Percy Bysshe Shelley

1792–1822 · England

Radical idealist who believed poetry could remake the world.

Shelley was expelled from Oxford for writing The Necessity of Atheism, a pamphlet co-authored with Thomas Jefferson Hogg. He spent the rest of his short life moving between England, Scotland and Italy, publishing essays, pamphlets and long poems.

He died at twenty-nine, drowned in a storm while sailing near Livorno. His body was found weeks later and cremated on the beach. Mary Shelley, his widow, edited and promoted his work for decades after his death.

Style

Blank verse and heroic couplets used for long political arguments.
Sustained metaphor that expands across hundreds of lines.
A belief that nature is the only reliable teacher of ethics and politics.
Combines philosophical prose rhythms with lyric intensity.