Shelley
By Sydney Waterlow




Contents

I. SHELLEY AND HIS AGE
II. PRINCIPAL WRITINGS
III. THE POET OF REBELLION, OF NATURE, AND OF LOVE
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE


Chapter I Shelley and His Age

In the case of most great writers our interest in them as
persons is derived from out interest in them as writers; we are
not very curious about them except for reasons that have
something to do with their art. With Shelley it is different.
During his life he aroused fears and hatreds, loves and
adorations, that were quite irrelevant to literature; and even
now, when he has become a classic, he still causes excitement
as a man. His lovers are as vehement as ever. For them he is
the "banner of freedom," which,

"Torn but flying,
Streams like a thunder-cloud against the wind."

He has suffered that worst indignity of canonisation as a being