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123-625: Percy Bysshe Shelley ( / b ɪ ʃ / BISH ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets . A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning , Algernon Charles Swinburne , Thomas Hardy , and W. B. Yeats . American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman,

246-419: A paling fence with gunpowder. In 1804, Shelley entered Eton College , a period which he later recalled with loathing. He was subjected to particularly severe mob bullying which the perpetrators called "Shelley-baits". A number of biographers and contemporaries have attributed the bullying to Shelley's aloofness, nonconformity and refusal to take part in fagging . His peculiarities and violent rages earned him

369-401: A plain by erosion . The parish land area is 1980 hectares (4892 acres). In the 2001 census 1958 people lived in 784 households, of whom 935 were economically active. At the 2011 Census the population was 2,068. Formerly Hollands Manor, Warnham Court built in ashlar was built for Henry Tredcroft in 1828. Warnham Court School until August 1996 occupied the building, set in

492-633: A "freshness of sensation" in his depiction of familiar, commonplace objects. Robert Southey (1774–1843) was another of the so-called " Lake Poets ", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843, although his fame has been long eclipsed by that of his contemporaries and friends William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge . Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859) was an English essayist , best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), an autobiographical account of his laudanum use and its effect on his life. William Hazlitt (1778–1830), friend of both Coleridge and Wordsworth,

615-464: A French revolutionary émigré and hosted a salon where Shelley was able to discuss politics, philosophy and vegetarianism. Mrs. Boinville became a confidante of Shelley during his marital crisis. During a breakdown, Shelley moved into Mrs. Boinville's home outside London. In February and March 1814, he became infatuated with her married daughter, Cornelia Turner, age eighteen, and wrote erotic poetry about her in his notebook. Following Ianthe's birth,

738-458: A Nightingale , Ode on a Grecian Urn , Ode on Melancholy , To Autumn and the incomplete Hyperion , a "philosophical" poem in blank verse, which was "conceived on the model of Milton 's Paradise Lost ". Keats' letters "are among the finest in English" and important "for their discussion of his aesthetic ideas", including ' negative capability ' ". Keats has always been regarded as

861-486: A boating accident in 1822 at age 29. Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place , Warnham , Sussex , England. He was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley , 2nd Baronet of Castle Goring (1753–1844), a Whig Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1790 to 1792 and for Shoreham between 1806 and 1812, and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold (1763–1846), the daughter of a successful butcher. He had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. Shelley's early childhood

984-541: A communal household where all property would be shared. The Shelleys and Eliza spent December and January in Keswick where Shelley visited Robert Southey whose poetry he admired. Southey was taken with Shelley, even though there was a wide gulf between them politically, and predicted great things for him as a poet. Southey also informed Shelley that William Godwin , author of Political Justice , which had greatly influenced him in his youth, and which Shelley also admired,

1107-462: A conversation about galvanism and the feasibility of returning a corpse or assembled body parts to life, and on the experiments of the 18th-century natural philosopher and poet Erasmus Darwin , who was said to have animated dead matter. Sitting around a log fire at Byron's villa, the company also amused themselves by reading German ghost stories, prompting Byron to suggest they each write their own supernatural tale. Jane Austen 's works critique

1230-564: A daughter, Clara Everina Shelley. Soon after, Shelley left for London with Claire, which increased Mary's resentment towards her stepsister. Shelley was arrested for two days in London over money he owed, and attorneys visited Mary in Marlowe over Shelley's debts. Shelley took part in the literary and political circle that surrounded Leigh Hunt , and during this period he met William Hazlitt and John Keats . Shelley's major work during this time

1353-557: A delusional episode triggered by stress. This was the first of a series of episodes in subsequent years where Shelley claimed to have been attacked by strangers during periods of personal crisis. Early in 1812, Shelley wrote, published and with Harriet personally distributed in Dublin three political tracts: An Address, to the Irish People; Proposals for an Association of Philanthropists; and Declaration of Rights . He also delivered

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1476-466: A falling-out with his father. In late December 1810, Shelley had met Harriet Westbrook, a pupil at the same boarding school as Shelley's sisters. They corresponded frequently that winter and also after Shelley had been expelled from Oxford. Shelley expounded his radical ideas on politics, religion and marriage to Harriet, and they gradually convinced each other that she was oppressed by her father and at school. Shelley's infatuation with Harriet developed in

1599-550: A far-reaching effect on the way in which the Welsh envisaged their own national identity during the nineteenth century." James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation. Claiming to have found poetry written by the ancient bard Ossian , he published "translations" that acquired international popularity, being proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical epics . Fingal , written in 1762,

1722-472: A financial settlement with his father. On 23 June Harriet gave birth to a girl, Eliza Ianthe Shelley (known as Ianthe), and in the following months the relationship between Shelley and his wife deteriorated. Shelley resented the influence Harriet's sister had over her while Harriet was alienated from Shelley by his close friendship with an attractive widow, Mrs. Harriet de Boinville . Mrs. Boinville had married

1845-510: A further decline in Shelley's health and deepened Mary's depression. On 4 August she wrote: "We have now lived five years together; and if all the events of the five years were blotted out, I might be happy". Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over

1968-743: A junction of two Roman roads, one being Stane Street (Chichester) , the other an unnamed road which runs to the top of "Hurtwood" on the Greensand Ridge in Ewhurst. From the junction of the A29 and the A281 to the south, the course of Stane Street passes through Waterland Farm, becomes a lane which joins the Rowhook Road next to the Chequers Inn , a Grade II listed building, and continues in

