Percy Bysshe Shelley Biography

English Romantic Poet, Novelist and Essayist

Nov 19, 2007
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Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic Poet - NNDB

Life and Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of England's greatest poets, contemporary of John Keats, and husband of Frankenstein's creator, Mary Godwin Shelley.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the greatest English Romantic poets. His poems, such as "Alastor" and "Ozymandias," overflow with intense emotion and radical ideas. He's husband to Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, famous for Frankenstein.

Early Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born into a wealthy family, in Field Place, near Horsham in Sussex on August 4, 1792. He was three years older than John Keats, another of the finest English Romantic poets. Shelley was educated at Eton College.

As a student in Eton, he was known for his radical views on politics and religion, earning the nickname 'Mad Shelley" and later "Eton Atheist." At Eton and aged just 18, he published his first book, a gothic horror novel called Zastrozzi. He later attended Oxford University, where he read radical authors like William Godwin, and behaved in an eccentric way. A year later, he was expelled from the university for his anti-Christian writings.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin

That same year, aged 19, Shelley shocked his family even more by secretly marrying 16-year-old Harriet Westbrook. This was the start of Shelley's adventurous life and restless travels. He had two children with Westbrook. Three years later Shelley fell in love and eloped with another 16-year-old, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Harriet drowned herself, and Shelley married his new love, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Mary Shelley is famous for her masterpiece Frankenstein. Mary gave birth to a daughter who died prematurely, but had a son William Shelley, beloved of his father.

Mary and Shelley moved around constantly. His reputation grew and he met John Keats and William Hazlitt. They travelled around Europe and lived in different towns in England.

Shelley' Final Years

In 1818, Shelley and Mary left England to live in Italy. He completed some of his greatest poetry there, including his masterpiece Prometheus Unbound. While on a short voyage along the Italian coast, Shelley's small sailboat was caught in a storm. He drowned on July 8, 1822, aged 29. At a young age, Percy Bysshe Shelley had written poetry that established him as one of the greatest English Romantic poets.