John R. Greenfield: Percy Bysshe Shelley
- John R. Greenfield’s biography of Percy Shelley states the world thought Shelley was an obscure poet and many rebuked his lifestyle. However, one of his close friends, Lord Byron, claimed that the world was ignorantly mistaken about Shelley. Greenfield describes Shelley as passionate but distracted. He had many ideas and wanted to make changes in the status quo. Even college did not appeal to him at Oxford. Shelley says, “Oxonian society was insipid to me, uncongenial with my habits of thinking”. Shelley believed in free love, marrying Harriet Westbrook, but loving Mary Godwin and eventually marrying her instead. He suffered many tragedies in his life including the loss of several children. He believed in atheism and revolution, which likely contributed to his beliefs about kings and monarchs in Ozymandias. This reference helped me to understand Shelley’s personality and beliefs in a way that highlights certain parts of the poem.
Keats-Shelley Journal
- I found this resource through the BYU library database. It contains many of both Keats and Shelley’s individual works. As I read through Shelley’s works both before and after Ozymandias, I began to understand more clearly his style of writing and common themes throughout his works. The journal draws comparisons to current literature and poetry that helped me to further understand what Shelley believed and how his own personal life contributed to his poetry. It was also interesting to compare Keats’ works to Shelley’s. I recognized Shelley’s passion and strong opinions in his other writings. Seeing his work as a whole through this resource helped me to see him in a more full light.
These two resources helped me to get a broader view of Percy Bysshe Shelley and the events that occurred in his life to make him hold the beliefs he did. Understanding more about the time period in which this was written would lead to even more clarity. I’d like to further study the cultural norms at the time, especially involving politics and marriage.
The poem makes so much more sense to me now that I understand Shelley's personal beliefs, such as atheism and revolution. I wonder if the many tragedies of his life played a role in his atheist beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI love your last comment about describing your desire to study the cultural norms of the time involving politics and marriage, I think that would be such an interesting topic of research! It would definitely reveal some insight on what was going through Shelley's head when he wrote "Ozymandias."
ReplyDeleteWhile I was also looking through the basic ideas of the period, I also read some of Shelley's biography and it helped me to understand his outlook on life and the world much better. His beliefs in Atheism and opposition to monarchy works very well in conjunction with the widespread growth of imperialism. These ideas help shed more light onto the poem and can provide possible interpretations of it as an argument against the fervor.
ReplyDeleteI think the background on Shelley's personality and beliefs. It makes a lot of sense that he was passionate and wanted to share his strong opinions. When I researched it sounded like the Lake poets were all about being revolutionary-- probably helping to influence Shelley's writing! I would love to compare some of his earlier work to his later work and to see a difference in passion or influence!
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