Percy Bysshe Shelley
was born on 4 August 1792
a radical non-conformist
He attended Eton College where he was an unhappy, rebellious student, know as 'Mad Shelley' and 'The Eton Atheist'
He went to Oxford University, where he became interested in radical political writers
1811: Shelley produced a radical pamphlet, entitled The Necessity of Atheism, challenging belief in God
Expelled from the university
Now estranged from his father, Shelley faced serious financial difficulties
When he was only 19, Shelley eloped to Scotland with 16 years old Harriet Westbrook, whom he married in 1811
travelled with his wife
He published privately his first long serious work Queen Mab
A Philosophical Poem, expressiong his revolutionary vision of a new society
Shelley also fell in love with Mary Godwin, the daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft
There Mary wrote her famous novel Frankestein
1818: Shelly produced a long narrative poem The Revolt of Islam
Opere:
The Cenci
To a Skylark
Ode to the West Wind
Adonais
Prometheus Unbound
A Defence of Poetry
Shelley is characterised by his immense lyric powers and his own romantic biography
Shelley saw the poet as a prophet of social change, whosepoetry has a regeneration function