Percy Bysshe Shelley: Britain Unlimited

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Who was Percy Bysshe Shelley? Poet.

Date and Place of Birth: 4th August 1792, Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex, England.

Family Background: Son of minor gentry.

Education: Syon House Academy. Eton College. University College, Oxford. (Sent down for his contribution to the pamphlet “The Necessity of Atheism”)

Chronology:

1810: Goes up to Oxford University. Breaks his love affair with his cousin Harriet Grove.

1811: Sent down from Oxford due to his contribution to the pamphlet “The Necessity of Atheism”. Quarrels with his father. Meets and marries Harriet Westbrook. Moves to York and then to Keswick where he meets Robert Southey.

1812: Begins correspondence with William Godwin. Travels to Dublin then to Wales. Then settles at Lynmouth in Devon. Returns to live in Wales after flight from Lynmouth.

1813: Goes to Ireland then back to London. Birth of Daughter Ianthe on 23^rd June.

1814: Leaves England with Mary Godwin and Jane Clairmont and travels on the continent. Returns to London in September. Birth of son Charles to Harriet on 30^th November.

1815: Death of Grandfather Sir Bysshe Shelley.

1816: Birth of son William on 24^th January. To Switzerland with Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont. Meets Lord Byron through Claire. Returns to England September. Suicide of Harriet Shelley on 30^th December. Marries Mary.

1817: Birth of Claire’s Daughter by Byron (Allegra). Shelley fails to obtain custody of Ianthe and Charles. Meets John Keats. Goes to live at Marlow. Birth of Daughter Clara on 2^nd September.

1818: Goes across Alps to Italy with Mary, Claire and the children. Allegra is sent to Byron in Venice in August Death of Clara. Birth of daughter Elena on 27^th December.

1819: Leaves Naples in February. Goes to Rome then Leghorn. Death of William Shelley. In October goes to Florence. Birth of Son Percy on 12^th November.

1820: Goes to Pisa. Death of Elena in June.

1821: Visits Byron at Ravenna. Byron visits Shelley at Pisa.

1822: Trelawny arrives in Pisa. Death of Allegra on 20^th April. Mary has near fatal miscarriage. Sails to Leghorn to meet Leigh-Hunt. Sees Byron. Drowned on return trip.

Written Works:

1810: “Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire”.

1811: “The Necessity of Atheism”.” A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things”.

1812: “An Address to the Irish People”. “Declaration of Rights”. “Proposals for an Association of Philanthropists for Ireland”.

1813: “A Vindication of Natural Diet”. “Queen Mab”.

1814: “Refutation of Deism”.

1815: “Guy Mannering”.

1816: “Alasto and other Poems”.

1817: “Address to the People on the Death of Princess Charlotte”. “Laon and Cythna, or The Revolution of the Golden City”.

1818: “The Revolt of Islam”.

1819: “Rosalind and Helen”.

1820: “Oedipus Tyrannus”. “Prometheus Unbound”.

1821: “Adonais”. “Epipsychidion”.

1822: “Hellas”.

(1823): “Poetical Pieces”.

(1824): “Posthumous Poems”.

(1832): “The Masque of Anarchy”.

(1833): “Chilly Papers”.

Marriage: 1811: 29th August to Harriet Westbrook, Edinburgh, Scotland.
30th December 1816 Mary Wollestonecraft-Godwin daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft at St. Mildred’s Church, Bread Street, London. Her father William Godwin and his wife attend.

Places of Interest:

CUMBRIA:

Dove Cottage and Museum, Grasmere, LA22 9SH. (Wordsworth Trust.)

DEVON:

Lynmouth. (Picturesque fishing port where Shelley threw political tracts in bottles into the sea. The Shelleys had to leave their lodgings quickly after arousing local suspicion by Government Officers).

LONDON:

National Portrait Gallery.

OXFORD:

Bodleian Library. (Holds Boscombe maunscripts and letters).

Date and Place of Death: 8th July 1822, at sea off Livorno, Tuscany, Italy.

Age at Death: 30.

Site of Grave: Body cremated at Viareggio and his ashes taken to Rome. Heart only at St. Peter's Churchyard, Bournemouth, Dorset, England from where it was re-interred from the English Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Italy.