Byron and Shelley

Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley are among the most respected and admired of the second generation of English Romantic poets, after Worswoth and Coleridge. Best known for his extended visionary poems, such as Queen Mab, and his short verse poems like Ozymandias. Shelley is also famous for his once controversial and radical political ideals and his often-proclaimed social idealism like his radical tract “ The Necessity of Athiesm.” He is perhaps best known, though, as the husband of the novelist Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein, which kind of sucks to be known as the husband of someone. While Shelley’s childhood was decidedly happy and rustic, his atheism and radical politics led to his expulsion from college and estrangement from family at an early age. His personal life was considered rather radical and controversial for his time, especially given his pronounced leftist political ideals and the abandonment of his first wife in favor of a woman named Mary Goodwin, who would become his second wife. Though he began composing and publishing poetry at a young age, Shelley’s career as poet did not truly get underway until he met the English poet Lord Byron. This meeting resulted in a life-long friendship between the two that served to inspire and influence some of Shelley’s finest poetry. It seems like all of these great romantic poets have relied on friendships with other poets of the same degree to get different perspectives on their work. Shelley died at an early age comparative to back then Today, Shelley and Byron are considered by critics and readers to be among the greatest of English Romantic poets. Unlike Lord Byron, Shelley did not receive full critical and popular recognition until after his death. Shelley is also much admired for his lyrical and psychologically powerful poetry, which seem like they’re striking, instinctive style as well as strong messages on behalf of social justice, liberty, and non-violence.