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Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 – 1822

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 – 1822 Born to an aristocratic and conservative family (father in parliament) Went to Oxford in 1810 (and published his first book) Thrown out in 1811 for publishing “The Necessity of Atheism.”

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Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 – 1822

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  1. Percy Bysshe Shelley • 1792 – 1822 • Born to an aristocratic and conservative family (father in parliament) • Went to Oxford in 1810 (and published his first book) • Thrown out in 1811 for publishing “The Necessity of Atheism.” • eloped with Harriet Westbrook (16, he was 19) to Scotland, where he passed out incendiary pamphlets (to a peasantry that wasn’t literate)

  2. William Godwin, 1756 – 1836 Inventor of “Benevolent Anarchy” An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, 1793

  3. An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, 1793 • Main Tenets: • Man is born benevolent • Corrupted by government (esp. monarchy), private property, religion. Take away these influences, and man will be led by pure reason, benevolence, and morality. • Therefore Man can be perfected and enlightened • Marriage is a corrupting influence (v. free love) • Education should not be dictated by led by a child’s own interests and reason • Education should resist ideology

  4. William Godwin, 1756 – 1836 Inventor of “Benevolent Anarchy” An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, 1793 enjoyed success, despite the downturn of the F.R. became the center of London intellectual circle hooked up with Mary Wollstonecraft in 1796

  5. Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759 – 1797 • Pioneer of equal women’s rights, feminism • A Vindication of the Rights of Men, 1790 • A vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792 • Men and Women are equal. • Women’s “inferiority” is due to lack of education • Society should be based upon a social pact led by reason. • advocated for women’s education • Affair with Henry Fuseli, painter (both married)and Gilbert Imlay, with whom she had her first child, Fanny (1792)

  6. Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759 – 1797 • Pioneer of equal women’s rights, feminism • A Vindication of the Rights of Men, 1790 • A vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792 • Men and Women are equal. • Women’s “inferiority” is due to lack of education • Society should be based upon a social pact led by reason. • advocated for women’s education • Affair with Henry Fuseli, painter (both married)and Gilbert Imlay, with whom she had her first child, Fanny (1792) • Hooked up with Godwin in 1796 • Married in 1797 (!!), to much controversy • Died in after giving birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, 1797.

  7. William Godwin, 1756 – 1836 • Inventor of “Benevolent Anarchy” • An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, 1793 • enjoyed success, despite the downturn of the F.R. • became the center of London intellectual circle • hooked up with Mary Wollstonecraft in 1796 • Remarries in 1801 to Mary Clairmont • Raises Fanny, Mary, step-daughter Claire Clairmont. • Starts a publishing firm, specializing in children’s books • Often in debt • Writes a tribue/memoir to Mary Wollstonecraft, which ruins her reputation

  8. Mary Shelley, 1797 – 1851 • Raised by Godwin’s tenets of education • Meets Coleridge and other intellectuals at a very young age • Raised on the writings and philosophies of her parents • nurtures her mother’s memory • Strained relationship with mother-in-law • Spent time in the wilds of Scotland • Meets Percy Shelley in 1814, at 16… • Graveyard romance • Eloped to France (with Claire Clairmont) in 1814 • ….What was the attraction?

  9. Percy Bysshe Shelley • 1792 – 1822 • Born to an aristocratic and conservative family (father in parliament) • Went to Oxford in 1810 (and published his first book) • Thrown out in 1811 for publishing “The Necessity of Atheism.” • eloped with Harriet Westbrook (16, he was 19) to Scotland, where he passed out incendiary pamphlets (to a peasantry that wasn’t literate) • Met William Godwin, author of Political Justice in 1814, helps with debts • Fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and abandoned Harriet who was pregnant (2nd child) with Mary for Italy. …

  10. “Men of England” Men of England, wherefore ploughFor the lords who lay ye low?Wherefore weave with toil and careThe rich robes your tyrants wear?Wherefore feed and clothe and save,From the cradle to the grave,Those ungrateful drones who wouldDrain your sweat -- nay, drink your blood?Wherefore, Bees of England, forgeMany a weapon, chain, and scourge,That these stingless drones may spoilThe forced produce of your toil?Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?Or what is it ye buy so dearWith your pain and with your fear? The seed ye sow another reaps;The wealth ye find another keeps;The robes ye weave another wears;The arms ye forge another bears.Sow seed, -- but let no tyrant reap;Find wealth, -- let no imposter heap;Weave robes, -- let not the idle wear;Forge arms, in your defence to bear.Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells;In halls ye deck another dwells.Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye seeThe steel ye tempered glance on ye.With plough and spade and hoe and loom,Trace your grave, and build your tomb,And weave your winding-sheet, till fairEngland be your sepulchre!

  11. England in 1819 An old, mad, blind, despis'd, and dying king,Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flowThrough public scorn – mud from a muddy spring,Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know,But leech-like to their fainting country cling,Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow,A people starv'd and stabb'd in the untill'd field,An army, which liberticide and preyMakes as a two-edg'd sword to all who wield,Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay,Religion Christless, Godless – a book seal'd,A Senate – Time's worst statute unrepeal'd,Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom mayBurst, to illumine our tempestuous day.

  12. Relationship to earlier Romantics… To Wordsworth Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to knowThat things depart which never may return:Childhood and youth, friendship, and love's first glow,Have fled like sweet dreams, leaving thee to mourn.These common woes I feel. One loss is mineWhich thou too feel'st, yet I alone deplore.Thou wert as a lone star whose light did shineOn some frail bark in winter's midnight roar:Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stoodAbove the blind and battling multitude:In honoured poverty thy voice did weaveSongs consecrate to truth and liberty.Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve,Thus having been, that thou shouldst cease to be. Hence “Mont Blanc”…

  13. How is “Mont Blanc” a “romanticist” poem? • Where are there similarities to Wordsworth and Coleridge • In stanza two, can you find action or descriptions in this poem similar to those other poets, esp. about the interaction of nature and the mind? Where? Is there any difference? • b) How do the sentiments or claims in the third stanza question or undermine those of the second stanza (or of those other poets)? • c) Look at the language of the fourth stanza; what is the tone? What words that convey that tone? What is the role of nature here? • d) The final stanza (and the poem), ends with a question. What is it asking? Does the poem answer it? (hint: Why is the title important?) • So, how is Shelley different from other romantic poets? • And do we see any “godwinian” influence here?

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