2091-551: A loan of £3,000 but had left most of the funds at the disposal of Godwin and Harriet, who was again pregnant. The financial arrangement with Godwin led to rumours that he had sold his daughters to Shelley. Shelley, Mary and Claire made their way across war-ravaged France where Shelley wrote to Harriet, asking her to meet them in Switzerland with the money he had left for her. Hearing nothing from Harriet in Switzerland, and unable to secure sufficient funds or suitable accommodation,

2214-564: A long period of depression and emotional estrangement from Shelley. The Shelleys moved to Naples on 1 December, where they stayed for three months. During this period Shelley was ill, depressed and almost suicidal: a state of mind reflected in his poem "Stanzas written in Dejection – December 1818, Near Naples". While in Naples, Shelley registered the birth and baptism of a baby girl, Elena Adelaide Shelley (born 27 December), naming himself as

2337-466: A lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem." Shelley's reputation fluctuated during the 20th century, but since the 1960s he has achieved increasing critical acclaim for the sweeping momentum of his poetic imagery, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist, and materialist ideas in his work. Among his best-known works are " Ozymandias " (1818), " Ode to

2460-403: A major Romantic, "and his stature as a poet has grown steadily through all changes of fashion". Another important poet in this period was John Clare (1793–1864). Clare was the son of a farm labourer, who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation for the changes taking place in rural England. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in

2583-459: A mock-heroic epic of a young man's adventures in Europe, but also a sharp satire against London society. The poem contains elements thought to be autobiographical, as Byron generated some of the storyline from experience gained during his travels between 1809 and 1811. However, despite the success of Childe Harold and other works, Byron was forced to leave England for good in 1816 and seek asylum on

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2706-536: A northeasterly direction towards Ockley in Surrey, where it once again joins the A29. While divided by the parish boundaries of Warnham, Slinfold and Rudgwick , the majority of the hamlet and in particular, Rowhook Manor, which is a Grade II listed building of early medieval origin, is in Warnham civil parish. Warnham village shops include a village store and butcher, two pubs The Sussex Oak and The Greets Inn ,

2829-751: A prolonged legal battle, the Court of Chancery eventually awarded custody of Shelley and Harriet's children to foster parents, on the grounds that Shelley had abandoned his first wife for Mary without cause and was an atheist. In March 1817 the Shelleys moved to the village of Marlow, Buckinghamshire , where Shelley's friend Thomas Love Peacock lived. The Shelley household included Claire and her baby Allegra, both of whose presence Mary resented. Shelley's generosity with money and increasing debts also led to financial and marital stress, as did Godwin's frequent requests for financial help. On 2 September Mary gave birth to

2952-539: A quantity of essays on political, social, and philosophical issues. Much of this poetry and prose was not published in his lifetime, or only published in expurgated form, due to the risk of prosecution for political and religious libel. From the 1820s, his poems and political and ethical writings became popular in Owenist , Chartist , and radical political circles, and later drew admirers as diverse as Karl Marx , Mahatma Gandhi , and George Bernard Shaw . Shelley's life

3075-455: A reputation as a classical scholar and a tolerated eccentric. In his last term at Eton, his first novel Zastrozzi appeared and he had established a following among his fellow pupils. Prior to enrolling for University College, Oxford , in October 1810, Shelley completed Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire (written with his sister Elizabeth), the verse melodrama The Wandering Jew and

3198-470: A scathing review of the Revolt of Islam (and its earlier version Laon and Cythna ) in the conservative Quarterly Review . Shelley was angered by the personal attack on him in the article which he erroneously believed had been written by Southey. His bitterness over the review lasted for the rest of his life. On 12 November, Mary gave birth to a boy, Percy Florence Shelley . Around the time of Percy's birth,

3321-415: A similar fashion, for both privileged feeling over reason, individual freedom of expression over the restraints of tradition and custom. It often involved a rapturous response to nature. It encouraged the rejection of harsh, rigid Calvinism , and promised a new blossoming of American culture. The romantic American novel developed fully with Nathaniel Hawthorne 's (1804–1864) The Scarlet Letter (1850),

3444-625: A speech at a meeting of O'Connell's Catholic Committee in which he called for Catholic emancipation , repeal of the Acts of Union and an end to the oppression of the Irish poor. Reports of Shelley's subversive activities were sent to the Home Secretary . Returning from Ireland, the Shelley household travelled to Wales, then Devon, where they again came under government surveillance for distributing subversive literature. Elizabeth Hitchener joined

3567-431: A stark drama of a woman cast out of her community for committing adultery. Hawthorne's fiction had a profound impact on his friend Herman Melville (1819–1891). In Moby-Dick (1851), an adventurous whaling voyage becomes the vehicle for examining such themes as obsession, the nature of evil, and human struggle against the elements. By the 1880s, however, psychological and social realism were competing with Romanticism in

3690-591: A unique form of American literature . Cooper is best remembered for his numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales , with their emphasis on heroic simplicity and their fervent landscape descriptions of an already-exotic mythicized frontier peopled by " noble savages ", exemplified by Uncas , from The Last of the Mohicans (1826) show the influence of Rousseau's (1712–78) philosophy. Edgar Allan Poe 's tales of

3813-435: A wider public, and by the 1940s she had become accepted as a major writer. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a Janeite fan culture. Austen's works include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), Northanger Abbey (1817) and Persuasion (1817). Byron, Keats and Percy Shelley all wrote for

