Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822)
Life of a rebel
He was born in Sussex.
He had a predisposition for rebellion:
– He was born in a rich conservative family, his father was a conservative member of
Parliament.
– He went to Eton College (the most famous English Public school), as was customary in
aristocratic circles, where he was nicknamed “mad Shelley” because of his eccentricity and
his criticism of social tyranny.
– He went to Oxford but he was expelled because he wrote a pamphlet in favour of Atheism.
– He married twice: at the age of 18 with the daughter of a wealthy tavern-keeper, to save her
from a tyrannical father; three years later with Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley who wrote
the novel “Frankenstein”).
– He wandered all around Europe and lived for a period also in Italy where he wrote his best
poetry (Ode to the West Wind and Prometheus Unbound).
– He had to leave England because he was condemned for atheism and immoralism.
– He died in Italy, during an excursion to Livorno by boat: a storm arose and he drowned.
Most important ideas and themes
The typical Romantic
poet
He belongs to that
generation of
Romantics
characterised by
restlessness and
incapacity to
compromise with
society. He was
continously in struggle
with society and all
those aspects he did
not like of it (especially
tyranny and
oppression).
Idealism
Shelley was a great
idealist. He refused to
conform to the
conventions of his
society and searched
for new ideals. He
strongly believed in the
principles of freedom
and love which were
the only remedies for
the shortcomings and
evils of society. He
imagined an ideal
society, for example in
the work “A
Philosophical View of
Reform”, for which he
was considered the
forerunner of Socialism
by Karl Marx.
The Poet's task
The poet for Shelley is
at the same time a
prophet and a Titan
challenging the
cosmos. His task is to
help mankind to reach
an ideal world where
freedom, love and
beauty are more
important than tyranny,
destruction and
alienation.
Nature
Nature for Shelley is a
beautiful veil that hides
the eternal truth of
God. It also represents
the favourite refuge
from the
disappointment and
injustice of the ordinary
world but also an
interlocutor of his
melancholy dreams
and hopes for a better
future.
