Percy Bysshe Shelley 17941822

1
Percy Bysshe Shelley(1794-1822)
2
Early Life

• Often bullied as a youth because of his tender
  appearance and aristocratic heritage.
• Eventually went to Oxford where legend has it he
  only attended one lecture, but frequently read 16
  hours a day.
• He was disliked by many of his peers and teachers
  and was eventually expelled for his writing that
  propounded atheism.
• Continued to rebel against English politics and
  social values

3
Marriage

• Soon after leaving Oxford, Shelley traveled to
  Scotland with 16 year old Harriet Westbrook and
  they married there.
• Shelly was quickly dissatisfied with the marriage
  and often left his wife and child for long
  periods.
• Often in London visiting William Godwin, where he
  met Mary (see Marry Wollenscroft Shelley notes
  for details on their torrid affair).

4
The Poet

• The Shelleys and Byron rented houses on Lake
  Geneva.
• Inspired by the landscape and invigorating
  conversation, Percys poetic output increased.

5
Mont Blanc

• Mont Blanc inspired by a boating tour the two
  took together.

6
Style

• The poem questions historical inevitability and
  the relationship between the human mind and
  external nature.
• Shellys writing style adapted to his subject
  matter lyrical, formal ode, satire

7
Death

• On July 8, 1822, less than a month before his
  30th birthday, Shelley drowned in a sudden storm
  while sailing in Italy in his schooner, Don Juan.
  The name "Don Juan", was a compliment to Byron,
  however, according to Mary Shelley's testimony,
  Shelley changed it to "Ariel". This annoyed
  Byron, who forced the painting of the words "Don
  Juan" on the mainsail.

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More Death

• Many believe his death was not accidental. Some
  say that Shelley was depressed in those days and
  that he wanted to die others that he did not
  know how to navigate others believe that some
  pirates mistook the boat for Byron's and attacked
  him. There is a mass of evidence, though
  scattered and contradictory, that Shelley may
  have been murdered for political reasons.
• The day following Shelley's death, the British
  newspaper "The Courier" gloated "Shelley, the
  writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned,
  now he knows whether there is a God or not."

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More Death

• His heart was rescued from the funeral pyre in
  Italy and eventually made its way into Marys
  hands.
• For the rest of her life she kept it hidden in a
  book, under her pillow.

10
Vegetarian!

• Shelley wrote how unwarrantable is the
  injustice and the barbarity which is exercised
  toward these miserable victims. They are called
  into existence by human artifice that they may
  drag out a short and miserable existence of
  slavery and disease, that their bodies may be
  mutilated, their social feelings outraged. It
  were much better that a sentient being should
  never have existed, than that it should have
  existed only to endure unmitigated misery"