1845 - Shelley Writing Prometheus Unbound by Joseph Severn, via Wikimedia Commons.
A political radical, atheist, vegetarian, advocate of nonviolence and free love — romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 -1822) was overshadowed during his lifetime by the likes of Lord Byron and even today Shelley’s widow Mary gets more attention as the creator of Frankenstein. Still, works like his “Adonais,” written after poet John Keats’ death, continues to be a beautiful memorial, and Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias,” on the hubris of mighty rulers, resonates as much today as in 1818.
Percy Bysshe Shelley mostly shows up in frock flicks in relation to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or as a brief mention in Byron’s life. Other than some documentaries, I can’t see that he’s gotten his own drama. But at least one of these appearances is burned in my memory and maybe yours too?
Douglas Walton in Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Julian Sands in Gothic (1986)
Valentine Pelka in Rowing With the Wind (1988)
Eric Stoltz in Haunted Summer (1988)
Michael Hutchence in Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
Oliver Dimsdale in Byron (2003)
Richard Clements in The Frankenstein Chronicles (2015)
Jon Richardson in Drunk History: UK (2016)
Douglas Booth in Mary Shelley (2017)
Lewis Rainer in “The Haunting of Villa Diodati,” Doctor Who (2020)
Who’s your favorite Percy Bysshe Shelley onscreen? And if it’s not Julian Sands, we may have words!
Eric Stolz. 💖
Nothing I have yet read about the late Mr Shelley inclines to believe other than that he would be much less fun to live with (or in the neighbourhood if) than he is to read about.
Then again, my patience for poets is generally modest at best, quite immodestly obvious at worst.
On a less serious note, it amuses me to imagine Miss Dakota and Miss Elle Fanning having a Very Serious Discussion about whether a Pre-Raphaelite artist or a Romantic Poet would be more of a bodice ripper…
Michael Hutchence???!!
Where’s Terry Gilliam?
Douglas Booth. He’s make a good Napoleone. I saw Gothic eons ago, and don’t remember it. I’ve got it queued up for when I’ve space and time.