Mary Shelley

It is 200 years since the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned at sea at the age of 29. At the time, his life and works were considered scandalous, due in part to his reputation as a sexually liberated, vegetarian atheist, living in a reported ménage à trois. He did not achieve literary fame during his lifetime, but today he is one of the most celebrated British poets.

Shelley was writing during what is now called the Romantic period, which lasted from around 1780 to 1840. This was a time of innovative thinking and new ideas which took place in science, industry, the arts, and particularly in literature. Other Romantic writers include William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, and Shelley’s friend, Lord Byron.

Shelley’s notoriety began when he was publicly expelled from Oxford University for publishing an atheist pamphlet. Four years later, he courted scandal again, when he abandoned his pregnant wife and eloped with the 16-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later the famous author of Frankenstein) along with her stepsister, Claire Clairmont. His poetry reflected his personal notoriety. In particular, the poem ‘Laon and Cythna‘ was criticised due to its attacks on religion and descriptions of a brother-sister incestuous relationship.

Together with Mary and Claire, Shelley lived a nomadic existence, moving around the UK and across Europe, before settling in Italy. It is here that Shelley wrote some of his best-loved poems, including Adonais and began his final, unfinished poem, ‘The Triumph of Life’. It is also where Shelley died. His sailing boat, the Don Juan, sank near the Gulf of Spezia. All three passengers drowned and washed ashore days later.

Angel in death

The response to Shelley’s death was phenomenal. A leading Tory newspaper, the Courier, ran an obituary which read: “Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned: now he knows whether there is a God or no.” His death became a Romantic myth that steadily grew and his poetry became increasingly popular. His wife, Mary, began this Shelleyan legacy, describing him as an “angel”, a description that endured throughout the 19th century.

By 1889, the continued fascination around Shelley’s death meant that his cremation became the subject of a painting; Louis Édouard Fournier’s ‘The Funeral of Shelley‘. The painting depicts a remarkably preserved corpse on a pyre, surrounded by his friends, including Lord Byron (who in reality went swimming in the sea during his funeral) and Mary Shelley kneeling in the background (she did not attend the funeral at all).

Shelley’s heart famously did not burn and was given to Mary. Modern physicians believe it may have calcified due to a bout of tuberculosis. Reportedly, it was found wrapped in a sheet of Shelley’s poetry after Mary’s own death in 1851 and was buried in Bournemouth alongside her.

Illustration of Percy Bysshe Shelley writing.

During the Victorian period, Shelley became an inspiration to fellow literary figures, including Robert Browning, George Eliot, Edgar Allan Poe, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Shelley’s reputation was sanitised to such an extent that even his old college in Oxford forgave his rebellious past and installed a monument dedicated to him in 1893. Sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford, a graceful, angelic Shelley lies on a sacrificial altar, guarded by a weeping woman.

Shelley’s Romantic reputation today

Interest in Shelley waned in the early 1900s and it wasn’t until the latter half of the century that his writings became respected due to the varied and many far reaching concerns found within them. His complex and fascinating personal life has also been the subject of a number of biographies and a source of endless fascination.

Perhaps his biggest claim to fame today is his marriage to the “mother” of science fiction, Mary Shelley. It is known that Shelley assisted his wife with her Frankenstein manuscript and the two had a collaborative literary relationship. This work, alongside the recently popular The Last Man, are certainly wider read than Shelley’s poetry, which are often limited to educational settings.

In popular culture, it is mainly through Shelley’s relationship to Mary and other Romantic figures that he is remembered. The 2017 film, Mary Shelley, starred Douglas Booth as the poet. As the title suggests, Shelley’s role is depicted as secondary to that of his wife, whose life is the centre of the story. Doctor Who, the most popular science fiction show in the UK, included Percy and Mary in their 2020 episode ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati‘. Again, the focus was placed on the genesis of Frankenstein. Even the popular comedy series Drunk History’s 2016 segment on Shelley identified his relationships with his wife and friend, Lord Byron, as central to his appeal.

But the 200th anniversary of Shelley’s death is am important literary bicentennial. International events have been happening over the past year to mark key moments in his life, including #Shelley200. Exhibitions, including at Horsham Museum and the Shelley Conference in London, taking place this weekend, demonstrate the lasting appeal and ongoing interest in his works. For many, Shelley’s legacy lives on.

