The Cenci in the context of "Incest"

Percy Bysshe Shelley (/bɪʃ/ BISH; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Thomas Hardy, and W. B. Yeats. American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem."

Shelley's reputation fluctuated during the 20th century, but since the 1960s he has achieved increasing critical acclaim for the sweeping momentum of his poetic imagery, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist, and materialist ideas in his work. Among his best-known works are "Ozymandias" (1818), "Ode to the West Wind" (1819), "To a Skylark" (1820), "Adonais" (1821), the philosophical essay "The Necessity of Atheism" (1811), which his friend T. J. Hogg may have co-authored, and the political ballad "The Mask of Anarchy" (1819). His other major works include the verse dramas The Cenci (1819), Prometheus Unbound (1820) and Hellas (1822), and the long narrative poems Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude (1815), Julian and Maddalo (1819), and The Triumph of Life (1822).

The Shelley Society was a Victorian literary society founded in London in December 1885 by Frederick James Furnivall to promote the study and appreciation of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Its activities included public lectures, published texts, and sponsored performances, most notably a private staging of The Cenci in 1886. At its height it had around 400 members, among them writers and reformers such as William Michael Rossetti, Henry S. Salt, George Bernard Shaw, and Mathilde Blind, with women contributing actively to its publications and discussions. Provincial and overseas branches were also established, and lectures addressed Shelley's poetry, politics, religion, and ethics, including his advocacy of vegetarianism. The society declined in the 1890s but continued in reduced form into the early 20th century. It has been noted for its role in the late-Victorian "single-author" society movement, for debates over Shelley's radicalism, and for its influence on later reform groups such as the Humanitarian League.