Thomas Jefferson Hogg - The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley

In 1857 Percy Florence Shelley, the poet's only surviving child, invited Hogg to produce a biography of his father, who had died more than 30 years earlier. The Shelley family provided Hogg with a number of Percy Shelley's papers for use in his research.

The first two volumes of The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley were published in 1858, but were poorly received by critics. The book was not as well edited as his previous article and many felt that it did not contain the insights about Shelley and his works that Shelley at Oxford did. The reception was not universally negative however, and several of Shelley's friends enjoyed the book. The Shelley family was very upset at the way Shelley was portrayed; they demanded the return of Shelley's papers and obtained an injunction preventing the publication of any further volumes. Hogg had begun writing a third, but it was never completed.