Percy Shelley
Date of Birth: 4 August 1792
Place of Birth: Field Place, Sussex, England
Date of Death: 8 July 1822
Place of Death: Gulf of La Spezia, Kingdom of Sardinia
Genres: Romantic poetry, political poetry
Life Summary
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) was a seminal English Romantic poet whose life and work embodied a pursuit of personal love, social justice, and artistic freedom. Born into a wealthy family, he was expelled from Oxford in 1811 for co-authoring "The Necessity of Atheism". Shelley's radical ideals permeated his poetry, with works like Queen Mab and Ode to the West Wind championing political reform and individual liberty. After the tragic death of his first wife, Harriet Westbrook, he married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, author of Frankenstein. Shelley's friendships with contemporaries such as Lord Byron and Keats further influenced his literary output. He died at the age of 29 in a boating accident off the coast of Italy, leaving behind a legacy of lyrical and philosophical poetry that continues to inspire.