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3936-617: Is a verse drama of rape, murder and incest based on the story of the Renaissance Count Cenci of Rome and his daughter Beatrice . Shelley completed the play in September and the first edition was published that year. It was to become one of his most popular works and the only one to have two authorised editions in his lifetime. Shelley's three-year-old son William died in June 1819, probably of malaria. The new tragedy caused

4059-459: Is an autobiographical poem which explores the relationship between Shelley and Byron and analyses Shelley's personal crises of 1818 and 1819. The poem was completed in the summer of 1819, but was not published in Shelley's lifetime. Prometheus Unbound is a long dramatic poem inspired by Aeschylus's retelling of the Prometheus myth. It was completed in late 1819 and published in 1820. The Cenci

4182-431: Is another "noted example of the graveyard genre". Other precursors of Romanticism are the poets James Thomson (1700–48) and James Macpherson (1736–96). The sentimental novel or "novel of sensibility" developed during the second half of the 18th century. It celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism and sensibility . Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensibility,

4305-407: Is another important essayist at this time, though today he is best known for his literary criticism, especially Characters of Shakespear's Plays (1817–18). The second generation of Romantic poets includes Lord Byron (1788–1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) and John Keats (1795–1821). Byron, however, was still influenced by 18th-century satirists and was, perhaps the least "romantic" of

4428-506: Is possible that Mary, with Shelley's encouragement, was also having a sexual relationship with Hogg. In May Claire left the household, at Mary's insistence, to reside in Lynmouth. In August Shelley and Mary moved to Bishopsgate where Shelley worked on Alastor , a long poem in blank verse based on the myth of Narcissus and Echo . Alastor was published in an edition of 250 in early 1816 to poor sales and largely unfavourable reviews from

4551-400: Is prominent in the poetry of this period. The Romantics, and especially Wordsworth, are often described as "nature poets". However, these "nature poems" reveal wider concerns in that they are often meditations on "an emotional problem or personal crisis". The poet, painter and printmaker William Blake (1757–1827) was an early writer of his kind. Largely disconnected from the major streams of

4674-631: Is seriously undervalued". Crabbe's works include The Village (1783), Poems (1807), The Borough (1810), and his poetry collections Tales (1812) and Tales of the Hall (1819). Female writers were increasingly active in all genres throughout the 18th century, and by the 1790s women's poetry was flourishing. Notable poets later in the period include, Anna Laetitia Barbauld , Joanna Baillie , Susanna Blamire and Hannah More . Other women poets include, Mary Alcock ( c.  1742  – 1798) and Mary Robinson (1758–1800), both of whom "highlighted

4797-530: Is widely read and the source for films and television series, while Scott is comparatively neglected. The European Romantic movement reached America in the early 19th century. American Romanticism was just as multifaceted and individualistic as it was in Europe. Like the Europeans, the American Romantics demonstrated a high level of moral enthusiasm, commitment to individualism and the unfolding of

4920-617: The Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1798). In it Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of poetry, one based on the "real language of men", and which avoids the poetic diction of much 18th-century poetry. Here, Wordsworth gives his famous definition of poetry, as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" which "takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility". The poems in Lyrical Ballads were mostly by Wordsworth, though Coleridge contributed one of

5043-641: The Lake District , leaving Hogg in York. For a year from June 1811, Shelley was also involved in an intense platonic relationship with Elizabeth Hitchener , a 28-year-old unmarried schoolteacher of advanced views, with whom he was corresponding frequently. Hitchener, whom Shelley called the "sister of my soul" and "my second self", became his confidante and intellectual companion as he developed his views on politics, religion, ethics and personal relationships. Shelley proposed that she join him, Harriet and Eliza in

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5166-533: The Peterloo Massacre of peaceful protesters in Manchester. Within two weeks he had completed one of his most famous political poems, The Mask of Anarchy , and despatched it to Leigh Hunt for publication. Hunt, however, decided not to publish it for fear of prosecution for seditious libel. The poem was only officially published in 1832. The Shelleys moved to Florence in October, where Shelley read

5289-619: The Serpentine . Harriet, pregnant and living alone at the time, believed that she had been abandoned by her new lover. In her suicide letter she asked Shelley to take custody of their son Charles but to leave their daughter in her sister Eliza's care. Shelley married Mary Godwin on 30 December, despite his philosophical objections to the institution. The marriage was intended to help secure Shelley's custody of his children by Harriet and to placate Godwin who had refused to see Shelley and Mary because of their previous adulterous relationship. After

5412-517: The Surrey border just south of site of the medieval Shiremark Mill , also known as Capel Mill and Kingsfold Mill which is 20 metres north of the border in Capel . The village has one pub , The Owl . Goosegreen consists of a small group of farms and cottages between Warnham and Broadbridge Heath and includes four Grade II listed buildings . To the south of the hamlet is a cricket ground, home to

5535-434: The novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism . Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Austen brings to light the hardships women faced, since they usually did not inherit money, could not work and were largely dependent on their husbands. She reveals not only

5658-428: The 19th century [...] [and] a European figure". Scott's novel writing career was launched in 1814 with Waverley , often called the first historical novel, and was followed by Ivanhoe . The Waverley Novels , including The Antiquary , Old Mortality , The Heart of Midlothian , and whose subject is Scottish history, are now generally regarded as Scott's masterpieces. He was one of the most popular novelists of

