Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792–1822)

When he died in a boating accident at age 30, Percy Bysshe Shelley was eulogized by his friend Byron as "without exception the best and least selfish man I ever knew." This seems strange praise indeed, considering it was directed at a man whose disenchantment with the world was at least as great as his appreciation of its beauties. At once modest and intense, Shelley was a poet of rare gift. He was also a self-appointed reformer who believed that humankind was capable of attaining a more perfect society.

Shelley was born in Sussex and raised on a fine country estate where he spent a quiet childhood. He was sent to excellent schools–first Eton, a prestigious boarding school, and later Oxford–but was never able to settle into a routine of a student. Instead he preferred to wander over the countryside or perform private scientific experiments. At Oxford, Shelley became friends with a young man named Thomas Jefferson Hogg, whose political views were as strong as his own. The friendship further fueled Shelley's rebellious nature, and when with Hogg's support he wrote a pamphlet titled "The Necessity of Atheism"; both were expelled.

The incident led to trouble between Shelley and his father, and instead of going home Shelley headed to London. There he met 16-year-old Harriet Westbrook, who played on his sympathy for the underdog by describing her miserable situation at home and at school. The two married and went to Ireland, where Shelley tried unsuccessfully to "deliver the Irish people from tyranny."

In 1813, he completed his first important poem, "Queen Mab," a philosophical work that explored some of the ideas he had read about in Godwin's Political Justice. The view that Shelley put forth–that government and institutions should be reshaped to better conform to the will of the people–was evident in much of his poetry, even in his nature poems. Shelley' marriage, meanwhile, was in trouble. Harriet felt she could not keep up with her husband, whose political ideals, in any case, she had come to question. Shelley was unhappy too, and after divorcing Harriet in 1814 he married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.

Shelley spent the last four years of his life in Italy, where he became close friends with Byron. Here Shelley wrote some of his best poetry, including "Ode to the West Wind" and "Prometheus Unbound," the second of these a long poem predicting that some day humanity would be free from tyranny.

Shelley has been called the perfect poet of the Romantic era. One need only consider his emotional response to life and his belief in personal freedom to appreciate how fitting that title is.

A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  M
N  |  O  |  P  |  Q  |  R  |  S  |  T  |  U  |  V  |  W  |  X  |  Y  |  Z