Early life
Percy
Bysshe Shelley is one of the most popular English Romantic poets and is
regarded as a great lyrical poet in the English language. He was born on the
4th of August 1792 in England.
In 1811, Shelley eloped with Harriet Westbrook
to Edinburgh but their marriage collapsed soon and he then eloped with Mary
Godwin. He traveled to many countries including Italy, Germany,
Switzerland, and France. He belongs to an aristocratic family and got an
education from Oxford University.
Note: Our main concern is not
to study his biography rather we focus on his writing style, motivation, and
literary works.
Read also: The Balance in Keats Ode to a Nightingale
A Glimpse of Romanticism/ Features
1. Individuality/Democracy/Personal Freedom
2. Spiritual/Supernatural Elements
3. Nature as a Teacher
4. Interest in Past History/Ancient Greek and
Roman Elements
5. Celebration of the Simple Life
6. Interest in the Rustic/Pastoral Life
7. Interest in Folk Traditions
8. Use of Common Language
9. Use of Common Subjects
10. One-Sided/Opinionated
11. Idealized Women
12. Frequent Use of Personification
13. Examination of the Poet's Inner Feelings
Contemporaries of P.B Shelley
1. William Blake (1757-1827)
2. William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
3. S.T Coleridge (1772-1834)
4. Lord Byron (1788-1824)
5. John Keats (1795-1821)
Writing Styles of P.B Shelley
Shelley was a famous English romantic poet whose poetry reflects
passion, beauty, imagination, love, creativity, political liberty, and nature.
Being very sensitive and possessing distinctive qualities of hope, love, joy,
and imagination, Shelley strongly believed in the realization of human
happiness.
1. Used a lot of powerful symbolism and imagery,
especially visual.
2. Liked to imitate the style of William Wordsworth.
3. Poems reflect his life circumstances, friends, and
political beliefs.
4. Liked to take the unpopular side of arguments and
social issues.
5. He pursued the ideal but was also skeptical.
Literary Contribution
The best known classic poems of Shelley
include “Ode to the West Wind, “Ozymandias”, “Music, To a Skylark”, “The Cloud”, “The Mask of Anarchy” and “When
Soft Voices Die”. There are also other major works which include visionary
and long poems like “Alastor”, “Queen Mab”, “Adonais”, “The Triumph of Life”,
and “The Revolt of Islam”. His visionary poetry dramas include, “Prometheus
Unbound” and “The Cenci”.
Shelley contributed several essays on the topic of vegetarianism; two of the most popular works among them include “On the Vegetable System of Diet” and “A Vindication of Natural Diet”.
Shelley’s Source of Inspiration/ Motivation
Shelley uses nature as his primary source of poetic inspiration. In such poems as “The Mask of Anarchy Written on the Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester” (1819) and “Ode to the West Wind,” Shelley suggests that the natural world holds a sublime power over his imagination.
