Percy Bysshe Shelley

British writer known as one of the greatest lyric poets of the English Romantic age, a writer of delicate beauty.

The son of a country gentleman, Shelley entered Eton College in 1804. He was a good student but socially a nonconformist, he rebelled against a system which made the younger boys do the menial work. Throughout his life, he despised tyranny. By the time he entered Oxford, 1811, he had already published two bad horror novels. After five months in Oxford, he was expelled for writing a pamphlet, "The Necessity of Atheism." His dad had not recovered from this shock when Shelley eloped with Harriet Westbrook, the daughter of a former coffeehouse-keeper.

For the next two years, Shelley and his wife lived a wandering life, living on a small family allowance. Harriet was not Shelley's intellectual equal and affection waned. Shelley believed that the law against divorce of a loveless couple was "intolerable tyranny" and on 28 July 1814, left his wife and eloped with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. He had met the 16-year-old girl several years prior when attending discussions at the home of her parents, who were both social reformers and well ahead of their time. In the company of his friend Lord Byron and Mary's stepsister, Claire, they traveled across Europe, settling in Italy.

He and Mary had three children, none of whom survived.

In 1816, his first wife committed suicide; he was denied custody of their children because he was an atheist; however, he and Mary were married immediately.

Shelley regarded social reform as his life's work, believing that man could aim for perfection and that love had the power to transform society. An idealist, he felt that earthly beauty was only the shadow of spiritual beauty. During the last five years of his life he produced his finest work.

On 8 July 1822, he and a friend, Edward Williams were out boating when a sudden squall came up.