- Introduction
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- Task
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Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Sussex, England, in 1792. His parents were Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley, and he had four sisters. Because he was the oldest male child, he was in line to inherit a lot of wealth from his grandfather. While Shelley was in school, he was often the victim of bullying because he did not believe the Christian beliefs, he had a bad temper, and he could not fight well.
After Shelley finished Eaton Academy, he entered Oxford University. He had two publications to his name before he entered Oxford. After one year of being there, he got thrown out because he wrote a piece that supported the atheista person who denies the existence of a supreme higher being viewpoint. His father could have gotten him back into Oxford, but it would have meant Shelley telling everyone that he did not mean what he wrote about atheism. He refused to do this, and so was expelled from Oxford. His father cut all ties with him as well, leaving Shelley in poverty for a couple of years until he could inherit some money.
During the same year he was expelled from Oxford, he eloped with sixteen-year-old Harriet Westbrook. Neither of their families approved of the relationship, so eloping was the only way to be together. Shelley continued to travel and write a little over the next couple of years. After his grandfather died in 1815, he settled down because he did not have to worry so much about financial issues and began to write more. He published a lot of work and made friends with booksellers and printers alike.
Shelley soon met Mary Godwin and was very impressed by her mind. She had been exposed to ideas and philosophies that many women were not, and Shelley found this fascinating. He asked his wife Harriet if she would live as his sister so that he could marry Mary, but she did not agree. So, Shelley and Mary eloped and were gone for six weeks. When they returned, she became pregnant and had a child as did Harriet. During one of Shelley and Mary’s outings, they spent some time with Lord Byron. They told ghost stories to amuse themselves. Since Shelley was interested in the spirit world and séances, he and Mary were challenged by Byron to write their own ghost stories. Mary’s story became what we know today as Frankenstein.
Harriet Shelley committed suicide, and Shelley was then able to marry Mary. They had a great court battle over Harriet’s two children, and then Shelley and Mary left to go to Italy and never returned to England. While in Italy, Shelley wrote some of his best and most remembered work. In 1822 while sailing on his ship, the Don Juan, a storm overtook him and a friend, and Shelley was drowned at sea. As was the law, bodies washed up to shore had to be cremated.
Go ahead and read two of Shelley’s poems.
Be sure to take notes while you are reading so that you can answer the Study Questions in the Task section.
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