自考《英美文学选读》笔记3
Percy Bysshe Shelley （1792-1822）
1792 Shelley was born in an aristocratic family. He was educated at Eton.
1810 18y， he went to Oxford Uni. He attacked war and glorified heroes and heroines of the French revolution.
1811 While in Oxford， he published The Necessity of Atheism in which he doubted the existence of God. As a result， he was expulsed by the university and his conservative father deprived him the heir of Barony and fortune. He went to London where he met Harriet Westbrook who was much younger than him and also came from an aristocratic family. They eloped to Scotland. Poverty finally separated the couple.
1814 He fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft （daughter of Godwin） and eloped with her to Italy. In Italy， he met Byron with whom he kept a solid friendship.
1816 Harriet committed suicide. Shelley's political enemy attacked him an immoral man.
1818 He exiled himself to Italy and spent the rest of his life there.
1819 Peterloo Massacre happened in Manchester. The event marked a turning point in Shelley's view. Before that， he thought that workers should take up weapons and fights. After the event， he thought they should. Working class's resistance and anti-oppression became a constant theme of him.
1822 At the age of 30， he drowned in a small boat along the coast of Italy.
Shelley's Major Works
1813 Queen Mob shows Shelley's social philosophy.
1. He criticizes the rising capitalism and the feudal society.
2. He defends the rights of the labor against their exploiters and oppressors.
3. The story is a fairy tale dream. It's an optimistic poem. Through Queen Mob's words， Shelley shows his philosophy. It's a revolutionary poem in which Shelley declares war on the injustice and violence of the world. （Shelley is a revolutionary poet.）
1819 Prometheus Unbound
Prometheus is a god in Greek myth， who steals fire from heaven to help human. Zeus punishes him by hanging him on a cliff and sending eagles to bite his flesh.
Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound described how Prometheus steals the fire and his sufferings. At the end， Prometheus reconciled with Zeus.
Prometheus Unbound. In Shelley's work Prometheus doesn't comprise with authority （Zeus）。 At the end， Prometheus is freed from chains and revolts against Zeus. Zeus is overthrown by Prometheus. The work expresses：
1. Shelley's intense hatred for tyranny.
2. His admiration for the revolutionary fighters for freedom.
1819 Song to Men of England [P209] This poem was written in 1819， the year of the Peterloo Massacre. It is unquestionably one of Shelley's greatest political lyrics. It is not only a war cry calling upon all working people of England to rise up against their political oppressors， but also an address to point out to them the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation.
Purpose of this poem： It's a real resistance that working pe
