In Oxford in 1811, an anonymous pamphlet was distributed to every clergy man and the heads of all the colleges. It was called The Necessity of Atheism and in it one of the key points was without proof of God’s existence, how can we believe he exists. The Pamphlet was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley and though he was committing blasphemy and attacking the very existence of civilisation, Shelley was standing up against the authoritarianism of the Church. The result of his pamphlet; expulsion.
With this liberty from the Church, Shelley began a life in pursuit of a new way of living. Shelley was married to Harriet Westbrook but his heart belonged to his lover Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Shelley wrote to his wife claiming his ‘heart belonged to another’ and ended up running away with Mary, making him one of the pioneers in the ‘Free Love’ movement.
Whilst thou alone, then not regarded,The … thou alone should be,
To spend years thus, and be rewarded,
As thou, sweet love, requited me
When none were near — Oh! I did wake
From torture for that moment’s sake. – To Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
If poetry was the new religion, then the poet would be a god. This idea led Shelley into a dark place, seeing visions of phantoms all around him. He began to question the worth of his own existence, becoming haunted by his own ideas. With death, his poetry will live on in the sublime way that Keats poems did. When Percy Bysshe Shelley died, he was found on the beach with a copy of John Keats poems in his pocket. He was burned on the beach by Byron and other friends, who claimed his heart was not consumed; a final act against the church.
Very nice post! You know how I love reading about the Romantics. 🙂
The one thing I do disagree with is calling him a pioneer of the Free Love Movement. That was going on even before William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft (mother of Mary Godwin Shelley) became famous proponents of it.
Also, I just wanted to point out that Godwin and Wollstonecraft’s free love marriage was based on a deep, mutual respect for each other. Whereas, Shelley abandoned his first wife and refused to help her out financially. Her destitute state later led her to commit suicide.
I don’t fault Shelley for leaving Harriet when his heart was with Mary. But it’s the way he handled the situation.
Love Shelley’s work, but he could be an incredibly callous person.
You know, I didn’t realize I didn’t add a ‘one’ in that sentence about Free Love. I think William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft are equally apart of pioneering the Free Love movement. Will fix the sentence now.
After doing my posts on Keats, Shelley and next week Byron, I’m glad I prefer Keats over the others.