One can only marvel at the extent of the editorial work that has gone into this volume. There is a tremendous difference between reading a poet in the context of study and later reading for pleasure, which is why this is such an important and definitive edition. It caters to both the scholar and the general reader. As today the flame of progressive thinking flickers in the storms of intolerance and brutal ignorance, we need Shelley’s example and his exemplary anger all the more.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792 and published his first collection of poems in 1809. He was expelled from the University of Oxford for distributing a pamphlet titled "The Necessity of Atheism." Four months later, he eloped with Harriet Westbro and married her.