Po svojoj vatrenoj veri u svemoć ljudskog uma, i po potpunom ignorisanju verovanja i navika iz prošlosti Šeli pripada pristalicama ideja Prosvetiteljstva. „Politička pravda“ Vilijama Godvina, proniknuta revolucionarnim anarhizmom devedesetih godina XVIII veka, uskoro je postala njegova ideja vodilja. Ali, Šeli je Godvinove ideje pretočio u hrabro zamišljenu poetsko-intelektualnu viziju. Njegove lirske slike su lake i maglovite. Kao pesnik, Šeli već početkom XIX veka pripada blistavoj poetskoj epohi poznatoj kao Romantizam. Karakteristika njegovog genija je što je on u isto vreme racionalista i romantični mislioc, propovednik i pesnik.
Studirao je na Oksfordskom univerzitetu, odakle je izbačen zbog pisanja brošure „O neophodnosti ateizma“ (1811), zajedno sa svojim prijateljom Tomasom Hogom. Sa devetnaest godina odlazi u Škotsku gde se ženi šesnaestogodišnjom Herijet Vestbruk. Godine 1916, napušta trudnu suprugu, i inspirisan avanturističkim romanima, beži sa novom ljubavlju, mladom Marijom, kćerkom Vilijama Godvina, u Švajcarsku. Tu se sprijateljio sa Bajronom. Kasnije se preselio u Italiju. Umro je na jedreljaku u toku nevremena na Sredozemnom moru 1822.
Njegova druga supruga, Meri Šeli, poznata je po romanu „Frankenštajn, ili moderni Prometej“. Posle smrti svoga muža, brinula se o izdavanju njegovih dela.
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James Bieri, Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Biography, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, ISBN0-8018-8861-1.
Richard Altick, The English Common Reader. Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1998.
Cameron, Kenneth Neill. The Young Shelley: Genesis of a Radical. First Collier Books ed. New York: Collier Books, 1962, cop. 1950. 480 p.
Edward Chaney. 'Egypt in England and America: The Cultural Memorials of Religion, Royalty and Religion', Sites of Exchange: European Crossroads and Faultlines, eds. M. Ascari and A. Corrado. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2006, pp. 39–69.
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Meaker, M. J. Sudden Endings, 12 Profiles in Depth of Famous Suicides, Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 1964 p. 67–93: "The Deserted Wife: Harriet Westbrook Shelley".
Maurois, André, Ariel ou la vie de Shelley, Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1923
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Owchar, Nick. "The Siren's Call: An epic poet as Mary Shelley's co-author. A new edition of 'Frankenstein' shows the contributions of her husband, Percy." Los Angeles Times, 11 October 2009.
Rhodes, Jerry. "New paperback by UD professor offers two versions of Frankenstein tale." UDaily, University of Delaware, 30 September 2009. Charles E. Robinson: "These italics used for Percy Shelley's words make even more visible the half-dozen or so places where, in his own voice, he made substantial additions to the 'draft' of Frankenstein."
Pratt, Lynda. "Who wrote the original Frankenstein? Mary Shelley created a monster out of her 'waking dream' – but was it her husband Percy who 'embodied its ideas and sentiments'?" The Sunday Times, 29 October 2008.
Adams, Stephen. "Percy Bysshe Shelley helped wife Mary write Frankenstein, claims professor: Mary Shelley received extensive help in writing Frankenstein from her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, a leading academic has claimed." Telegraph, 24 August 2008. Charles E. Robinson: "He made very significant changes in words, themes and style. The book should now be credited as 'by Mary Shelley with Percy Shelley'."
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Elmar Dod: "Die Vernünftigkeit der Imagination in Aufklärung und Romantik. Eine komparatistische Studie zu Schillers und Shelleys ästhetischen Theorien in ihrem europäischen Kontext". Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag 1985. ISBN3-484-18084-6
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A. Leighton, Shelley and the Sublime. An Interpretation of the Major Poems (1984).
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Horst Höhne: Percy Bysshe Shelley. Leben und Werk (Frankfurt/M.: Lang 1998), ISBN3-631-47117-3.
D. J. Hughes: Potentialität in Shelleys >Prometheus Unbound<. In: Willi Erzgräber (Hrsg.): Interpretationen Band 8 · Englische Literatur von William Blake bis Thomas Hardy. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. et al. 1970, S. 91-112.
