✞♡Cor Cordium♡✞

— Mary Shelley, “The Last Man”

Percy Shelley’s earliest known letter, written shortly before turning 11-years-old, was an invitation to his cousin’s aunt to accompany them on a family picnic. He signs the letter with “Now I end. I am not Your obedient servant, P. B. SHELLEY.”

“Monday, July 18, 1803.

DEAR KATE,

We have proposed a day at the pond next Wednesday and, if you will come tomorrow morning, I would be much obliged to you; and, if you could any how bring Tom over to stay all the night, I would thank you. We are to have a cold dinner over at the pond, and come home to eat a bit of roast chicken and peas at about nine o'clock. Mama depends upon your bringing Tom over to-morrow, and, if you don't, we shall be very much disappointed. Tell the bearer not to forget to bring me a fairing, — which is some ginger-bread, sweetmeat, hunting-nuts, and a pocket-book. Now I end.

I am not

Your obedient servant,

P. B. SHELLEY.”

It’s interesting to note how this short and simple letter manages to showcase several of the most important elements of Percy’s character having been cemented at such a young age — his rebelliousness, his humour, his love for people and community, his descriptiveness, his directness, his eccentricity, and his propensity for female company.

Source: Roger Ingpen’s Letters of Percy Bysse Shelley Vol 1 via HathiTrust

3 idiots

AUSTRIA ONLY 16 POINTS??????

“Critics who dislike Shelley, for example, are often hostile to youth (they say “adolescence”), and rationalize their difficulty with the poet by calling him immature. But what we call maturity often seems to be made up of equal parts of cowardice and exhaustion. We finally give up on our own insistence that the world be a human world and then make fun of people who are still working at it. We call them immature.” 

- From the introduction of Shelley: A Collection of Critical Essays. Introduction written by George M. Ridenour. 

eine serie über goethe aber in jeder folge geht es um eine beziehung zwischen goethe und einer anderen person aus seinem leben weil niemand wirklich wusste wer er war und er selbst nicht wusste wer er war und man ihn eigentlich nur durch seine interaktionen mit anderen charakterisieren kann aber jede dieser interaktionen ist anders eingefärbt weil die personen jeweils ein anderes bild von ihm hatten und er sich an dieses bild angepasst statt seine wahren gedanken und gefühle zu zeigen und ja

monsieur bonpland, how good to have met you.

Forever mourning the fact that Percy and Mary Shelley were trying to talk Lord Byron into living with them, Claire, and their children in 1818 at the famous Villa Pliniani on Lake Como to recreate their summer of 1816 vacation together at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. The plans died a sad death because the Shelleys failed to secure a rental contract & then the whole squad got into a fight because of the Byron/Claire breakup + custody battle... but just think… we literally almost had an intentional sequel to the Diodati/Frankenstein/Vampyre summer… just imagine what could have been…!

source: Percy Shelley’s letters to Lord Byron in 1818 from Complete Works of Shelley: Letters 1812-1818, ed. by Roger Ingpen, via Google Books

source: Percy Shelley’s letters to Lord Byron in 1818 from Complete Works of Shelley: Letters 1812-1818, ed. by Roger Ingpen, via Google Books

source: Mary Shelley by Miranda Seymour, via Internet Archive

source: images of the Villa Pliniani on Lake Como taken from Google Images

also i’m now dying at the realization that polidori wasn’t invited (because they all hated him RIP)… remembering this excerpt from mary shelley’s geneva era recollections in thomas moore’s “life of byron” —

Shhhh…. They’re busy recharging and being in love

would anyone be interested in a romanticism group chat??? i’m thinking on instagram or discord

lenz: goethe, du liebe meines lebens, für dich reise ich bis ans ende der welt. von straßburg über sesenheim nach weimar und wohin es dich sonst noch zieht ! ich werde dir gedichte schreiben und jeden fertigmachen, der sich gegen deine werke ausspricht. ich werde alle deine schriftstellerischen projekte unterstützen. ich werde ein drama darüber schreiben, dass du der beste dichter deutschland bist (in dem ich uns einige gemeinsame szenen geben werde <3). ich werde dich immer lieben und wenn ich schon nicht bei dir sein kann, so will ich zumindest bei leuten sein, die deine nähe spüren durften. ich liebe dich ! <3

goethe: er hasst mich, er will mich verderben, er tut alles ihm mögliche um mich zugrunde zu richten. er verfolgt mich um material gegen mich zu sammeln, mit dem er mich in der öffentlichkeit blamieren kann. er tut so als würden ihm meine werke gefallen, damit ich sie veröffentliche und mich blamiere. er verbringt zeit mit allen meinen freundinnen weil er manipulativ und böse ist und sie mir ausspannen will. er hasst mich-

Polidori, about to sprain his ankle jumping down from a balcony to offer Mary Shelley his arm:

The Poet Goethe at Frankfurt

-Happy Homes And The Hearts That Make Them 1889 by Samuel Smiles