Percy Bysshe Shelley was born August 4, 1792 at Field Place near Sussex, England. He was the oldest son of Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley. He had one brother and four sisters. His father was a squire and a representative in Parliament (Encyclopedia).
He went to school at the Syon House Academy and at Eton. His teachers said he was an exceptional student. His biggest passions were the spirit of revolution and the power of free thought. His sensitive nature, refusal to conform to tradition, and his hobby of performing scientific experiments earned him the nickname Mad Shelley. During his years as a student he had a wide range of interests. He experimented in physical science, studied medicine and philosophy, and wrote novels and poetry. By the time he entered Oxford in 1810 he had already published a novel named
During a stormy voyage in the Bay of Spezia on July 8, 1822 Percy’s small schooner called the Ariel sank. Percy and everyone else onboard died. Author Frederick Shilstone states that “After his body washed onto the shores of Italy it was cremated” (391). His ashes were buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. In 1854 a monument was erected in memory of him (Shilstone 391).
In 1814 Percy visited his role model William Godwin and fell in love with Godwin’s 16-year-old daughter Mary. She traveled around with Percy for a month and a half through France, Switzerland, and Germany. “On November 30, 1814 his wife gave birth to his son Charles” (qtd. in Shilstone 391). Over the winter of 1815 he wrote The Spirit of Solitude. In January 1816 Mary gave birth to his son named William. During the summer of 1816 he stayed at Lake
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