Percy Byshhe Shelley...

[fajrdrako]

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born today, 215 years ago. Happy birthday to one of my favourite people!

I was reading an article about him today, a review of a new book about him by Janet Todd called Death and the Maidens, which, it appears, blames Shelley for the suicides of his acquaintances and the deaths of several of his children. Shelley's reputation has been having ups and downs since he was eighteen years old and was expelled from Oxford for espousing atheism; I'm sure his reputation will survive another book, but I find it annoying to hear the book described as 'frank' when it is obviously simply hostile. For instance: blaming him for Fanny Wollestonecraft's suicide, and then for not paying for her funeral, seems absurd to me - he hadn't seen her in several years, had never had any responsibility for her, and barely had enough money for himself and his immediate family to be able to eat. I wonder if she blames him for the suicide of Castlereagh, because Shelley said nasty things about him.

No need to return to the hagiographic view of Shelley that some have held, that he was a cross between a saint and an angel. That's just as bad. He was a polyamorous poet who paid heavily in his own lifetime for his convictions; whose viewpoint was both caring and eloquent. That's good enough for me.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Your former friend does sound alarmingly like a young women I used to know. She was like a train out of control in her relationships. People found it terrifyingly easy to love her. She was highly intelligent, and in other ways admirable. But - as you say - callous. Without even realizing or recognizing it.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Yup. I broke off contact with Penelope (ironic name if ever there was one!) because of it.

And I see exactly the same traits in the Early 19C Romantics.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I can see you do!

And I can also see that in various ways, what attracts me to them is what repels you.