5781-730: The Broadbridge Heath Cricket Club, and tennis courts. Most of the houses are owned or were formerly owned by the Warnham Park Estate, whose offices are at Bailing Hill Farm. The artist Joan Eardley was born at Bailing Hill Farm on 18 May 1921; the family moved to Blackheath in 1926 and then to Scotland in 1939, where she was active for the remainder of her career. Rowhook is a hamlet on the Broadbridge Heath to Ewhurst, Surrey road 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Horsham . Rowhook lies on

5904-456: The Continent, because, among other things, of his alleged incestuous affair with his half-sister Augusta Leigh . Here he joined Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley , with his secretary John William Polidori on the shores of Lake Geneva , during the " Year Without a Summer ". Polidori's The Vampyre was published in 1819, creating the literary vampire genre . This short story was inspired by

6027-594: The Daughters of Albion (1793), The Book of Urizen (1794), Milton (1804–1810) and Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion (1804–1820). After Blake, among the earliest Romantics were the Lake Poets , a small group of friends, including William Wordsworth (1770–1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), Robert Southey (1774–1843) and journalist Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859). However, at

6150-556: The French Alps inspired " Mont Blanc ", which has been described as an atheistic response to Coleridge's "Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamoni". During this tour, Shelley often signed guest books with a declaration that he was an atheist. These declarations were seen by other British tourists, including Southey, which hardened attitudes against Shelley back home. Relations between Byron and Shelley's party became strained when Byron

6273-577: The Germans Goethe , Schiller and August Wilhelm Schlegel , and French philosopher and writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78). Edmund Burke 's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) is another important influence. The changing landscape, brought about by the expansion of the city and depopulation of the countryside, was another influence on

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6396-539: The Gothic genre. Gothic poets include Thomas Gray (1716–71), whose Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) is "the best known product of this kind of sensibility"; William Cowper (1731–1800); Christopher Smart (1722–71); Thomas Chatterton (1752–70); Robert Blair (1699–1746), author of The Grave (1743), "which celebrates the horror of death"; and Edward Young (1683–1765), whose The Complaint, or Night-Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality (1742–45)

6519-598: The People on the Death of Princess Charlotte (November 1817). In December he wrote "Ozymandias", which is considered to be one of his finest sonnets, as part of a competition with friend and fellow poet Horace Smith . On 12 March 1818 the Shelleys and Claire left England to escape its "tyranny civil and religious". A doctor had also recommended that Shelley go to Italy for his chronic lung complaint, and Shelley had arranged to take Claire's daughter, Allegra, to her father Byron who

6642-518: The Romantic period, wrote "closely observed, realistic portraits of rural life [...] in the heroic couplets of the Augustan age ". Lord Byron , who was an admirer of Crabbe's poetry, described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best". Modern critic Frank Whitehead has said that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important – indeed, a major – poet whose work has been and still

6765-537: The Scottish Dialect was published in 1786. Among poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world are, Auld Lang Syne ; A Red, Red Rose ; A Man's A Man for A' That ; To a Louse ; To a Mouse ; The Battle of Sherramuir ; Tam o' Shanter and Ae Fond Kiss . One of the most important British novelists of the early 19th century was Sir Walter Scott , who was not only highly popular, but "the greatest single influence on fiction in

6888-492: The Shelleys met Sophia Stacey , who was a ward of one of Shelley's uncles and was staying at the same pension as the Shelleys. Sophia, a talented harpist and singer, formed a friendship with Shelley while Mary was preoccupied with her newborn son. Shelley wrote at least five love poems and fragments for Sophia including "Song written for an Indian Air". Romantic literature in English The Romantic period

7011-555: The Shelleys moved frequently across London, Wales, the Lake District , Scotland and Berkshire to escape creditors and search for a home. In March 1814, Shelley remarried Harriet in London to settle any doubts about the legality of their Edinburgh wedding and secure the rights of their child. Nevertheless, the Shelleys lived apart for most of the following months, and Shelley reflected bitterly on: "my rash & heartless union with Harriet". In May 1814, Shelley began visiting his mentor Godwin almost daily, and soon fell in love with Mary ,

7134-622: The West Wind " (1819), " To a Skylark " (1820), " Adonais " (1821), the philosophical essay " The Necessity of Atheism " (1811), which his friend T. J. Hogg may have co-authored, and the political ballad " The Mask of Anarchy " (1819). His other major works include the verse dramas The Cenci (1819), Prometheus Unbound (1820) and Hellas (1822), and the long narrative poems Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude (1815), Julian and Maddalo (1819), Adonais (1821), and The Triumph of Life (1822). Shelley also wrote prose fiction and

7257-552: The belief that the destiny of each individual is preordained. Romantic Gothic literature made an early appearance with Washington Irving 's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820) and Rip Van Winkle (1819); there are picturesque "local color" elements in Washington Irving's essays and especially his travel books. From 1823, the prolific and popular novelist James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) began publishing his historical romances of frontier and Indian life, to create

7380-460: The birth and baptism on 27 February 1819, and the household left Naples for Rome the following day, leaving Elena with carers. Elena was to die in a poor suburb of Naples on 9 June 1820. In Rome, Shelley was in poor health, probably having developed nephritis and tuberculosis which later was in remission. Nevertheless, he made significant progress on three major works: Julian and Maddalo , Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci . Julian and Maddalo

7503-580: The bishops and heads of colleges at Oxford, and he was called to appear before the college's fellows, including the Dean, George Rowley . His refusal to answer questions put by college authorities regarding whether or not he authored the pamphlet resulted in his expulsion from Oxford on 25   March 1811, along with Hogg. Hearing of his son's expulsion, Shelley's father threatened to cut all contact with Shelley unless he agreed to return home and study under tutors appointed by him. Shelley's refusal to do so led to

