Clair, St Clair, William. ''The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. * Hay, Daisy. ''Young Romantics: the Shelleys, Byron, and Other Tangled Lives'', Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury, 2010. * Everest K, Matthews, G. et al (eds), The Poems of Shelley, 1804–1821, (4 vols), Longman, 1989–2014 * Murray, E, B. (ed), The Prose Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Vol 1, 1811–1818, Oxford University Press, 1995 * Reiman, D. H. and Fraistat, N., (et al) "The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley," (3 vols) 1999–2012, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press * Shelley, Mary, with Percy Shelley. ''The Original Frankenstein''. Edited with an Introduction by Charles E. Robinson. NY: Random House Vintage Classics, 2008.

External links

* * * *
Percy Bysshe Shelley Resources

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Profile and Poems at Poets.org

Selected Poems of Shelley

A Guide to the Percy Bysshe Shelley Manuscript Material in the Pforzheimer Collection
* A talk on Shelley's politics (MP3) by Paul Foot
part 1

part 2

Plato's Ion, the Shelley translation

The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley
* * *
Online exhibition of Shelley's notebooks, objects, letters and drafts
alongside artefacts of

, Mary Shelley and

Percy Bysshe Shelley
at the British Library *Walter Edwin Peck papers (MS 390). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Librar

Fragment of an Address to the Jews
– General Library, University of Tokyo {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Percy Bysshe Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792 births 1822 deaths 19th-century atheists 18th-century English people 19th-century British novelists 19th-century British dramatists and playwrights 19th-century British translators 19th-century English non-fiction writers 19th-century English poets 19th-century essayists 19th-century male writers Accidental deaths in Italy Alumni of University College, Oxford Anti-monarchists British atheism activists British male dramatists and playwrights British male poets British radicals British republicans British vegetarianism activists Boating accident deaths Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome Critics of Christianity Critics of deism English atheists English essayists English expatriates in Italy English humanists English male novelists English religious sceptics English translators Epic poets Godwin family Heirs apparent who never acceded Left-wing politics in the United Kingdom Liberalism in the United Kingdom Male essayists Nonviolence advocates People educated at Eton College People from Horsham Persecution of atheists Romantic poets Secular humanists Shelley family Sonneteers Writers from Sussex Writers of Gothic fiction