I’ll sort the poems…

Shelley Memorial Project treasurer Barry Syder discusses the process of getting Shelley’s poems together, ready for our Shelleython on July 31st and August 1st 2021.

“I’ll sort the poems for the Shelleython.” I volunteered enthusiastically.

I mean, how hard could it be? They’re all in the public domain, so a quick google of the complete poetical works; cut; paste: job done!

Unfortunately I hadn’t factored in Percy Bysshe’s somewhat casual approach to titles. There are poems that were originally published under one title and then later PB thought of a better one. There are multiple verses called simply Lines… To… and Song… There is a To Mary, another To Mary, a To Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, a To Mary Shelley; ditto Harriets (the first wife).

There were sixty “Fragments” that he never got round to finishing - including one that ends mid-line because he left it to go on a boat trip he never came back from.

There are poems like Rosalind and Helen that are so long they make you want to weep, and there are short poems like To William Shelley. Thy Little Footsteps in the Sand that make you want to weep for an entirely different reason.

Suffice to say the task took much longer than anticipated, but I now know a lot more about Shelley’s three hundred poems.

I also know that there will be something for everybody at the Shelleython: poems that will make you angry, poems that will make you happy and yes, some that may make you shed a tear.

Make your Shelleython donation here.