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7626-735: The bride and groom. (Shelley's father believed his son had married beneath him, as Harriet's father had earned his fortune in trade and was the owner of a tavern and coffee house.) Surviving on borrowed money, Shelley and Harriet stayed in Edinburgh for a month, with Hogg living under the same roof. The trio left for York in October, and Shelley went on to Sussex to settle matters with his father, leaving Harriet behind with Hogg. Shelley returned from his unsuccessful excursion to find that Eliza had moved in with Harriet and Hogg. Harriet confessed that Hogg had tried to seduce her while Shelley had been away. Shelley, Harriet and Eliza soon left for Keswick in

7749-586: The brooding figure of the gothic villain , which developed into the Byronic hero . Her most popular and influential work, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1795), is frequently cited as the archetypal Gothic novel. Vathek (1786) by William Beckford and The Monk (1796) by Matthew Lewis were other notable early works in the gothic and horror literary genres. The first English short stories were gothic tales like Richard Cumberland 's "remarkable narrative" The Poisoner of Montremos (1791). The physical landscape

7872-490: The conservative press. On 24 January 1816, Mary gave birth to William Shelley. Shelley was delighted to have another son, but was suffering from the strain of prolonged financial negotiations with his father, Harriet and William Godwin. Shelley showed signs of delusional behaviour and was contemplating an escape to the continent. Claire initiated a sexual relationship with Lord Byron in April 1816, just before his self-exile on

7995-551: The continent, and then arranged for Byron to meet Shelley, Mary, and her in Geneva. Shelley admired Byron's poetry and had sent him Queen Mab and other poems. Shelley's party arrived in Geneva in May and rented a house close to Villa Diodati , on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Byron was staying. There Shelley, Byron and the others engaged in discussions about literature, science and "various philosophical doctrines". One night, while Byron

8118-457: The death of Keats. Shelley's early profession of atheism, in the tract The Necessity of Atheism , led to his expulsion from Oxford , and branded him as a radical agitator and thinker, setting an early pattern of marginalization and ostracism from the intellectual and political circles of his time. Similarly, Shelley's 1821 essay A Defence of Poetry displayed a radical view of poetry, in which poets act as "the unacknowledged legislators of

8241-632: The decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818 Shelley and Mary returned to England in September 1816, and in early October they heard that Mary's half-sister Fanny Imlay had killed herself. Godwin believed that Fanny had been in love with Shelley, and Shelley himself suffered depression and guilt over her death, writing: "Friend had I known thy secret grief / Should we have parted so." Further tragedy followed in December when Shelley's estranged wife Harriet drowned herself in

8364-452: The desart.... Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round

8487-420: The difficulties women faced in her day, but also what was expected of men and of the careers they had to follow. This she does with wit and humour and with endings where all characters, good or bad, receive exactly what they deserve. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to

8610-537: The early 19th century has its roots in 18th-century poetry, the Gothic novel and the novel of sensibility. This includes the pre-Romantic graveyard poets from the 1740s, whose works are characterized by gloomy meditations on mortality, "skulls and coffins, epitaphs and worms". To this was added by later practitioners, a feeling for the " sublime " and uncanny, and an interest in ancient English poetic forms and folk poetry. These concepts are often considered precursors of

8733-571: The enormous discrepancy between life for the rich and the poor", and Felicia Hemans (1793–1835), author of nineteen individual books during her lifetime and who continued to be republished widely after her death in 1835. More interest has been shown in recent years in Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), William's sister, who "was modest about her writing abilities, [but] she produced poems of her own; and her journals and travel narratives certainly provided inspiration for her brother". In

8856-424: The era, and his historical romances inspired a generation of painters, composers, and writers throughout Europe, including Franz Schubert , Felix Mendelssohn and J. M. W. Turner . His novels also inspired many operas, of which the most famous are Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) by Donizetti , and Bizet 's La jolie fille de Perth , The Fair Maid of Perth (1867). However, today his contemporary, Jane Austen,

8979-442: The estate, and a financial settlement between Shelley and his father (now Sir Timothy), however, was not concluded until April the following year. In February 1815, Mary gave premature birth to a baby girl who died ten days later, deepening her depression. In the following weeks, Mary became close to Hogg who temporarily moved into the household. Shelley was almost certainly having a sexual relationship with Claire at this time, and it

9102-638: The factories and mills, operated by machines driven by steam-power ". Indeed, Romanticism may be seen in part as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, though it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment , as well as a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. The French Revolution had an important influence on the political thinking of many Romantic figures at this time as well. The Romantic movement in English literature of

9225-424: The father and falsely naming Mary as the mother. The parentage of Elena has never been conclusively established. Biographers have variously speculated that she was adopted by Shelley to console Mary for the loss of Clara, that she was Shelley's child by Claire, that she was his child by his servant Elise Foggi, or that she was the child of a "mysterious lady" who had followed Shelley to the continent. Shelley registered

9348-505: The gardens are surrounded by a 19th-century park. The early 19th-century poet and Romanticist Percy Bysshe Shelley , husband of Mary Shelley was born at Grade I listed Field Place , a broad-fronted country house set on an estate/working farm, and was baptised there in 1792. A cousin was Thomas Medwin . Kingsfold is the northern settlement on the A24 and Marches Road 2.8 miles (4.5 km) north of Horsham . The village lies close to

