Concetti Chiave
- Percy Bysshe Shelley, nato nel 1792, era un radicale e ateo, noto per il pamphlet 'The Necessity of Atheism' che sfidava l'esistenza di Dio.
- Si trasferì in Irlanda, dove fece propaganda rivoluzionaria contro il cattolicesimo e il governo inglese, vivendo in un'atmosfera di conservatorismo.
- Shelley era sposato con Mary Godwin e si trasferì in Svizzera e poi in Italia, dove scrisse le sue opere migliori.
- Le sue opere riflettono uno spirito inquieto e rifiutano le convenzioni sociali, l'oppressione politica e ogni forma di tirannia, credendo nei principi di libertà e amore.
- Per Shelley, il poeta è un profeta e titano, con il compito di aiutare l'umanità a raggiungere un mondo ideale libero da tirannia, distruzione e alienazione.
Indice
Shelley's early life and beliefs
Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Sussex in 1792.
He was one of the most important poets of Romanticism and traditionally he is one of the exponents of the second generation of Romantic intellectuals, along with Keats and Lord Byron. They are called in this way in order to distinguish them from the first generation of Romantic poets which is represented by Coleridge and Wordsworth. In reality, nevertheless, there is no such clear-cut division.
On the 10th of April of 1810, Percy enrolled at Oxford University. Although he distinguished himself for his remarkable capacity of learning, these years were full of struggles for the young poet.
As a matter of fact, he was against the educational programs he had to follow and he preferred solitary walks in the countryside and studies on electricity, magnetism, and chemistry.
During those same years, he read An Inquiry Concerning Political Justice by the anarchist William Godwin (Mary Shelley’s father), whose libertarian philosophy immediately influenced his cultural education.
His first published work was a gothic novel called Zastrozzi in 1810, in which he vented his atheistic vision of the world through the mouth of the evil Zastrozzi.
It can be said that he was a radical and atheist because he also wrote a radical pamphlet, ‘The Necessity of Atheism’, challenging the existence of God in a more powerful way than before and for this reason Percy was expelled from University on the 25th March of 1811.
In this time, he published Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson probably with the help of his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg who will become Shelley’s main biographer.
Shelley moved to Ireland, where he made revolutionary propaganda against Catholicism and English government.
In that period the idealistic drive of the French Revolution was finished and was followed by a nationalistic wave both in France and in other European countries.
Shelley's life in the Godwin's family and in Italy
Mary Godwin firstly met P.B. Shelley in the period between her two trips to Scotland because Percy Shelley, along with his wife Harriet Westbrook, was a regular guest of Godwin, who helped him to pay off his debts.
As a matter of fact, Percy Shelley's radicalism, and especially his economic ideas were the cause of his estrangement from his aristocratic family.
Mary and Percy met secretly a few times at Mary Wollstonecraft's grave in St. Pancras Churchyard and here they declared their love but Godwin was annoyed by this union and tried to prevent it to save his daughter's reputation.
On 28th July of 1814, the couple secretly fled to France with Mary's half-sister, Claire Clairmont.
They married on the 30th of December of 1816 in London to gain custody of the two children of Byron's ex wife.
P.B Shelley and Mary Godwin started to live in Switzerland after their marriage.
In 1818 Shelley left definitively England and went to live in Italy; during his period in Italy he wrote his best works.
He died in 1822 because of an accident happened while he was sailing near Livorno.
Shelley's values
Shelley lived in an atmosphere of conservatism. He rebelled against religions, laws and customs and he also became a republican.Almost all works by Shelley show his restless spirit, his refusal of social conventions, political oppression, any form of tyranny, and his faith in a better future.
Shelley believed strongly in the principles of freedom and love, which where seen as remedies for the faults and evils of society.
The poet, for Shelley, is a prophet and a Titan challenging the cosmos; his task is to help man to reach an ideal world, where freedom, love and beauty are delivered from their enemies, like tyranny, destruction and alienation.
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cuál fue la influencia de William Godwin en la educación cultural de Shelley?
- ¿Por qué fue expulsado Percy Bysshe Shelley de la Universidad de Oxford?
- ¿Cómo afectaron las ideas radicales de Shelley su relación con su familia aristocrática?
- ¿Qué valores defendía Shelley en sus obras?
- ¿Cómo veía Shelley el papel del poeta en la sociedad?
La filosofía libertaria de William Godwin influyó inmediatamente en la educación cultural de Shelley, especialmente después de leer "An Inquiry Concerning Political Justice".
Shelley fue expulsado de la Universidad de Oxford por escribir un panfleto radical titulado "The Necessity of Atheism", que desafiaba la existencia de Dios.
Las ideas radicales y especialmente las económicas de Shelley causaron su distanciamiento de su familia aristocrática.
Shelley defendía la libertad, el amor y se oponía a las convenciones sociales, la opresión política y cualquier forma de tiranía.
Shelley veía al poeta como un profeta y un Titán que desafía el cosmos, con la tarea de ayudar a la humanidad a alcanzar un mundo ideal de libertad, amor y belleza.
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