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Outlines of English and American Literature: An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They LivedLong, William J. (William Joseph)

History

Outlines of English and American Literature: An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived

Name: Outlines of English and American Literature: An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived
Author: Long, William J. (William Joseph)

Long, William J. (William Joseph)

American literature -- History and criticism; English literature -- History and criticism

Forthwith Shelley published more tracts of a more rebellious kind.
    His sister Helen put them into the hands of her girl friend,
    Harriet Westbrook, who showed her belief in revolutionary theories
    by running away from school and parental discipline and coming to
    Shelley for "protection." These two social rebels, both in the
    green-apple stage (their combined age was thirty-five), were
    presently married; not that either of them believed in marriage,
    but because they were compelled by "Anarch Custom."

    After some two years of a wandering, will-o'-the-wisp life, Shelley
    and his wife were estranged and separated. The young poet then met
    a certain William Godwin, known at that time as a novelist and
    evolutionary philosopher, and showed his appreciation of Godwin's
    radical teaching by running away with his daughter Mary, aged
    seventeen. The first wife, tired of liberalism, drowned herself,
    and Shelley was plunged into remorse at the tragedy. The right to
    care for his children was denied him, as an improper person, and he
    was practically driven out of England by force of that public
    opinion which he had so frequently outraged or defied.

    [Illustration: PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY]

    Life is a good teacher, though stern in its reckoning, and in Italy
    life taught Shelley that the rights and beliefs of other men were
    no less sacred than his own. He was a strange combination of hot
    head and kind heart, the one filled with wild social theories, the
    other with compassion for humanity. He was immensely generous with
    his friends, and tender to the point of tears at the thought of
    suffering men,--not real men, such as he met in the streets (even
    the beggars in Italy are cheerful), but idealized men, with
    mysterious sorrows, whom he met in the clouds. While in England his
    weak head had its foolish way, and his early poems, such as
    _Queen Mab_, are violent declamations. In Italy his heart had
    its day, and his later poems, such as _Adonais_ and
    _Prometheus Unbound_, are rhapsodies ennobled by Shelley's
    love of beauty and by his unquenchable hope that a bright day of
    justice must soon dawn upon the world. He was drowned (1822) while
    sailing his boat off the Italian coast, before he had reached the
    age of thirty years.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

Outlines of English and American Literature: An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived

Long, William J. (William Joseph)

American literature -- History and criticism; English literature -- History and criticism

Forthwith Shelley published more tracts of a more rebellious kind.
    His sister Helen put them into the hands of her girl friend,
    Harriet Westbrook, who showed her belief in revolutionary theories
    by running away from school and parental discipline and coming to
    Shelley for "protection." These two social rebels, both in the
    green-apple stage (their combined age was thirty-five), were
    presently married; not that either of them believed in marriage,
    but because they were compelled by "Anarch Custom."

    After some two years of a wandering, will-o'-the-wisp life, Shelley
    and his wife were estranged and separated. The young poet then met
    a certain William Godwin, known at that time as a novelist and
    evolutionary philosopher, and showed his appreciation of Godwin's
    radical teaching by running away with his daughter Mary, aged
    seventeen. The first wife, tired of liberalism, drowned herself,
    and Shelley was plunged into remorse at the tragedy. The right to
    care for his children was denied him, as an improper person, and he
    was practically driven out of England by force of that public
    opinion which he had so frequently outraged or defied.

    [Illustration: PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY]

    Life is a good teacher, though stern in its reckoning, and in Italy
    life taught Shelley that the rights and beliefs of other men were
    no less sacred than his own. He was a strange combination of hot
    head and kind heart, the one filled with wild social theories, the
    other with compassion for humanity. He was immensely generous with
    his friends, and tender to the point of tears at the thought of
    suffering men,--not real men, such as he met in the streets (even
    the beggars in Italy are cheerful), but idealized men, with
    mysterious sorrows, whom he met in the clouds. While in England his
    weak head had its foolish way, and his early poems, such as
    _Queen Mab_, are violent declamations. In Italy his heart had
    its day, and his later poems, such as _Adonais_ and
    _Prometheus Unbound_, are rhapsodies ennobled by Shelley's
    love of beauty and by his unquenchable hope that a bright day of
    justice must soon dawn upon the world. He was drowned (1822) while
    sailing his boat off the Italian coast, before he had reached the
    age of thirty years.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Outlines of English and American Literature: An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived

Outlines of English and American Literature: An Introduction to the Chief Writers of England and America, to the Books They Wrote, and to the Times in Which They Lived

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