The Making of the Poets

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Byron and Shelley both died young. By the time Byron left Harrow, almost half his life was over; and when Shelley left Eton, three-fifths of his life were gone. Ian Gilmour's highly original book concentrates on the poets in their childhood and youth, and tells their parallel stories. Their traumatic formative years had a decisive influence on both their later lives. In this incisive and compelling book, Gilmour provides a fascinating account of the political, social and economic background to their writings. Byron and Shelley lived in the turbulent age of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the post-Waterloo reaction, an era that shaped many of their ideas and works. They became close friends and kindred spirits, and, as the author demonstrates, had far more in common than is usually recognised.