Close Reading the Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792—1822)

‘My name is Ozymandias King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

• Shelley, ‘Ozymandias’, 1818

This is a second short course on the poetry of Shelley. Sundays, 6 September and 13 September 2026, 2.00 to 4.00 pm British Summer Time, led by poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

Of all the English Romantic poets it is perhaps Shelley who exemplifies the extremes of the movement. His poems take readers from ecstatic joy to brooding despair, navigating themes of rebellion, loss, love, and freedom. We studied Shelley in 2025 and will return to study a different selection of his brilliant poetry. You do not need to have attended the first Shelley course to join this course.

In these two-hour sessions, Dr Mariah Whelan will guide students through a series of close reading exercises to explore ideas of language, form, sound and imagery in the poems. Together we will observe, analyse and discuss the technical prowess and arresting ideas that make Shelley’s writing so powerful.

Please note: because these classes are mainly discussion, we do not record them.

Link

Poetry Foundation on the life and work of Shelley.

To book, click on the image below.