Patrizia Ames

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the greatest English Romantic poets. His poems, such as "Alastor" and "Ozymandias," overflow with intense emotion and radical ideas.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born into a wealthy family, in Field Place, near Horsham in Sussex on August 4, 1792. As a student in Eton, he was known for his radical views on politics and religion. At Eton and aged just 18, he published his first book, a gothic horror novel called Zastrozzi. He later attended Oxford University, where he read radical authors like William Godwin, and behaved in an eccentric way. A year later, he was expelled from the university for his anti-Christian writings. In 1818, Shelley left England with his wife Mary to live in Italy.

He completed some of his greatest poetry there, including his masterpiece Prometheus Unbound. While on a short voyage along the Italian coast, Shelley’s small sailboat was caught in a storm. He drowned on July 8, 1822, aged 29. At a young age, Percy Bysshe Shelley had written poetry that established him as one of the greatest English Romantic poets.