Percy Shelley
Percy ShelleyOn August 4th 1792, Percy Bysshe Shelley was born to Timothy and Elizabeth Pillford at Field Place, near Horsham, Sussex. Timothy was a member of the Parliament and was the son of Bysshe Shelley. In 1806, he was christened Sir Bysshe Shelley, Baronet. Percy Shelley had five sisters and one brother.
In 1802, Shelley attended an all-boys school titled Syon House Academy at Isleworth, which was close to London. After the Academy, he continued his education by attending Eton where he published his first gothic novel during his last term in the spring of 1810 entitled, Zastrozzi: A Romance. He then enrolled at Oxford University College in 1810. In October of the same year, he met a life long friend named Thomas Jefferson Hogg. In December, he had his second romance novel published that he had written between the fall of 1809 and the spring of 1810 called St. Irvyne: or, The Rosicrucian.. The next month Hogg helped him with a paper titled “The Necessity of Atheism”. Due to the Christian beliefs of the school they were expelled from Oxford University on March 25th. Shelley eloped with Harriet Westbrook in Edinburgh on August 29th. Early in October he decided to visit his family in York which left Hogg and Harriet alone together. Disappointedly, Hogg tried to seduce Harriet therefore Shelley came home to get his family and take them to Keswick, Cumberland.
The couple’s first child was born when Harriet gave birth to Ianthe Shelley on June 23, 1813. After the birth her interests started to change and she did not depend on Shelley as much as she did before and they grew apart. During this time Shelley went on trips to visit William Godwin, a philosopher, and was engaged in raising money for him for the Tremadoc embankment. At Godwin’s home he was able to spend time with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Mary and William Godwin. Shelley’s alienation from Harriet made him closer...
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