9471-465: The gothic novel St. Irvine; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance (published 1811). At Oxford Shelley attended few lectures, instead spending long hours reading and conducting scientific experiments in the laboratory he set up in his room. He met a fellow student, Thomas Jefferson Hogg , who became his closest friend. Shelley became increasingly politicised under Hogg's influence, developing strong radical and anti-Christian views. Such views were dangerous in

9594-535: The great poems of English literature, the long Rime of the Ancient Mariner , a tragic ballad about the survival of one sailor through a series of supernatural events on his voyage through the South Seas , and involves the symbolically significant slaying of an albatross. Coleridge is also especially remembered for Kubla Khan , Frost at Midnight , Dejection: An Ode , Christabel , as well as

9717-408: The growth of the Romantic movement. The poor condition of workers, the new class conflicts and the pollution of the environment led to a reaction against urbanism and industrialization, and an emphasis on the beauty and value of nature. Horace Walpole 's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto created the Gothic fiction genre by combining elements of horror and romance . Ann Radcliffe introduced

9840-549: The household in Devon, but several months later had a falling out with the Shelleys and left. The Shelley household had settled in Tremadog , Wales, in September 1812, where Shelley worked on Queen Mab , a utopian allegory with extensive notes preaching atheism, free love, republicanism and vegetarianism. The poem was published the following year in a private edition of 250 copies, although few were initially distributed because of

9963-401: The late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among the most important 19th-century poets. His biographer Jonathan Bate states that Clare was "the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self". George Crabbe (1754–1832) was an English poet who, during

10086-467: The life of Lord Byron and his poem The Giaour (1813). Between 1819 and 1824, Byron published his unfinished epic satire Don Juan , which, though initially condemned by the critics, "was much admired by Goethe who translated part of it". Shelley is perhaps best known for poems such as Ozymandias , Ode to the West Wind , To a Skylark , Music, When Soft Voices Die , The Cloud , The Masque of Anarchy and Adonais , an elegy written on

10209-408: The listed Warnham Park immediately southeast of the village, with extensions and outbuildings by architect Arthur William Blomfield and his son Sir Arthur Blomfield. The park grounds were laid out from the early 1830s, developed in the mid- and late 19th century by the landscape designer Henry, and later with a pinetum by Harry J. Veitch . Extended with a wild garden in the early 20th century,

10332-633: The literature of his time, Blake was generally unrecognized during his lifetime but is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age . Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. Among his most important works are Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), "and profound and difficult 'prophecies'" such as Visions of

10455-461: The long, autobiographical epic The Prelude . The Prelude was begun in 1799, but published posthumously in 1850. Wordsworth's poetry is noteworthy for how he "inverted the traditional hierarchy of poetic genres, subjects, and style by elevating humble and rustic life and the plain [...] into the main subject and medium of poetry in general", and how, in Coleridge's words, he awakens in the reader

10578-573: The macabre that first appeared in the early 1830s, and his balladic poetry was more influential in France than at home. By the mid-19th century, the pre-eminence of literature from the British Isles began to be challenged by writers from the former American colonies. This included one of the creators of the new genre of the short story, and inventor of the detective story Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49). A major influence on American writers at this time

10701-507: The major prose work, Biographia Literaria . His critical work, especially on Shakespeare , was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge and Wordsworth, along with Carlyle , were major influences through Emerson , on American transcendentalism . Among Wordsworth's most important poems are Michael , Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey , Resolution and Independence , Ode: Intimations of Immortality and

10824-577: The months following his expulsion, when he was under severe emotional strain due to the conflict with his family, his bitterness over the breakdown of his romance with his cousin Harriet Grove, and his unfounded belief that he might have a fatal illness. At the same time, Harriet Westbrook's elder sister Eliza, to whom Harriet was very close, encouraged the young girl's romance with Shelley. Shelley's correspondence with Harriet intensified in July, while he

10947-428: The next three or four generations of poets, including important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets such as Robert Browning and Dante Gabriel Rossetti , as well as later W. B. Yeats . Shelley's influential poem The Masque of Anarchy (1819) calls for nonviolence in protest and political action. It is perhaps the first modern statement of the principle of nonviolent protest . Mahatma Gandhi 's passive resistance

11070-670: The nickname "Mad Shelley". His interest in the occult and science continued, and contemporaries describe him giving an electric shock to a master, blowing up a tree stump with gunpowder and attempting to raise spirits with occult rituals. In his senior years, Shelley came under the influence of a part-time teacher, James Lind , who encouraged his interest in the occult and introduced him to liberal and radical authors. Shelley also developed an interest in Plato and idealist philosophy which he pursued in later years through self-study. According to Richard Holmes , Shelley, by his leaving year, had gained

11193-511: The novel. [REDACTED] Category Warnham Warnham is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex , England. The village is centred 2 miles (3.2 km) north-northwest of Horsham , 31 miles (50 km) from London, to the west of the A24 road. The parish is in the north-west of the Weald . The Anglican parish church , dedicated to St Margaret

11316-499: The past decades, there has been substantial scholarly and critical work done on women poets of this period, both to make them available in print or online, and second, to assess them and position them within the literary tradition. In particular, Felicia Hemans , although sticking to its forms, began a process of undermining the Romantic tradition, a deconstruction that was continued by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838). Landon's novel forms of metrical romance and dramatic monologue

