Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself

By Ann Wroe

Book Overview

Four questions consumed Shelley and coloured everything he wrote. Who or what was he? What was his purpose? Where had he come from? And where was he going? He sought the answers in order to free and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375424938
• ISBN13: 9780375424939
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 452 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent and Creative Look at Shelley

Ann Wroe is certainly hard to pin down. I honestly can not think of a biographer who can tackle the wide range of different subjects that Wroe has and yet do it well. Percy Shelley is as far from Pontius Pilate as any human could be and yet she captured both men very well. "Being Shelley" is not a conventional biography and Wroe seeks to capture the poet's creative side as much as possible. She does this by tracing his life and works through various elements (air, earth, water etc). It's a gamble and it pays off for Wroe beautifully. Unlike a number of his more recent biographers who want to focus on Shelley's radical politics or his rather scandalous personal life, Wroe explores his creative vision and she uses primary sources-from poems to journals-to present her argument. If she does not present a coherent life, Wroe is able to open up a little window on the heart and soul of one of the great poets of the English language in this vivid and readable book.