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Early Life. He was born on August 4, 1792, in Field Place, Broadbridge Heath, near Horsham, West Sussex, England, to his father, Sir Timothy Shelley, and his mother, Elizabeth Shelley, formally Elizabeth Pilfold. Percy was the eldest male child, having one brother, John, and four sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, and Hellen.
Background Information. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Percy Bysshe Shelley was brought up in a privileged, wealthy, and conservative ho usehold near Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, England. He was born on August 4, 1792 the oldest of six children, one brother and four sisters and was set to inherit his grandfather’s estate.Also, he was ...
- Percy Bysshe Shelley – Early Life
- Political, Religious and Ethical Views
- Italy and Later Years
- Historical Significance
- Works
Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, Broadbridge Heath, near Horsham, West Sussex, England. He was the eldest of seven children, born to Sir Timothy Shelley (1753–1844), a Whig Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1790 to 1792 and for Shoreham between 1806 and 1812, and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold (1763–1846), the daughte...
Political
Shelley had radical political views and was influenced by thinkers such as Rousseau, Paine, Godwin, Wollstonecraft, and Leigh Hunt. He was an advocate for republicanism, parliamentary reform, the extension of the franchise, freedom of speech, an end to aristocratic and clerical privilege, more equal distribution of income and wealth, and Catholic Emancipation. Because of these views, he was placed under government surveillance at certain times. His most famous political work was the poem Quee...
Religious
Shelley was an atheist and saw organised religion as inextricably linked to social oppression. He was influenced by the materialist arguments in Holbach’s Le Système de la nature. Many of his works had to be edited before publication to reduce the risk of prosecution, and his pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism was withdrawn from sale soon after publication following a complaint from a priest. Another famous piece of work, Queen Mab includes criticisms of priesthood, Christianity and religion i...
Violence
Shelley was an advocate for nonviolence and believed that violent protests would increase the prospect of a military despotism. His thoughts on this were largely based on his reflections on the French Revolution and rise of Napoleon. However, he did support the 1820 armed rebellion against absolute monarchy in Spain, and the 1821 armed Greek uprising against Ottoman rule. Shelley’s poem “The Mask of Anarchy” explores his nonviolent views.
Illegitimate Daughter
On 12 March 1818, the Shelley’s and Claire decided to move to Italy. This was party to escape the social and religious views of England that Shelley did not agree with, and was also recommended by Shelley’s doctor, who suggested Shelley would be able to find help for his chronic lung complaint in Italy. Shelley had arranged to take Claire’s daughter, Allegra, to her father Byron who was now in Venice. Shelley left Mary and baby Clara in Bagni di Lucca while he travelled with Claire to Venice...
Travel Around Italy and Further Work
While in Rome, Shelley became ill, probably suffering from nephritis and tuberculosis. However, he completed three major works: Julian and Maddalo, Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci. Julian and Maddalo is an autobiographical poem which explores the relationship between Shelley and Byron and analyses Shelley’s personal crises of 1818 and 1819. The poem was completed in the summer of 1819, but was not published in Shelley’s lifetime. Prometheus Unbound is a long dramatic poem inspired by Aeschyl...
Assault
In June of 1820, Shelley claimed that he had been assaulted in the Pisan post office by a man accusing him of foul crimes. It is thought that this was the result of one of two things — a hallucination brought on by extreme stress, or Shelley was being blackmailed by a former servant, Paolo Foggi, over baby Elena. If he was being blackmailed, it is likely that the blackmail was connected with a story spread by another former servant, Elise Foggi, that Shelley had fathered a child to Claire in...
Shelley’s work was not widely read in his lifetime, and any copies of his work that sold, sold very poorly. Because of his strong views, the reviews of his work were often negative and the focus was on his political, social and religious views, rather than his style of writing or imagery. Shelley’s mainstream following did not develop until a gener...
Poetry, fiction and verse drama
1. (1810) Zastrozzi 2. (1810) Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire (collaboration with Elizabeth Shelley) 3. (1810) Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson: Being Poems Found Amongst the Papers of That Noted Female Who Attempted 4. the Life of the King in 1786 5. (1810) St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian (published 1811) 6. (1812) The Devil’s Walk: A Ballad 7. (1813) Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem 8. (1815) Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude (Published 1816) 9. (1816) Mont Blanc 10. (1816) O...
Short prose works
1. “The Assassins, A Fragment of a Romance” (1814) 2. “The Coliseum, A Fragment” (1817) 3. “The Elysian Fields: A Lucianic Fragment” (1818) 4. “Una Favola (A Fable)” (1819, originally in Italian)
Essays
1. The Necessity of Atheism (with T. J. Hogg) (1811) 2. Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things (1811) 3. An Address, to the Irish People (1812) 4. Declaration of Rights (1812) 5. A Letter to Lord Ellenborough (1812) 6. A Vindication of Natural Diet (1813) 7. A Refutation of Deism (1814) 8. Speculations on Metaphysics (1814) 9. On the Vegetable System of Diet (1814–1815; published 1929) 10. On a Future State (1815) 11. On The Punishment of Death (1815) 12. Speculations on Morals (1817)...
May 17, 2018 · Percy Bysshe Shelley >The English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) ranks as one of >the greatest lyric poets in the history of English literature [1]. Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field Place near Horsham, Sussex, on Aug. 4, 1792.
Percy Bysshe Shelley was born at Field Place, Sussex, in 1792, the son of a well-to-do landowner. At the age of ten, he was sent to Syon House Academy near London. There he was bullied and often lonely, but there too he acquired an interest in science, especially astronomy and chemistry, and became an avid reader of juvenile thrillers filled ...
Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792, into a wealthy Sussex family which eventually attained minor noble rank—the poet’s grandfather, a wealthy businessman, received a baronetcy in 1806. Timothy Shelley, the poet’s father, was a member of Parliament and a country gentleman.
Jul 8, 2022 · Published: July 8, 2022 7:56am EDT. It is 200 years since the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned at sea at the age of 29. At the time, his life and works were considered scandalous, due in...
