ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Shelley’s spirit and his temperament made Shelley more a disciple and heir of Rousseau than of Godwin or Wordsworth.

Detailed explanation-2: -However, his philosophical anarchism had a profound influence on Robert Owen, William Thompson and other utopians in the nineteenth century, and there is also evidence of influence on the Chartist movement and on popular labour movements for political reform in the 1840s (see Marshall 1984: 390).

Detailed explanation-3: -It argues that, far from being simply an emotional and financial burden, as is often supposed, Godwin provided Mary Shelley with vital encouragement and practical support in her efforts to earn a living.

Detailed explanation-4: -Godwin’s idealistic liberalism was based on the principle of the absolute sovereignty and competence of reason to determine right choice. An optimist regarding man’s future perfectibility, he combined cultural determinism with a doctrine of extreme individualism.

Detailed explanation-5: -Shelley was essentially a poet of love. His idealism was the Platonic conception of love-the love of the soul. From the lowest order it rises and reaches the supreme beauty which is the highest form of love that leads to virtue, wisdom, happiness, and is subject to its power only.