THE SHELLEY MYSTERIES

On the 200th anniversary of his tragic drowning off the coast of Italy at the age of 29, THERESE TAYLOR examines some of the dark secrets and unanswered questions that have gathered around the life and death of Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley remains one of the most celebrated poets in English Literature. His genius helped create the Romantic movement and he was married to Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein (for a full account of the Shelleys’ sojourn on the shores of Lake Geneva and the genesis of Frankenstein, see Maria J Pérez Cuervo, “A Summer of Monsters”, FT343:38-44). Despite detailed biographical studies, many key aspects of the poet’s life and death are marked by enigmas that replicate the gothic themes of forbidden love, dark secrets, mysterious individuals and sudden death. Shelley’s wandering lifestyle led him to Ireland, Wales, and finally Italy, where he drowned at sea in 1822 – a death preceded by a series of uncanny events and strange portents. His cousin Thomas Medwin recalled that in…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 423

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