Being Shelley

the long version

Economist editor and biographer Wroe gives us a book about one of the greatest poets in the Western tradition, that is concerned at once with the making of poetry and the transforming power of it. With elegance of style and immersion in Shelley's work, this book aims to turn the poet's life inside out: rather than tracing the events of a life in which poetry erupts occasionally, it tracks the inner journey of a spirit struggling to escape and create. In her own quest to understand Shelley, Wroe takes up the questions that consume the poet himself: Who, or what, was he? What was his purpose? Where had he come from? And where was he going? By answering those questions, Shelley sought to free and empower not only himself, but the entire human race.--From publisher description.