11439-728: The poems were not direct translations from the Gaelic, but flowery adaptations made to suit the aesthetic expectations of his audience. Both Robert Burns (1759–96) and Walter Scott (1771–1832) were highly influenced by the Ossian cycle. Robert Burns (1759–1796) was a pioneer of the Romantic movement , and after his death he became a cultural icon in Scotland. As well as writing poems, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His Poems, chiefly in

11562-528: The reactionary political climate prevailing during Britain's war with Napoleonic France, and Shelley's father warned him against Hogg's influence. In the winter of 1810–1811, Shelley published a series of anonymous political poems and tracts: Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson , The Necessity of Atheism (written in collaboration with Hogg) and A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things . Shelley mailed The Necessity of Atheism to all

11685-484: The reinstatement of Shelley's allowance. With Harriet's allowance also restored, Shelley now had the funds for his Irish venture. Their departure for Ireland was precipitated by increasing hostility towards the Shelley household from their landlord and neighbours who were alarmed by Shelley's scientific experiments, pistol shooting and radical political views. As tension mounted, Shelley claimed he had been attacked in his home by ruffians, an event which might have been real or

11808-515: The risk of prosecution for seditious and religious libel. In February 1813, Shelley claimed he was attacked in his home at night. The incident might have been real, a hallucination brought on by stress, or a hoax staged by Shelley in order to escape government surveillance, creditors and his entanglements in local politics. The Shelleys and Eliza fled to Ireland, then London. Back in England, Shelley's debts mounted as he tried unsuccessfully to reach

11931-566: The self, an emphasis on intuitive perception, and the assumption that the natural world was inherently good, while human society was filled with corruption. Romanticism became popular in American politics, philosophy and art. The movement appealed to the revolutionary spirit of America as well as to those longing to break free of the strict religious traditions of early settlement. The Romantics rejected rationalism and religious intellect. It appealed to those in opposition of Calvinism, which includes

12054-527: The sixteen-year-old daughter of Godwin and the late feminist author Mary Wollstonecraft . Shelley and Mary declared their love for each other during a visit to her mother's grave in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church on 26 June. When Shelley told Godwin that he intended to leave Harriet and live with Mary, his mentor banished him from the house and forbade Mary from seeing him. Shelley and Mary eloped to Europe on 28 July, taking Mary's step-sister Claire Clairmont with them. Before leaving, Shelley had secured

12177-473: The stage, but with little success in England, with Shelley's The Cenci perhaps the best work produced, though that was not played in a public theatre in England until a century after his death. Byron's plays, along with dramatizations of his poems and Scott's novels, were much more popular on the Continent, and especially in France, and through these versions, several were turned into operas, many still performed today. If contemporary poets had little success on

12300-550: The stage, the period was a legendary one for performances of Shakespeare , and went some way to restoring his original texts and removing the Augustan "improvements" to them. The greatest actor of the period, Edmund Kean , restored the tragic ending to King Lear ; Coleridge said that, “Seeing him act was like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.” Wales had its own Romantic movement, especially in Welsh literature (which

12423-521: The three travelled to Germany and Holland before returning to England on 13 September. Shelley spent the next few months trying to raise loans and avoid bailiffs. Mary was pregnant, lonely, depressed and ill. Her mood was not improved when she heard that, on 30 November, Harriet had given birth to Charles Bysshe Shelley, heir to the Shelley fortune and baronetcy. This was followed, in early January 1815, by news that Shelley's grandfather, Sir Bysshe , had died leaving an estate worth £220,000. The settlement of

12546-442: The three, preferring "the brilliant wit of Pope to what he called the 'wrong poetical system' of his Romantic contemporaries". Byron achieved enormous fame and influence throughout Europe with works exploiting the violence and drama of their exotic and historical settings. Goethe called Byron "undoubtedly the greatest genius of our century". A trip to Europe resulted in the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812),

12669-496: The time, Walter Scott (1771–1832) was the most famous poet. Scott achieved immediate success with his long narrative poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1805, followed by the full epic poem Marmion in 1808. Both were set in the distant Scottish past. The early Romantic poets brought a new form of emotionalism and introspection , and their emergence is marked by the first romantic manifesto in English literature,

12792-490: The universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened Earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? From "Ode to the West Wind", 1819 The Shelleys were now living in Livorno where, in September, Shelley heard of

12915-470: The world", because, of all of artists, they best perceive the undergirding structure of society. His close circle of admirers, however, included the most progressive thinkers of the day, including his future father-in-law, philosopher William Godwin . Works like Queen Mab (1813) reveal Shelley "as the direct heir to the French and British revolutionary intellectuals of the 1790s." Shelley became an idol of

13038-578: Was Laon and Cythna , a long narrative poem featuring incest and attacks on religion. It was hastily withdrawn after publication due to fears of prosecution for religious libel, and was re-edited and reissued as The Revolt of Islam in January 1818. Shelley also published two political tracts under a pseudonym: A Proposal for putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom (March 1817) and An Address to

13161-474: Was Romanticism . The Romantic movement gave rise to New England Transcendentalism, which portrayed a less restrictive relationship between God and Universe. The publication of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1836 essay Nature is usually considered the watershed moment at which transcendentalism became a major cultural movement. The new philosophy presented the individual with a more personal relationship with God. Transcendentalism and Romanticism appealed to Americans in

13284-530: Was a fashion in both poetry and prose fiction which began in reaction to the rationalism of the Augustan Age . Sentimental novels relied on emotional response both from their readers and characters. Scenes of distress and tenderness are common, and the plot is arranged to advance emotions rather than action. The result is a valorization of "fine feeling", displaying the characters as models for refined, sensitive emotional effect. The ability to display feelings

