Percy bysshe shelley

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

LIFE

Shelley was born in Sussex in 1792. As was customary in aristocratic circles, he was sent to Eton College, where he was nicknamed "mad Shelley" because of his eccentricity and his criticism of social tyranny. In 1810 he went to Oxford. At the age of nineteen, he married Harriet Westbrook. They had two children, and moved from place to place, including Ireland, where Shelley made revolutionary propaganda against Catholicism and English rule. In that period the idealistic drive of French revolution had already been exhausted. Shelley lived in an atmosphere of conservatism which was hostile not only to any radical ideas but even to political moderation. He rebelled against existing religions, laws and customs; he became a republican, a vegetarian and an advocate of free love. When Shelley and his wife came back to England, they understood their marriage was unsuccessful and separated. Shelley eloped with Mary Godwin. They went to Switzerland, where they met Byron. In 1817 Mary drew up her novel Frankenstein, and the poet wrote an epic revolutionary poem. Shelley used the gothic symbol of the wanderer to explain his vision of history and teach that individual violence is the product of social inequity. In 1822 Shelley's life was cut by an accident: while sailing near Livorno, he was drowned during a storm. Shelley's grave is in the protestant cemetery in Rome.  

SHELLEY'S THEME

Almost all works by Shelley show his restless spirit, his refusal form of social conventions, political oppression and any form of tyranny, and his faith in a better future.  If his works display a certain lack of finish, it must be put down to his passionate character. Less disciplined and methodical than Wordsworth or Coleridge, he remains nevertheless a poet of great conviction and powerful musicality, and the author of some of the finest lyric poetry in English literature. Shelley believed strongly in the principles of freedom and love, which he regarded as remedies for the shortcomings and evils of society. Through love he believed man could overcome any political, moral and social conventions.

HIS IDEALISM

He embraced the theories of Godwin and neo-Platonism. Materialism became a hope in the moral freedom of man and religious pantheism, and whose anarchical egoism was turned into a humanitarian brotherhood. From Plato he derived his mystical and intellectual belief in a society ruled by ethics and wisdom.

THE RULE OF IMAGINATION

Shelley's belief in nature and the function of poetry is mainly expressed in his essay A Defence of Poetry . shelley's realty, however, shows itself to be stronger than the ideal and desire, and his world refuses to change. The poet is bound to suffer and isolates himself from the rest of the world, projecting himself into a better future and hiding beneath a mask of stubborn hope.

NATURE

The nature Shelley describes is not the real world of Wordsworth's poem, but a beautiful veil that hides the eternal truth of the divine spirit. His approach to nature is instrumental. Finally nature represents the favourite refuge from the disappointment of his melancholy dreams and of his hopes for a better future.