Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the best known English poets. He was one of the Second Generation of Romantic poets and a contemporary of Lord Byron and John Keats. He was also the husband of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Shelley was known for his radical ideas, including atheism, free love, and radical politics. He died at the age of twenty-nine, after drowning in a sailing accident. This paper will offer a brief overview of the life of Shelley and his works.
Shelley was born in England on August 4, 1792. He was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley and the heir presumptive of a large estate and a seat in parliament. As a member of the upper crust, he followed the traditional educational path. First he attended Eton College and then he matriculated to Oxford. However, at Eton College, he was bullied mercilessly because of his feminine demeanor and his refusal to bully other students. In reality, Shelley’s refusal to bully others was an early sign of his love for all creatures. Shelley began to publish verse at Eton. He published works with his sister, Elizabeth, and a friend, Thomas Jefferson Hogg. At Oxford, Hogg and he wrote and published a pamphlet defending atheism. He was expelled from Oxford as a result. He was devastated, but refused to disavow the work. If he had, he would have been reinstated. Shelley stood by his principles. These same principles led him to a radical philosopher named William Godwin. At Godwin’s house, he met and fell in love with Godwin’s teenaged daughter, Mary. Though he was married at the time, Shelley and Mary eloped to Europe (American Academy of Poets).
While in Europe, he spent time with Lord Byron in Geneva. Both he and Byron would have a strong influence on the other’s writing. Their friendship is considered to be one of the most important in literary history. During this time, Mary would begin to write the novel she is best known for, Frankenstein. The friendship with Byron would last the remainder of his life. However, Shelley was not to live many more years. He met Byron in 1816. Within eight years, he would be dead. Shelley had a fondness for sailing, but had never learned to swim. Shelley drowned as a result of this. He was one month shy of his twenty-ninth birthday. Byron helped cremate the remains of Shelley’s body when they finally washed up on the shoreline. Shelley was also friends with John Keats, who died the year before Shelley. Byron would live only two years after Shelley, and die in 1824. The three great Romantic poets all died within a matter of three years (Eisler 706-09).
Shelley is remembered for his utopian beliefs and for his works. His best known works include Queen Mab, Ozymandias, and Alastor. His works reflect a lyrical beauty of the world, and a desire for a more utopian and egalitarian society. Shelley was known for his generosity in life, often to the detriment of his own financial stability. This reflects that Shelley truly was a kind and noble soul, a quality that is seen in his poetry (Sunstein 75).
Percy Bysshe Shelley is best remembered as one of the greatest of the Second Generation of Romantic poets. He was also a close friend of Lord Byron, as well as John Keats. His wife, Mary Shelley, was a writer as well, and spent her life cataloging the works of her late husband. Shelley’s works are clearly documented as a result, and the world can continue to enjoy them.
- American Academy of Poets. “Percy Bysshe Shelley.” 2016. 26 April 2016. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/percy-bysshe-shelley
- Eisler, Benita. Byron. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1999.
- Sunstein, Emily. Mary Shelley. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 1989.
