Up or down?

Oliver Farley considers some of the complexities of finding a fitting memorial for Shelley. The full text of this article appeared in The West Sussex County Times on Thursday February 17th, 2022.

 John Colston is now known to everyone, less for the man himself than for what happened to his statue. 300 years after his death it was rebelliously thrown into Bristol harbour.  Two curious issues arise: one, that the statue was put up almost 150 years after his demise, and secondly, the perpetrators of his dethronement were exonerated in court on the defence of an abhorrent memorial.

Coming forward another hundred years from the end of Colston’s days we reach the demise of Percy Bysshe Shelley in Italy in July 1822. Another 200 years will have passed later this year, and many are cogitating how to commemorate Horsham’s greatest poet here in his hometown. The fate of the Bristolian bronze gives pause for reflection as to what form that memorial should take. Shelley was a contentious figure in his day; his radicalism found favour with few in his times but with many discontented souls since. In his short life he acted out too irresponsibly his own intuitions of personal freedoms, all too often with tragic consequences for others, particularly women. His crowning genius as a lyric poet was admired by keen minds in his circle, and is the firmest basis for his claim to poetic immortality since.

These considerations came into play at the AGM of the Shelley Memorial Project which was held online on January 25th. The guest speaker has dedicated his academic life to Shelley and the group is indebted to Professor Kelvin Everest of Liverpool University for his insights into the poet. The six volumes of Shelley’s works have been edited by him and are shortly to be published.  This is undoubtedly good news, and it reflects perhaps a recovery in the standing of Romantic poets from the mid-twentieth century diminution of their reputation in academia.

Shelley the radical, the revolutionary spirit, has never suffered a decline in appeal, from the Fabians and Chartists in the UK to the ANC in South Africa, and to Gandhi and innumerable citations of him in India. It is of course well to remember that much which was radical in the early 19th century is mainstream today, such as freedom of speech, extension of political franchise and a more equal distribution of income and wealth. A current admirer of our poet is Xi Jinping, the leader of China, whose acquaintance with Shelley stems from the publication of some of his works a hundred years ago in a literary magazine which called on China to revive and thrive.

All this still leaves us with the difficulty mentioned above: yes, we should commemorate this towering figure, but just how are we to do it?

Horsham District Council has agreed to finding a site if the Memorial Project can fund a suitable structure. Various ideas have been considered but no consensus has emerged. An artists’ brief will be circulated, and it is sincerely hoped that an inspired work, of perhaps radical form, will be a permanent memorial to the veracity of Shelley’s vision, yet avoiding future radicals’ vilification.