Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English Romantic poet best known for his classic poems and verse dramas. Although he did not get his due recognition while he lived,we now know him as one of the finest lyrists ever born in England.Always a rebel, he refused to submit to fagging at school. Later hewas expelled from Oxford for publishing an atheist pamphlet. His father’s intervention could have reinstated him; but Shelley refused to disown the pamphlet. The strained relationship between father and sonbroke down completely when he eloped with a girl from an unequal family. From then on, his life was a continuous struggle.For two years, he did not have any income andhis radical views and faith in free love was not at all approved by the society. Yet, he worked for the welfare of the people, writing poems, and distributing pamphlets. Initially, his works were politically oriented. It was only when he settled down in Italy, away from direct influence of English politics that he began to create his best works. It is unfortunate that such a promising poet did not live to see his thirtieth birthday.