13407-608: Was built in the 14th century, but contains later additions. St Margaret's contains monuments belonging to at least three influential families: the Durford , the Lucas and the Shelley family. Named settlements within the parish include the hamlets of Goosegreen, Kingsfold and Winterfold as well as parts of Strood Green and Rowhook. The area is in the north-west of the Weald , a sloped remnant forest in south-east England and largely

13530-523: Was bullied and unhappy at the school and sometimes responded with violent rage. He also began suffering from the nightmares, hallucinations and sleep walking that were to periodically affect him throughout his life. Shelley developed an interest in science which supplemented his voracious reading of tales of mystery, romance and the supernatural. During his holidays at Field Place, his sisters were often terrified at being subjected to his experiments with gunpowder , acids and electricity. Back at school he blew up

13653-465: Was holidaying in Wales, and in response to her urgent pleas for his protection, he returned to London in early August. Putting aside his philosophical objections to matrimony, he left with the sixteen-year-old Harriet for Edinburgh on 25 August 1811, and they were married there on the 28th. Hearing of the elopement, Harriet's father, John Westbrook, and Shelley's father, Timothy, cut off the allowances of

13776-457: Was influenced and inspired by Shelley's verse, and Gandhi would often quote the poem to vast audiences. Though John Keats shared Byron and Shelley's radical politics, "his best poetry is not political", but is especially noted for its sensuous music and imagery, along with a concern with material beauty and the transience of life. Among his most famous works are The Eve of St. Agnes , Ode to Psyche , La Belle Dame sans Merci , Ode to

13899-453: Was marked by family crises, ill health, and a backlash against his atheism , political views, and defiance of social conventions. He went into permanent self-exile in Italy in 1818 and over the next four years produced what Zachary Leader and Michael O'Neill call "some of the finest poetry of the Romantic period". His second wife, Mary Shelley , was the author of Frankenstein . He died in

14022-439: Was much copied and had a long and lasting influence on Victorian poetry. Her work is now frequently classified as post-romantic. She also produced three completed novels, a tragedy, and numerous short stories. Mary Shelley (1797–1851) is remembered as the author of Frankenstein (1818). The plot of this is said to have come from a waking dream she had, in the company of Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori, following

14145-530: Was now in Venice. After travelling some months through France and Italy, Shelley left Mary and baby Clara at Bagni di Lucca (in today's Tuscany) while he travelled with Claire to Venice to see Byron and make arrangements for visiting Allegra. Byron invited the Shelleys to stay at his summer residence at Este , and Shelley urged Mary to meet him there. Clara became seriously ill on the journey and died on 24 September in Venice. Following Clara's death, Mary fell into

14268-550: Was one of social change in England because of the depopulation of the countryside and the rapid growth of overcrowded industrial cities between 1798 and 1832. The movement of so many people in England was the result of two forces: the Agricultural Revolution , which involved enclosures that drove workers and their families off the land; and the Industrial Revolution , which provided jobs "in

14391-403: Was rarely translated or known outside Wales). The countryside and history of Wales exerted an influence on the Romantic imagination of Britons, especially in travel writings, and the poetry of Wordsworth. The "poetry and bardic vision" of Edward Williams (1747–1826), better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , bear the hallmarks of Romanticism. "His Romantic image of Wales and its past had

14514-415: Was reciting Coleridge's Christabel , Shelley suffered a severe panic attack with hallucinations. The previous night Mary had had a more productive vision or nightmare which inspired her novel Frankenstein . Shelley and Byron then took a boating tour around Lake Geneva, which inspired Shelley to write his " Hymn to Intellectual Beauty ", his first substantial poem since Alastor . A tour of Chamonix in

14637-534: Was sheltered and mostly happy. He was particularly close to his sisters and his mother, who encouraged him to hunt, fish and ride. At age six, he was sent to a day school run by the vicar of Warnham church, where he displayed an impressive memory and gift for languages . In 1802 he entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford , Middlesex , where his cousin Thomas Medwin was a pupil. Shelley

14760-570: Was speedily translated into many European languages, and its appreciation of natural beauty and treatment of the ancient legend have been credited, more than any single work, with bringing about the Romantic movement in European, and especially in German literature, through its influence on Johann Gottfried von Herder and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . It was also popularised in France by figures that included Napoleon . Eventually it became clear that

14883-469: Was still alive. Shelley wrote to Godwin, offering himself as his devoted disciple. Godwin, who had modified many of his earlier radical views, advised Shelley to reconcile with his father, become a scholar before he published anything else, and give up his avowed plans for political agitation in Ireland. Meanwhile, Shelley had met his father's patron, Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk , who helped secure

15006-517: Was thought to show character and experience, and to shape social life and relations. Famous sentimental novels in English include Samuel Richardson 's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), Oliver Goldsmith 's The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Laurence Sterne 's Tristram Shandy (1759–67) and A Sentimental Journey (1768), Henry Brooke 's The Fool of Quality (1765–70), Henry Mackenzie 's The Man of Feeling (1771) and Maria Edgeworth 's Castle Rackrent (1800). Foreign influences were

15129-491: Was told that Claire was pregnant with his child. Shelley, Mary, and Claire left Switzerland in late August, with arrangements for the expected baby still unclear, although Shelley made provision for Claire and the baby in his will. In January 1817 Claire gave birth to a daughter by Byron who she named Alba, but later renamed Allegra in accordance with Byron's wishes. Ozymandias I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in

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