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Elective English–I

Notes his Address to the Irish People, priced at fivepence, “the lowest possible price” in order to
“awaken in the minds of the Irish poor a knowledge of their real state, summarily pointing
out the evils of that state and suggesting a rational means of remedy—Catholic Emancipation
and a repeal of the Union Act (the latter the most successful engine that England ever wielded
over the misery of fallen Ireland).”. His activities earned him the unfavourable attention of the
British government.
Shelley was increasingly unhappy in his marriage to Harriet and particularly resented the
influence of her older sister Eliza, who discouraged Harriet from breastfeeding their baby
daughter (Elizabeth Ianthe Shelley [1813–76]). Shelley accused Harriet of having married him
for his money. Craving more intellectual female companionship, he began spending more time
away from home, among other things, studying Italian with Cornelia Turner and visiting the
home and bookshop of William Godwin. Eliza and Harriet moved back with their parents.

Richard Rothwell’s portrait of Mary Shelley in later life was shown at the Royal Academy in
1840, accompanied by lines from Percy Shelley’s poem The Revolt of Islam calling her a “child
of love and light”.
Shelley’s mentor Godwin had three highly educated daughters, two of whom, Fanny Imlay
and Claire Clairmont, were his adopted step-daughters. Godwin’s first wife, the celebrated
feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, had died giving
birth to Godwin’s biological daughter, Mary, named for her mother. Fanny had been the
illegitimate daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and her lover, the diplomat speculator and writer,
Gilbert Imlay. Claire was the illegitimate daughter of Godwin’s much younger second wife,
Mary Jane Clairmont Godwin, whom Shelley considered a vulgar woman—“not a proper
person to form the mind of a young girl”, he is supposed to have said. The brilliant Mary was
being educated in Scotland when Shelley first became acquainted with the Godwins family.
When she returned Shelley fell madly in love with her, repeatedly threatening to commit
suicide if she didn’t return his affections.
On 28 July 1814, Shelley abandoned Harriet, now pregnant with their son Charles (b. Nov.
1814-d. 1826) and (in imitation of the hero of one of Godwin’s novels) he ran away to Switzerland
with Mary, then 16, inviting her stepsister Claire Clairmont (also 16) along because she could
speak French. The older sister Fanny, was left behind, to her great dismay, for she, too, had
fallen in love with Shelley. The three sailed to Europe, and made their way across France to
Switzerland on foot, reading aloud from the works of Rousseau, Shakespeare, and Mary’s
mother, Mary Wollstonecraft (an account of their travels was subsequently published by the Shelleys).

After six weeks, homesick and destitute, the three young people returned to England. The
enraged William Godwin refused to see them, though he still demanded money, to be given
to him under another name, to avoid scandal. In late 1815, while living close to London with
Mary and avoiding creditors, Shelley wrote Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude. It attracted little
attention at the time, but has now come to be recognised as his first major achievement. At
this point in his writing career, Shelley was deeply influenced by the poetry of Wordsworth.

Byron

In mid-1816, Shelley and Mary made a second trip to Switzerland. They were prompted to do
this by Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, who, in competition with her sister, had initiated
a liaison with Lord Byron the previous April just before his self-exile on the continent. Byron’s
interest in her had waned and Claire used the opportunity of introducing him to the Shelleys
to act as bait to lure him to Geneva. The Shelleys and Byron rented neighbouring houses on
the shores of Lake Geneva. Regular conversation with Byron had an invigorating effect on
Shelley’s output of poetry. While on a boating tour the two took together, Shelley was inspired

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