What is Percy Bysshe Shelley?
{{refimprove|date=December 2011}} [[File:Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Curran, 1819.jpg|thumb|right|Percy Bysshe Shelley]] '''Percy Bysshe Shelley''' (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an [[English people|English poet]] of the early [[nineteenth century]]. He is widely thought of as one of most important poets of the [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] in [[English literature]]. Some of his poems, like ''[[Ozymandias]]'' and ''Ode to the West Wind'', are among the most famous in English. Shelley was born in [[Horsham]], [[Sussex]]. He was the son of a member of [[Parliament]]. He attended the [[University of Oxford]], for only one year; he was expelled for being an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/02/shelley-the-necessity-of-atheism Atheism's aesthetic of enchantment]</ref> In his own time Shelley was very unpopular for his political and religious views and for his personal conduct. He married young, but left his wife to run away with [[Mary Shelley|Mary Godwin]]. After Shelley's first wife committed [[suicide]], Shelley married Mary Godwin; she later became famous as Mary Shelley, the author of the novel ''[[Frankenstein]]''. Shelley left England and spent much of his life travelling in [[Europe]], especially in [[Italy]]. He became a close friend of poet [[Lord Byron]], who also left England and travelled in Europe because of sexual [[controversy]] at home. Shelley continued to write poetry throughout this time; he wrote several major works, like the verse drama ''The Cenci'' and long poems like ''Alastor'' and ''Adonais'', as well as many shorter poems. About a month before his 30th birthday, Shelley drowned in a boating accident off the coast of Italy. He was one of three important English Romantic poets of the same generation who died young; the other two were Lord Byron and [[John Keats]]. == References == <references/> {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Percy Bysshe}} [[Category:1792 births]] [[Category:1822 deaths]] [[Category:Accidental deaths by drowning]]