Being Shelley by Ann Wroe

A remarkable biography that casts the romantic poet in a whole new light.

Its approach is literally elemental, tracking Shelley's "quest for truth through the steadily rarefying elements of earth, water, air and fire" and aims to answer the questions he asked of himself: "Whence I came, and where I am, and why." Wroe, virtually re-inventing the genre, reveals that sometimes, as her subject said, "poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds."

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

This book takes the life of one of England's greatest poets and turns it inside out. Rather than following a daily round in which poetry erupts occasionally, it tracks the inner adventures of a spirit struggling to escape and create. This is the life of the poet, rather than the man. 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 empower not only himself, but the whole human race. His revolution would shatter the earth's 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 and radical quest is put at the centre of Shelley's life. The result is a spiritual journey that is as dangerous and exhilarating as it is astonishing. This is Shelley as he has never been seen before.