History Creator / PercyByssheShelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]], known for his radicalism in his poetry and political and social views. He did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but he would become a major influence on such later poets as Creator/RobertBrowning, Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne, Creator/ThomasHardy, and Creator/WBYeats.

* SatanIsGood: Shelley joins Creator/WilliamBlake in interpreting Satan from Creator/JohnMilton's ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' as the hero.

-->Nothing of him that doth fade\\

Into something rich and strange.

* AuthorTract: Shelley was vocal about his views and frequently expressed them in much of his works. To name some examples, ''Zastrozzi'' outlines Shelley's atheism through the mouth of its villain Pietro Zastrozzi. His first major poem, ''Queen Mab'', on top of making attacks on war, religion, the eating of meat, and marriage, came with endnotes in which he expounded on these themes.

-->--'''Percy Bysshe Shelley''', from ''A Defence of Poetry''

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]] known for his radicalism in his poetry and political and social views. He did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but he would become a major influence on such later poets as Creator/RobertBrowning, Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne, Creator/ThomasHardy, and Creator/WBYeats.

-->--'''Percy Bysshe Shelley''', ''A Defence of Poetry''

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/percy_shelley_portrait.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Portrait of Shelley by Alfred Clint (1819)]]

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]] known for his radicalism in his poetry and political and social views. He did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but he became a major influence on such poets as Creator/RobertBrowning, Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne, Creator/ThomasHardy, and Creator/WBYeats.

Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex. He was the eldest child of Timothy Shelley (1753–1844), a Whig Member of Parlament, and Elizabeth Shelley (née Pilfold), the daughter of a successful butcher. Four younger sisters and a younger brother would follow.

Shelley was educated at Syon House Academy from 1802-04 and then Eton College from 1804-10. His years there were very unhappy as he was a victim of bullying, to which he would respond violently, and he found his escape in literature and the occult. In his senior years at Eton, Shelley met a part-time teacher named Dr James Lind, who encouraged his interest in the occult and introduced him to liberal and radical authors. He also went on to write two gothic novels: ''Zastrozzi'' and ''St Irvyne; or, the Rosicrucian: A Romance'' in 1810 and completed a book of poetry he wrote with his sister Elizabeth.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]] known for his radicalism in his poetry and political and social views. He did not achieve fame in his lifetime, but he became a major influence on poets like Creator/RobertBrowning, Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne, Creator/ThomasHardy, and Creator/WBYeats.

Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex. He was the eldest child of Timothy Shelley (1753-1844), a Whig Member of Parlament, and Elizabeth Shelley (née Pilfold), the daughter of a successful butcher. Four younger sisters and a younger brother would follow.

[[caption-width-right:300:Percy Shelley, painted by Alfred Clint in 1819]]

[[quoteright:277:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/488px-Percy_Bysshe_Shelley_by_Alfred_Clint_copy_9833.jpg]]
[-[[caption-width-right:277:Percy Shelly, painted by Alfred Clint in 1819]]-]

-->--'''Percy Bysshe Shelley''', A Defence of Poetry

* ''To a Skylark'' (1821)

In the summer of 1816, Shelley, Mary, and Claire went to Geneva and meet Creator/LordByron, with whom Claire eventually had an affair. During this summer, Shelley composed ''Hymn to Intellectual Beauty'' (1816) and ''Mont Blanc'' (1816). In November, Harriet Shelley committed suicide by drowning in the Serpentine. Shelley and Mary married the next month with Godwin's blessing, but a Chancery Court decision in March 1817 declared Shelley unfit to raise Ianthe and Charles, and the two were placed in foster care at his expense.

That same March, the Shelleys settled near Albion House, Great Marlow, where Shelley wrote ''Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City'' (1817) and Mary Shelley finished ''Literature/Frankenstein''. Shelley's poem was harshly received for its attacks on religion and for its incest content, and Shelley begrudgingly revised it and republished it as ''The Revolt of Islam'' (1818) a year later.

Early in 1818, the Shelleys departed for Italy, and Shelley would remain there for the rest of his life. There, he would write poems including ''Prometheus Unbound'' (1820), ''Adoais'' (1821), ''A Defence of Poetry'' (1821), and ''The Triumph of Life'' (1822), which Shelley never finished.

