One they threw out of University

Compiled by Ishara Mudugamuwa

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born August 4, 1792, at Field Place, near Horsham, in Sussex, England. The eldest son of Thimothy and Elizabeth Shelley, with one brother and four sisters, he stood in line to inherit not only his grandfather's considerable estate but also a seat in parliament.

He attended Eton College for six years and then entered Oxford in 1810. He began writing poetry while at Eton, but his first publication was a Gothic novel, Zastrozzi (in which he voiced his own hereticle and atheistic opinions through the villain Zastrozzi).

In 1811, he and his friend Thomas Jefforon Hogg published their pamphlet, "The Necessity of Atheism", which resulted in their immediate expulsion from the university.

The same year Shelley eloped to Scotland to marry his sixteen year old sweetheart, Harriet Westbrook by whom he eventually had two children, Iyanthe and Charles. The marriage was short-lived. Shelley soon left Harriet for Mary Godwin, the daughter of William Godwin.

Shelley's life continued to be dominated by his desire for social and political reform, and he was constantly publishing pamphlets. His first important poem, "Queen Mab" privately printed in 1813, set forth a radical system of curing social ills by advocating the distruction of various established institutions.

In 1814, Shelley left England for France with Mary Godwin. During their first year together they were plunged by social ostracism and financial difficulties. However, in 1815 Shelley's grandfather died and left him an annual income.

Their return to England was marred with a tragedy. Fanny Imlay, Mary Godwin's household, killed herself in late autumn. In December 1816, Shelley's estranged wife Harriet drowned herself in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London. After Harriet Shelley's suicide in 1816, Shelley and Mary officially married and they settled in Italy.

This marriage was intended, in part, to help secure Shelley's custody of his children by Harriet, but it was in vain: the children were handed over to foster parents by the courts.

Shelley was a strong advocate for social justice for the 'lower class'. He wrote so many poems, some of them are Ode To A Skylark, Ode To The West Wind and Ozimandias.

On July 8, 1822 shortly before his twentieth birthday, Shelley was drowned in a storm while attempting to sail from LeghLe Spezia, Italy, in his schooner, "Don Juan".