All about Shelley!
- · Born on August 4, 1792 at family’s estate located in Horsham, Sussex.
· 1st Child of Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley
· Very smart, sent to Syon House Academy in Brentford at age 10.
· He was made fun of, which inspired his gothic writings
· Fascinated by scientific discoveries
· Attended Eton from 1804 to 1810.
· Called “Mad Shelley,” and “the Eton Atheist.”
· Expelled from Eton for publishing a pamphlet, The Necessity of Atheism (1811). With his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg
· After Eton, He attended the University College, Oxford.
· Hoped to change the world through science, but ended up focusing on poetry.
· Published two Gothic novels in his teens and a poetry book with his sister Elizabeth.
· Married Harriet Westbrook in 1811, and was disowned by his father. They had Eliza Ianthe in 1813.
· He later fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft, and left Harriet in 1814 before she had their second child.
· Shelley and Mary ran off to Europe together, and she gave birth to their son William. They later wed.
· In 1816, He tried to gain custody of the two children he had with Harriet, because she drowned herself.
· In 1818 Shelley left Europe, and lived in Italy for the rest of his life.
· His son William died in 1819, and as a result he wrote some of his best works, including "Ode to the West Wind."
· He drowned in a storm while sailing off the coast of Italy. - July 8th, 1822