* AuthorTract: Shelley was vocal about his views and expressed them in much of his works. To name some examples, ''Zastrozzi'' outlines Shelley's atheism through the mouth of its villain Pietro Zastrozzi. ''Queen Mab'' came with some endnotes, one of which is a transcription of his earlier essay ''The Necessity of Atheism''.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]]. He is remembered largely for his lyrical works such as "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark" as well as the sonnet "Ozymandias", but he also wrote a considerable volume of political poetry and prose expressing his anger at the disparity in the distribution of wealth between the classes and the ruthless tactics used by then Prime Minister [[UsefulNotes/LordLiverpool Robert Jenkinson]] in dealing with political dissent. In particular, his narrative poem "Queen Mab" is often cited as inspiration to later working class political movements, such as Chartism and Owenism. He was also an advocate of atheism, vegetarianism, and nonviolent resistance.

He is also famous for being the husband of the author Creator/MaryShelley, whom he met and with whom he began an affair whilst married to his first wife, Harriet Westbrook. After Westbrook committed suicide, he and Mary (then Mary Wollstonecraft) married.

He is associated with many famous figures of the Romantic era, including Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnKeats, Thomas Love Peacock and William Godwin.

Shelley died on July 8, 1822, in a shipwreck off the Bay of Spezia, in Viareggio, Italy.

* AuthorTract: Shelley was a vocal atheist and expressed his views in some of his works. To name some examples, ''Zastrozzi'' outlines Shelley's atheism through the mouth of its villain Pietro Zastrozzi. ''Queen Mab'' came with some endnotes, one of which is a transcription of his earlier essay ''The Necessity of Atheism''.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]]. He is remembered largely for his lyrical works such as "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark" as well as the sonnet "Ozymandias", but he also wrote a considerable volume of political poetry and prose expressing his anger at the disparity in the distribution of wealth between the classes and the ruthless tactics used by then Prime Minister [[UsefulNotes/LordLiverpool Robert Jenkinson]] in dealing with political dissent. In particular, his narrative poem "Queen Mab" is often cited as inspiration to later working class political movements, such as Chartism and Owenism. He was also an advocate of atheism, vegetarianism and nonviolent resistance.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]]. He is remembered largely for his lyrical works such as "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark" as well as the sonnet "Ozymandias", but he also wrote a considerable volume of political poetry and prose expressing his anger at the disparity in the distribution of wealth between the classes and the ruthless tactics used by then Prime Minister [[UsefulNotes/LordLiverpool Robert Jenkinson]] in dealing with political dissent. In particular, his narrative poem "Queen Mab" is often cited as inspiration to later working class political movements, such as Chartism and Owenism. He was also an advocate of atheism, vegetarianism and nonviolent resistance.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]]. He is remembered largely for his lyrical works such as ‘Ode to the West Wind’ and ‘To a Skylark’ as well as the sonnet 'Ozymandias', but he also wrote a considerable volume of political poetry and prose expressing his anger at the disparity in the distribution of wealth between the classes and the ruthless tactics used by then Prime Minister [[LordLiverpool Robert Jenkinson]] in dealing with political dissent. In particular, his narrative poem ‘Queen Mab’ is often cited as inspiration to later working class political movements, such as Chartism and Owenism. He was also an advocate of atheism, vegetarianism and nonviolent resistance.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]]. He is remembered largely for his lyrical works such as ‘Ode to the West Wind’ and ‘To a Skylark’ as well as the sonnet 'Ozymandias', but he also wrote a considerable volume of political poetry and prose expressing his anger at the disparity in the distribution of wealth between the classes and the ruthless tactics used by then Prime Minister [[LordLiverpool Robert Jenkinson]] in dealing with political dissent. In particular, his narrative poem ‘Queen Mab’ is often cited as inspiration to later working class political movements, such as Chartism and Owenism.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was an English poet of the [[{{Romanticism}} Romantic era]]. He is remembered largely for his lyrical works such as ‘Ode to the West Wind’ and ‘To a Skylark’, but he also wrote a considerable volume of political poetry and prose expressing his anger at the disparity in the distribution of wealth between the classes and the ruthless tactics used by then Prime Minister [[LordLiverpool Robert Jenkinson]] in dealing with political dissent. In particular, his narrative poem ‘Queen Mab’ is often cited as inspiration to later working class political movements, such as Chartism and Owenism.

He is also famous for being the husband of the author MaryShelley, whom he met and with whom he began an affair whilst married to his first wife, Harriet Westbrook. After Westbrook committed suicide, he and Mary (then Mary Wollstonecraft) married.

He is associated with many famous figures of the Romantic era, including Creator/LordByron, JohnKeats, Thomas Love Peacock and William Godwin.