shelley, context and critics

Radical politics and atheism

Shelley was a radical political thinker and atheist, he was expelled from oxford for writing “the necessity of atheism” and advocated for liberty, equality, free love and the end of monarchy

Response to the French Revolution

He was inspired by the ideals of the revolution (freedom from tyranny) but later believed into a nonviolent revolution

Romantic idealism

He was part of the second generation of romantics who believed in the power of nature, imagination and poetry to uplift the human soul and promote political and spiritual reform

Exile and isolation

He lived in exile in Italy due to his politics and scandalous personal life, the sense of alienation and idealism fuelled his poetry