Shelley at Oxford

Thomas Jefferson Hogg’s vivid recollection brings the whirlwind six months that Percy Bysshe Shelley spent at Oxford to life. As a fellow student, Hogg sketches their intense camaraderie, the daring debates that set them apart, and the youthful idealism that fueled Shelley’s poetry. The narrative captures the atmosphere of early‑19th‑century university life, where curiosity and rebellion clashed with strict academic conventions.

The account moves toward the dramatic climax of their expulsion, detailing the scandalous accusations and the fierce sense of injustice that surrounded them. Hogg’s first‑hand perspective offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse of Shelley before his fame, revealing the fragile balance between brilliant imagination and the rigid expectations of his era. Listeners will feel the tension of a promising mind confronting an unforgiving institution, setting the stage for the poet’s later, more infamous adventures.