Percy Bysshe Shelley as a revolutionary poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley was the most revolutionary and non-conformist of the Romantic poets. His passionate search for personal love and social justice is shown in his poems – which are some of the greatest in the English language. He was an individualist and idealist who rejected the institutions of family, church, marriage and the Christian faith and rebelled against all forms of tyranny. Shelley’s ideas were anarchic and he was considered dangerous by the conservative society of his time. Many of his poems address social and political issues. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the contribution of Shelley towards English literature. Shelley’s life-story is wild, outrageous, shocking, revolutionary and unconventional. Shelley’s poetry has two different moods. In one he is the revolutionary reformer, wanting to change the old order and to find universal happiness. In the second he is a great Nature lover, almost merging himself in the beauty of the world around him.