In this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to some of the greatest poets of our literature.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was born in Sussex and died in Italy when his sailing boat overturned while returning from a visit to Byron. A radical thinker and social campaigner, Shelley wrote some of the finest lyric verse in the English language which confirms his standing as a major figure in Romantic literature.