The Pratt library has tons of older books and so I was able to read it. I truly did NOT believe this massive tome would ever end! After four pregnancies, she had one surviving child. Extraordinary, compellingly readable biography with beautifully clear sensitive forthright vigorous subtle language and conception worthy of Shelley himself. Another theme which runs through all three narrations is the pursuit of knowledge. Holmes, in this first biography showed all the skills that I enjoyed some years ago reading his work on Coleridge. Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer, The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics), Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself, The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science, HAIRBAG NATION: A Story of the New York City Transit Police: Book 2, Train Patrol, HAIRBAG NATION: A Story of the New York City Transit Police: Book 1: The Police Riot, Hairbag Nation: A Story of the New York City Transit Police: Book3: Decoy, William Wordsworth - The Story of His Life, With Critical Remarks on His Writings. While often overly critical of Shelly--and often for good reason--Holmes recaptures the poet's personality and offers insight into his works. May 31st 2003 The life and works of Percy Bysshe Shelley exemplify English Romanticism in both its extremes of joyous ecstasy and brooding despair. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein combines the fundamentals of Romanticism and the dangers of innovation.Published in 1823, the novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist motivated by progress, and his pursuit for human creation. I have yet to read a biography of a poet that didn't just make me tired at the thought of trying to live with them. ...a quarter century after the first. For instance, Victor Frankenstein created a monster by collecting bones and using science to bring the monster into life. Dispensing with the long-established Victorian picture of Shelley as a blandly ethereal character, Holmes projects a startling image of "a … I bought this book on April 13, 2001 at the Keats-Shelley Museum in Rome. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a novel constructed around the idea of a potentially dangerous pursuit of science. Tough deal for Harriet Shelley though. Shelley was just 29 years old when he drowned in a storm crossing the Gulf of Spezia. When some men were executed for these demands, he set up schemes to support their families. I especially appreciated the lengthy quotes from Shelley's poetry and the commentary on both his prose and his poems, because it spared me from the trouble of reading it all for myself, as I am more fascinated by Shelley the man, a proto-Marxist and proto-hippie who got himself entangled in endless financial and emotional problems. At seven hundred and thirty pages this is a long read and yet there are elements that could have been expanded such as the treatment of Harriet westbrook the badly treated first wife and the nature of Shelley's difficulties with Byron. This is an exhaustive account of Shelley's life and it's pretty exhausting as well. Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2018. Actually to be fair Shelley gets a lot less annoying as he gets older, so it's a shame on a number of. ... got about 200 pages to read but what an amazing experience, I don't want it to end, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2015, I've still got about 200 pages to read but what an amazing experience, I don't want it to end. Actually to be fair Shelley gets a lot less annoying as he gets older, so it's a shame on a number of levels that he died so young. The three travelled round Europe together in a 'platonic' ménage-a-tois while Shelley wrote his poetic masterpieces. Of course, great accomplishments and great harm go together with such characters. Just have to add, consider the situation of 24-year-old Mary Shelley in the summer of 1822. I mainly read this book to learn more about his different relationships with A) the women of his life: Was there ever a time he loved Harriet? ... Holmes makes us feel the combination of originality, intensity, and dependency that made the poet so beguiling.". When some men were executed for these demands, he set up schemes to support their families. It's not a short read at over 700 pages but so, so worth it. Or get 4-5 business-day shipping on this item for $5.99 By terming the pursuit of knowledge that surpasses human understanding as dangerous, Mary Shelley is referring to that knowledge that is of self gain (Shelley 13). Mary is sitting, feeling unwell and exhausted on the terrace, trying to cope with the blazing h. Just have to add, consider the situation of 24-year-old Mary Shelley in the summer of 1822. An orphic attempt at biography which seeks t. This expertly researched text attempts to express the life of Shelley by scouring through the minutiae of his biography and entwining what is found with a devloping and mobile thought. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Reading biographies of poets is an enlightening process if they are sufficiently dee. And he comes out of this a lot better than Byron. He quotes extensively from the works and relates them brilliantly to the circumstances and the people's lives. Not only was Shelley a stunning human being, a forward-looking thinker and poet of renown, he was also very brave. Well worth the time and effort. Learn more about the program. ); and B) Godwin & Byron: Was Godwin as big a jerk as I thought he was? Engaging and skillfully written; didn't need to be nearly as long as it is though. Shelley is the brilliant radical and determined moralist who produced some of the most haunting poems of the age of revolutions. Shelley was just 29 years old when he drowned in a storm crossing the Gulf of Spezia. Letters and journals detail almost every day of Shelley's life which include his friendships with Byron and other leading thinkers and poets of the day but 733 pages require dedicated reading! Nearing the end of these 800 pages, I began to think it's a good thing Shelley didn't live past 29. Also, he doesn't come to ready conclusions but gives you the facts as he has found them and lets you consider them and have your own thoughts about what they might mean. Buy a cheap copy of Shelley: The Pursuit book by Richard Holmes. Be the first to ask a question about Shelley. Shelley: The Pursuit has 8 available editions to buy at Half Price Books Marketplace Humanizing the poetry as well as the poet is what I tend to want, and this bio does that for Percy Bysshe. Perhaps four stars is less than this blockbusting biography of Shelley deserves but compared to Holme's later work four is about right. I also found him, at least in this biography, to be an unsympathetic figure who ruined the lives of several women and, despite many financial difficulties, never seemed to consider WORKING. Shelley must have been in many ways a great pain in the you-know-where, as well as an enormously attractive and often charming personality. (Yes!) If Shelley was still alive, and a biography was released filled with such excruciating minutia, the author would probably be accused of stalking. I enjoyed Coleridge more, probably because I found more empathy with him while Shelley became more like the 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' Byron. Previous page of related Sponsored Products, NYRB Classics; First Thus edition (March 1, 2003). ( March 1, 2013 a master biographer ; he makes it art. Good thing Shelley did Monday through Friday plus Saturday and Sunday life that interminably... To know about the Romantic poets, and his wife -- wives book Richard... Through all three narrations is the book with which Richard Holmes—the finest literary biographer of our day—made his name know! Made the poet so beguiling. `` thought of another as emergent and unfolding life rank fool in others read... 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