educazione civica inglese, Guide, Progetti e Ricerche di Inglese

Scarica educazione civica inglese e più Guide, Progetti e Ricerche in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Social studies Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in Sussex in 1792 and he was the eldest son among one brother and four sisters of a wealthy, conservative Member of Parliament. Given his parentage, Shelley was supposed to stand in line and both inherit his father's considerable estate and sit in Parliament one day. He received an high-quality education and since he was young he committed to writing. Eventually, the kind of life Shelley lived was different than the one he was thought to conduct. Shelley's life and works embodied Romanticism's major themes, such as restlessness and brooding despair, exchange with nature, the power of imagination and poetry, and ideal love. Shelley belonged to the second generation of poets, who experienced political disillusionment, which is reflected in their poetry. Shelley was indeed an untamed spirit and struggle against any form of authority and rebelled against existing religious, laws and customs. This refusal is well expressed in his works. He was very concerned with politics and society and almost all of his poems talks about them. He refused tyranny and believed that only through the principles of love and freedom, men could overcome social and moral conventions and political oppression. For example, in the political epic Queen Mab, he attacks the oppressiveness of religious dogma and superstition as well as of customs and institutions. As far as religion is concerned, he was an atheist. In 1811 he published The Necessity of Atheism, a radical prose pamphlet written with his friend and room-mate Thomas J. Hogg. It had a ruinous effect on his life and on his relationship with his family and caused them to be expelled from Oxford since it challenges the existence of God and claims that people are born with involuntary specific beliefs and therefore atheists should not be persecuted. Different facts enhanced Shelley's view of authority. A considerable source of inspiration was William Godwin. Actually, Shelley was a great admirer of both William Godwin's and Mary Wollstonecraft's works. Shelley asked Godwin to be his protege and this acquaintance influenced Shelley's life as much as Political Justice influenced his political ideas. Political Justice was indeed what Shelley defined his political and moral bible and Gowdin was worshipped as he was the author. In it, Godwin deals with political philosophy and stressed upon anarchist ideas. According to Godwin, humanity will inevitably progress reaching perfection and enlightenment. Political institutions are criticized and governments and related social practices such as marriage and monarchy are considered restrictions to the progress of humanity. According to him, political institutions should change until they wither away and leave people to organize themselves using reason to decide the best course of action. But this change should come gradually. It should require communication, enquiry and discussion rather than violent revolution. These concepts are explained throughout the work as part of the list of eight principles Godwin gives at the beginning. Shelley shares also the godwinian principle of free love and attempted a menage-a-trois a couple of times but without great success. This influence concerns Shelley's life as well, as it was said. He became a frequent visitor of Godwin's house, thus it was inevitable the meeting with his three daughters, including Mary with whom he fell in love even if he was already married. The relationship with his austere father, who refused to read anything written by his son, and the bullying he suffered while he was at Eton College influenced his view of authority as well. It was probably enhanced also by his acquaintances and liberal friends such as Thomas Hogg, with whom Shelley spent their time in their room discussing and arguing. The regular conversations with Thomas Peacock, an English writer and poet were important as well. Shelley met also Leigh Hunt and some of the young writers in Hunt's circle, including John Keats and Horace Smith. They were all politically opposed to the reactionary forces that overflowed in England after Napoleon's defeat. This influence pushed Shelley to write pamphlets such as “ A Proposal for Putting Reform to the Vote Throughout the Kingdom”, in which he suggests to increase suffrage and “ An Address to the People on the Death of the Princess Charlotte” and the epic poem “ The Revolt of Islam”. In fact in England there was a strong opposition to new ideas because of Napoleon, who was considered great danger. This resistance was faced by Shelley himself and brought him to leave England. Historically speaking, first all it must be said that was the time of the French Revolution, whose ideas of freedom, equality and legality spread in all Europe thanks to wars led by Napoleon and influenced thinkers . Other events happened during that period and Shelley was involved. For example, in 1812 he wrote two pamphlets favouring the Catholic emancipation of Irishmen and stating that Irish could achieve the freedom from English rule only through unity and organisation. But Shelley's political ire grew after the Manchester Massacre or Peterloo,during which people attending an assembly in St. Peter's fields were wounded by local police and at least nine died. Shelley wrote many extreme political poems about it such as The Masque of Anarchy and Song to the Men of England, but they were never published during his lifetime because it was too dangerous. The fact that he couldn't publish them bothered him. Percy Shelley has been always willing to sacrifice comfort and security rather than deny his principles and ideas. Indeed when he was threatened to be expelled from Oxford in the case he didn't abnegate his ideas and declare himself Christian, Percy refused and this caused a break between him and his father and Shelley was cut off financially. I reckon that his ideas contributed to our modern views of man's rights and duties. Shelley's period was a time of