I met Murder on the way; He had a mask like Castlereagh
The Pursuit by Richard Holmes is the first biography I have read. Well, no, that isn't quite true. I've read part of a biography on Ted Bundy and the first volume of Holmes' Coleridge. Still, this is the first biography I have read that concludes with a death. Shelley died at the age of 29. At the point I am at in the biography he is 27.
I hate that he died so young and I'm dreading the end of this book, as much as it will be a relief to be done with it as far as coursework is concerned. I've become emotionally invested with these people -- Shelley, yes, but also Claire and Mary and Byron, Leigh Hunt and Harriet Westbrook and William Godwin. It's so strange to think that these people are all dead and gone. Moreover, it's even stranger to contrast the attitude towards Shelley at that time with how he is considered today. The most enduring artists oftentimes don't seem to realize that they will endure beyond their lives. Isn't it strange?
I hate that he died so young and I'm dreading the end of this book, as much as it will be a relief to be done with it as far as coursework is concerned. I've become emotionally invested with these people -- Shelley, yes, but also Claire and Mary and Byron, Leigh Hunt and Harriet Westbrook and William Godwin. It's so strange to think that these people are all dead and gone. Moreover, it's even stranger to contrast the attitude towards Shelley at that time with how he is considered today. The most enduring artists oftentimes don't seem to realize that they will endure beyond their lives. Isn't it strange?