From Ann Wroe, a biographer of the first rank, comes a startlingly original look at one of the greatest poets in the Western tradition. Being Shelley aims to turn the poet's life inside out: rather than tracing the external events of his life, she tracks the inner journey of a spirit struggling to create. In her quest to understand the radically unconventional Shelley, Wroe pursues the questions that consumed the poet himself. Shelley sought to free and empower the entire human race; his revolution was meant to shatter illusions, shock men and women with new visions, find true love and liberty—and take everyone with him. Now, for the first time, this passionate quest is put at the center of his life. The result is a Shelley who has never been seen in biography before.
Being Shelley: The Poet's Search for Himself
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Indispensable... vital... startlingly good and original... Wroe is a writer of unusual excellence and a reader of exceptional sensitivity Spectator Being Shelley becomes a mirror of the poet himself - whimsical, various, subtle, and iridescent and evanescent. That is, no doubt, the book that Wroe proposed to write and she has succeeded -- Peter Ackroyd The Times Fascinating, experimental... A voyage into the mind that wrote the poetry and struggled with ideas, some mad, some sane, all interesting... As a history of how an unusual creative mind worked, it offers a new departure in the way biography is written -- Lucasta Miller Sunday Times Amazing new book on the poet... Abandoning the usual conventions, she relates Shelley's life in an incomplete and non chronological way... It's a bold and risky concept and she pulls it off brilliantly... this really does convey the poet's mind and the excitement of reading the original ... Ann Wroe's wonderful, effortlessly eloquent book is like sharing a corner of his mind -- Claire Harman Evening Standard Singularly exhilarating -- Richard Holmes Guardian
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`This remarkable biography casts the romantic poet in a whole new light'
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a fine, meticulous and eloquent study of the poet Shelley, and is likely to appeal to laymen and scholars alike. It is less a biography in the formal sense of being chronologically exact, but rather an evocation of the thought and spirit of the man: his extraordinary restless dynamism, the impatient idealism, the obsession with beauty and what he felt to be the soul of beauty, the soaring imagination and the thrust for freedom - not simply his own but for mankind as a whole. His radicalism - political, social, personal - and its effect on his poetry are thoughtfully conveyed and vividly expressed. So too are the many paradoxes such as his sensitive, spontaneous generosity and yet sometimes disgracefully selfish treatment of lovers; and the intransigent atheism (loathing even the term 'God')wedded to an instinctive, at times rapturous, mysticism. Ann Wroe has immersed herself in Shelley's mind and in Shelley's world,somehow achieving empathy with this complex, elusive character while at the same time retaining a sharp, probing rigour in her assessment of his place in English literature. Speaking as one not temperamentally drawn either to the man or, with serious exceptions, much of his verse, I confess to being absorbed and impresed by this book - and perhaps to becoming more sympthetic to its subject!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really wanted to give this book 4 stars. Really.
Anne Wroe's approach to Shelley is both original and engaging - instead of a linear, historical account of the poet's life, she gives us a series of thematically linked chapters ('air' , 'shadow', 'water ' etc.), each element contributing to a tesselated portrait of the poet's mind.
Brilliant, in theory. What you actually end up with is a strange fusion of anecdote and sophistry that satisfies neither the demands of criticism nor biography. Typically, Wroe will introduce a theme, recount an incident in Shelley's life, then quote something from either his letters or a fragment of verse. The theme will be elaborated and the process repeated. What you don't get in general is much close reading of the poetry, more often than not, a stanza will sit in between paragraphs - evidence enough, apparently, of art reflecting life or vice-versa. Shelley floats about the pages, airy, narcissistic, radical, revolutionary, but not a good one for the ladies judging by the trail of misery he left behind him (at least Byron had a sense of humour). Sometimes it feels as if Shelley has got under Wroe's skin and not the other way round, virtually every sentence has the air of an epiphany and the lack of stylistic variation makes the book hard going at times.
Wroe's non-linear approach also makes it difficult for the reader to gain a true sense of any growth or development in Shelley's thinking. It's as if he was a born Romantic and nothing much changed (in fact Wroe actually implies that his youthful love affair with water fated him to death by drowning)
I can't help thinking that 'Being Shelley' is the product of some sort of academic guilt about literary biography.... Read more ›
Anne Wroe's approach to Shelley is both original and engaging - instead of a linear, historical account of the poet's life, she gives us a series of thematically linked chapters ('air' , 'shadow', 'water ' etc.), each element contributing to a tesselated portrait of the poet's mind.