‘Ozymandias’ or ‘To A Skylark’ are a great introduction to Shelley’s poems if you want to read his works.

Amy Wilcockson, PhD Researcher, British Romantic period, University of Nottingham

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

As a school girl in a middle class home, I never had access to ‘freedom’ – a personal phone, as I like to call it. It was entirely out of question, among other restrictions, but this changed as soon as I got into college.

I went on to study English literature at Delhi University in a progressive city with very progressive classmates. However, unlike my fellow classmates, college was more about the freedom it offered – freedom to move out of my house, to have my own personal phone, to be independent. As a result, it took me two semesters to understand why I opted for the course and six to understand its importance.

As soon as I got a phone, I developed a strong urge to connect with as many people as possible, even though I’m not great at making conversation. Nevertheless, I kept trying but all my efforts went in vain. Eventually, I quit and found solace in my introverted self.

Side by side, I was struggling with the new theories, philosophies and concepts taught in class. I also had to study an additional subject along with my core papers. I opted for philosophy. The subject introduced me to an age-old, repeatedly used, often misinterpreted word: feminism. During the course of the semester, I realised that there was much more to the word than what I had read on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Feminist literature

However, as this was an additional paper, I didn’t take it that seriously. I crammed the theories for exams, and somehow managed to get good scores. But I came across the word again during one of my lectures on one of my core papers – feminist literature.

Feminist literature? It made no sense to me. “Why do we need a genre dedicated to a particular gender?” I wondered. “Won’t that further sideline the women?”

Our professor asked what feminist literature included – the works of female writers or works about female characters?

It was a tricky yet a simple question, a kind which we were often asked in our classes. The answer was the former, but why? And that was when we realised that during the previous four semesters – literature from 16th to 18th century – female writers were barely included.

That was when I started grasping the concept a little better.

Although reading and learning about the female authors and poets whose works were being neglected for centuries paved a way for me to value the concept, it was still not enough to understand the importance of feminism in my personal life.

Also read: On Reading Nivedita Menon’s ‘Seeing Like a Feminist’ in a Patriarchal Home

So what was enough? Maybe the fact that while reading about romanticism, we only had one female writer, Mary Shelley, among seven other male poets, and even then, she was better known as a wife of one of those male poets. Or was it the movie that introduced me to Ruth Ginsberg and how she couldn’t be a lawyer despite having a double degree? Or the National Gallery in London with only 20 installations by female artists amongst a grand total of 2,300?

I don’t know what exactly made me aware of the word or helped me develop a connection with the history of the movement, but I do know I was becoming a person who was aware of her rights and could see gender-based discrimination in everyday activities.

During my monthly visits to home, I had already started questioning my mother’s requests all day to do chores, but I didn’t have any problem doing them. Basically, I would find these things problematic but I would also forget them as soon as I would come back to my free space, my PG and college life.

But now during quarantine, since I have been stuck at home for the last three months – the longest I have been in the past three years – I have been able to see through the deep-rooted problems at home. While I was enjoying my so-called liberated life in university, I forgot how my mother, my father and other family members were still tied to the traditional, rather oppressive, idea of gender roles.

At home

Quarantine started at home, as it had in any other ‘privileged’ household, with a cooking marathon of sorts. The social media universe made it look like a fun activity for the family to bond and enjoy this time together while keeping each other safe. However, in reality, it was time to live life the patriarchal way.

While the male members of my house were enjoying new dishes and experiments everyday, I found my mother, aunts, sister and myself toiling in the kitchen for long hours. When after a month of this routine I argued with my mother to ask my brother to help with the household work, she agreed and asked him to.

Also read: The Colour Pink, Feminism and How I Came to Love Cooking

But he, like every other entitled male, said: “Main thodi krunga ye kaam (I am not supposed to do this work)” and my mother agreed, yet again.

This is when I finally realised that although the feminist movement started centuries ago – and we do have come a long way since then – we would need another century of consistent efforts to accomplish what we started to reach for.

It is not about just one household and this one incident, but thousands of similar incidents at different households. It is not just about me or you, who are privileged enough to pursue the career of their own choice – it is also about those who are not privileged, who are not aware. It may take another century to let any woman to just be aware of these things and yet another to change it, but that does not mean we have to stop.

Feminism is not just a word or a concept. It is more than just a word – it is a way of life.

Tag: Mary Shelley

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