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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Dedication fair copy of 'With a guitar. To Jane'

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
Embed
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley presented this light-hearted poem, copied out in his best hand, with the guitar he gave to Jane Williams in 1822.
Taking his cue, perhaps, from the Shakespearean Christian name of the guitar's maker, Ferdinando, he casts himself and the Williamses as characters from The Tempest: they are the lovers Miranda and Ferdinand, he is Ariel, the spirit of fire and air. The wood of the guitar is from a tree that 'Died in sleep, and felt no pain, To live in happier form again'. Only the most skilful hands can release the harmonies of nature preserved in the instrument, and 'It keeps its highest holiest tone / For our beloved Jane alone'.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
People
Jordan Saxby
Keywords
with a guitar to jane
#greatwriters
literature shelley's ghost
poetry
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:03:42

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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Dedication fair copy of 'With a guitar. To Jane'

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
Embed
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley presented this light-hearted poem, copied out in his best hand, with the guitar he gave to Jane Williams in 1822.
Taking his cue, perhaps, from the Shakespearean Christian name of the guitar's maker, Ferdinando, he casts himself and the Williamses as characters from The Tempest: they are the lovers Miranda and Ferdinand, he is Ariel, the spirit of fire and air. The wood of the guitar is from a tree that 'Died in sleep, and felt no pain, To live in happier form again'. Only the most skilful hands can release the harmonies of nature preserved in the instrument, and 'It keeps its highest holiest tone / For our beloved Jane alone'.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
People
Jordan Saxby
Keywords
with a guitar to jane
literature shelley's ghost
poetry
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:03:42

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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Fair copy of Ode to the West Wind

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
Embed
Part of the Shelly's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley's best-known poem was written in Florence in late 1819.
Technically it is a series of four sonnets written in 'terza rima', the verse-form Shelley would use again, with similar fluency, in his final poem, The Triumph of Life. The west wind is an agent of change: with seasonal rejuvenation comes a personal rebirth which will, in turn, inspire the 'unawakened Earth'.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
People
Christopher Adams
Keywords
literature shelley's ghost
#greatwriters
Ode to West Wind
poetry
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:03:51

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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Fair copy of Ode to the West Wind

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
Embed
Part of the Shelly's Ghost Exhibition. Shelley's best-known poem was written in Florence in late 1819.
Technically it is a series of four sonnets written in 'terza rima', the verse-form Shelley would use again, with similar fluency, in his final poem, The Triumph of Life. The west wind is an agent of change: with seasonal rejuvenation comes a personal rebirth which will, in turn, inspire the 'unawakened Earth'.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
People
Christopher Adams
Keywords
literature shelley's ghost
Ode to West Wind
poetry
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:03:51

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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Draft of 'Ozymandias'

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
Embed
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. 'Ozymandias' is the Greek name for Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years from 1279 to 1213 BC.
Ramses II was a military conqueror and a great builder, but Shelley's sonnet describes how the achievements of even the mightiest tyrants are obliterated by time. Only the Pharaoh's arrogant passions, as expressed in the ruined statue, have survived, outliving both the sculptor ('The hand that mocked them') and Ramses himself ('the heart that fed'). His many monuments have reverted to 'The lone and level sands'.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
People
Christopher Adams
Keywords
Ozymandias
egypt
journal
#greatwriters
shelley's ghost
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
Ramses
history
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:00:51

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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Draft of 'Ozymandias'

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
Embed
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. 'Ozymandias' is the Greek name for Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years from 1279 to 1213 BC.
Ramses II was a military conqueror and a great builder, but Shelley's sonnet describes how the achievements of even the mightiest tyrants are obliterated by time. Only the Pharaoh's arrogant passions, as expressed in the ruined statue, have survived, outliving both the sculptor ('The hand that mocked them') and Ramses himself ('the heart that fed'). His many monuments have reverted to 'The lone and level sands'.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
People
Christopher Adams
Keywords
Ozymandias
egypt
journal
shelley's ghost
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
Ramses
history
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:00:51

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Mary Shelley (with Percy Bysshe Shelley) - Draft of Frankenstein

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
Embed
Mary Shelley drafted Frankenstein in two tall notebooks. The first notebook was probably purchased in Geneva, the second several months later in England.
They were later disbound, and now exist as single sheets. Shown here is an original opening from the Geneva notebook, containing Mary's draft of the turning-point in the novel: the moment when Frankenstein's Creature comes to life.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
People
Christopher Adams
Keywords
#greatwriters
journal
shelley's ghost
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
frankenstein
history
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:04:23

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Mary Shelley (with Percy Bysshe Shelley) - Draft of Frankenstein

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
Embed
Mary Shelley drafted Frankenstein in two tall notebooks. The first notebook was probably purchased in Geneva, the second several months later in England.
They were later disbound, and now exist as single sheets. Shown here is an original opening from the Geneva notebook, containing Mary's draft of the turning-point in the novel: the moment when Frankenstein's Creature comes to life.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
People
Christopher Adams
Keywords
frankenstein
journal
shelley's ghost
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
history
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:04:23

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Harriet Shelley - Letter to Eliza Westbrook, Shelley and her parents

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
Embed
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Harriet Shelley drowned herself in December 1816, aged twenty-one. Her body was recovered from the Serpentine on 10 December, and an inquest into the death of one 'Harriet Smith' was held the following day.
Although her precise movements in the months leading up to her death are uncertain, it is clear that she was living away from home, that she had taken a lover, and that she was pregnant. This is Harriet's last letter. Muddled and full of self-recrimination, it reveals the nervous exhaustion and profound depression of her final days.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
The Bodleian Libraries (BODcasts)
People
Hannah Morrell
Keywords
#greatwriters
harriet shelley
shelley's ghost
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
journal
biography
history
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:03:16

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Harriet Shelley - Letter to Eliza Westbrook, Shelley and her parents

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
Embed
Part of the Shelley's Ghost Exhibition. Harriet Shelley drowned herself in December 1816, aged twenty-one. Her body was recovered from the Serpentine on 10 December, and an inquest into the death of one 'Harriet Smith' was held the following day.
Although her precise movements in the months leading up to her death are uncertain, it is clear that she was living away from home, that she had taken a lover, and that she was pregnant. This is Harriet's last letter. Muddled and full of self-recrimination, it reveals the nervous exhaustion and profound depression of her final days.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family
People
Hannah Morrell
Keywords
harriet shelley
shelley's ghost
mary shelley. percy bysshe shelley
journal
biography
history
Department: Bodleian Libraries
Date Added: 02/12/2010
Duration: 00:03:16

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