Brilliant, in theory. What you actually end up with is a strange fusion of anecdote and sophistry that satisfies neither the demands of criticism nor biography. Typically, Wroe will introduce a theme, recount an incident in Shelley's life, then quote something from either his letters or a fragment of verse. The theme will be elaborated and the process repeated. What you don't get in general is much close reading of the poetry, more often than not, a stanza will sit in between paragraphs - evidence enough, apparently, of art reflecting life or vice-versa. Shelley floats about the pages, airy, narcissistic, radical, revolutionary, but not a good one for the ladies judging by the trail of misery he left behind him (at least Byron had a sense of humour). Sometimes it feels as if Shelley has got under Wroe's skin and not the other way round, virtually every sentence has the air of an epiphany and the lack of stylistic variation makes the book hard going at times.
Wroe's non-linear approach also makes it difficult for the reader to gain a true sense of any growth or development in Shelley's thinking. It's as if he was a born Romantic and nothing much changed (in fact Wroe actually implies that his youthful love affair with water fated him to death by drowning)
I can't help thinking that 'Being Shelley' is the product of some sort of academic guilt about literary biography.... Read more ›
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Julie Bozza
Format:Paperback
This is a fascinating book about Shelley - a life of the poet rather than a biography of the man - getting inside his mind, using his poems and his notebooks as well as his life. Wroe mentions a few biographical details I would quibble with, as another reviewer points out - but I don't think that detracts from the whole.
The book is organised into four 'elemental' sections (Earth; Water; Air; Fire) and explores who Shelley was and what he thought using those as themes, jumping back and forth from school to Italy to England, etc. Fascinating! An excellent companion to Richard Holmes' biography. And so well written that my interest never once flagged through a relatively long tale, even when the novelty of the approach became familiar.
Now I very much wish someone would do the same for John Keats, and indeed each of my other favourite writers, along with all the writers with whom I should be better acquainted... I suppose it will only work if there is material to draw on beyond the literary outpourings and the life itself - i.e. the notebooks and journals for Shelley, and the letters for Keats (hint hint). I hope this will become a model for a new form of biography / literary analysis!
The book is organised into four 'elemental' sections (Earth; Water; Air; Fire) and explores who Shelley was and what he thought using those as themes, jumping back and forth from school to Italy to England, etc. Fascinating! An excellent companion to Richard Holmes' biography. And so well written that my interest never once flagged through a relatively long tale, even when the novelty of the approach became familiar.
Now I very much wish someone would do the same for John Keats, and indeed each of my other favourite writers, along with all the writers with whom I should be better acquainted... I suppose it will only work if there is material to draw on beyond the literary outpourings and the life itself - i.e. the notebooks and journals for Shelley, and the letters for Keats (hint hint). I hope this will become a model for a new form of biography / literary analysis!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a fine, meticulous and eloquent study of the poet Shelley, and is likely to appeal to laymen and scholars alike. It is less a biography in the formal sense of being chronologically exact, but rather an evocation of the thought and spirit of the man: his extraordinary restless dynamism, the impatient idealism, the obsession with beauty and what he felt to be the soul of beauty, the soaring imagination and the thrust for freedom - not simply his own but for mankind as a whole. His radicalism - political, social, personal - and its effect on his poetry are thoughtfully conveyed and vividly expressed. So too are the many paradoxes such as his sensitive, spontaneous generosity and yet sometimes disgracefully selfish treatment of lovers; and the intransigent atheism (loathing even the term 'God')wedded to an instinctive, at times rapturous, mysticism. Ann Wroe has immersed herself in Shelley's mind and in Shelley's world,somehow achieving empathy with this complex, elusive character while at the same time retaining a sharp, probing rigour in her assessment of his place in English literature. Speaking as one not temperamentally drawn either to the man or, with serious exceptions, much of his verse, I confess to being absorbed and impresed by this book - and perhaps to becoming more sympthetic to its subject!
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Too clever by half
This ought to be a much better book than it is. It is based on undoubtedly wide reading of the numerous contemporary sources available to a writer on Shelley. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2009 by Fred Beake
1.0 out of 5 stars
Being Shelley
This book is a brave attempt to enter the mind of the greatest lyric poet in the English language.However,m there are so many biographical errors,that it is really not possible to... Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2009 by Mrs. S. A. Charlewood
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Being Shelley
This is a well written book, but altjough the author has tried hard to "get into" the mind of the Poet, Shelley, she has made so many mistakes with dates, places and events, that... Read more
Published on 19 July 2007 by Mrs. S. A. Charlewood
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