British Literature ThursdayApril 28, 2016 S2 - Day 72 ACTIVITIES: 1.Review Blake – handout poems (5 S’s activity) 2.Intro. Percy Shelley – Read “West Wind” (pg. 870) 3.Read Shelley –“…Skylark” (pg. 873) 4.Finish Chapter 1-8 of Frankenstein by Friday - complete study guide questions ACTIVITIES: 1.Review Blake – handout poems (5 S’s activity) 2.Intro. Percy Shelley – Read “West Wind” (pg. 870) 3.Read Shelley –“…Skylark” (pg. 873) 4.Finish Chapter 1-8 of Frankenstein by Friday - complete study guide questions SUMMARIZER: - What Three words best describe the romantic period? SUMMARIZER: - What Three words best describe the romantic period? ACTIVATOR: (4-6 sentences, S.E.E.D. format) What is a lesson that you have seen illustrated in nature? Explain… ACTIVATOR: (4-6 sentences, S.E.E.D. format) What is a lesson that you have seen illustrated in nature? Explain…

Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ) Born in Sussex into a wealthy landowning family. Son of an MP. Eldest of six children. 1804: Attends Eton. Called “mad Shelley” by his classmates. 1810: Oxford University; friendship with Hogg. Immerses himself in philosophy; becomes vegetarian. 1811: Expelled from Oxford for publishing and circulating his pamphlet “The Necessity of Atheism.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1811: Elopes with 16yr. old Harriet Westbrook. 1812: In Ireland, urges Catholic emancipation and justice for the poor. Writes Queen Mab. Meets William Godwin. 1814: Elopes with Mary, Godwin and Wollstonecraft’s daughter. Writes Alastor. 1816: Geneva circle with Byron. Begins Prometheus Unbound. Mary writes Frankenstein. Harriet drowns herself. Friendship with Leigh Hunt editor of The Examiner. Meets John Keats.

P.B. Shelley – Early Life Shelley (1792 – 1822) was a gentleman in the literal sense of the word – ie, he didn’t work. He was (ahem) educated at Oxford, but never went to class and was generally despised. He got booted out for a pamphlet he wrote called “The Necessity of Athiesm”, but it’s unclear whether the powers that be found his religious beliefs or his vegetarianism more blasphemous.

Marriages, Relationships, etc Shelley got married at the age of 19, a few months after getting booted out of college. His choice of bride was strange – a 16 year old school girl named Harriet Westbrook. Always a believer in “Free Love”, he invited his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg to join them. Harriet was not amused. Shelley got turned off by her “conventional” views of marriage.

Relationships, Continued Three years into his marriage, he left his wife and child to study and travel. He met and fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of the intellectual William Godwin and the original feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft. Shelley abandoned Harriet and took off to the continent with Mary and her stepsister Clair Clairmont, both of whom, it is noted, were more into his “Free Love” policy than his wife.

Next… Clair Clairmont was also having an affair with Lord Byron – surprise! 1816 – Mary’s half-sister Fanny kills herself His abandoned wife Harriet kills self 1816 – Shelley marries Mary, in an attempt to get custody of his kids. The attempt fails, largely due to his atheism - They were given to a foster family instead.

Next… Claire Clairmont has baby by Byron – Allegra Mary had two children with Shelley, but they both died in infancy, in Italy Shelley found a “foundling” to raise – this little girl was very likely his own child with Clair Clairmont – Mary very likely knew this. Shelley believed that raising this little girl would get Mary’s mind off her own two children who died. Uugh!

Next… By the time Mary finally managed to have a baby that lived, Shelley had taken up with another woman, named Sophia Stacey. In 1821, Shelley was devastated by the death of Keats, and became depressed. Cure for depression – party with Byron!

Death Went out boating with a buddy Boat capsized – Shelley drowned Body cremated (except for heart - Mary kept) Shelley had a book of Keats’ poems on him when he died.

LOL! A London paper took great delight in announcing Shelley’s death, writing: "Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned, now he knows whether there is a God or not.“

Shelley: Major Works : “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”; “Mont Blanc” 1819: Completes Prometheus Unbound; The Cenci; The Mask of Anarchy about the Peterloo Massacre; A Philosophical View of Reform; Ode to the West Wind : To a Sky-Lark; Adonais (an elegy for Keats.) Defence of Poetry (published posthumously in 1840); The Triumph of Life. 1822: Drowns at sea at the age of 29.