Ep 26 Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Hymn to Intellectual Beauty read by Fiona Sampson

To mark the bicentenary of Percy Bysshe Shelley's death on 8th July 1822, Fiona Sampson reads her favourite Shelley poem: Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. 

• Read Hymn to Intellectual Beauty here.

Fiona is an acclaimed poet, biographer of Mary Shelley and, last but not least, Chair of 2022's Keats-Shelley Prize.

• Read more about Fiona Sampson at the Keats-Shelley Prize page.

A phrase from Hymn to Intellectual Beauty inspired the title of Fiona's new book, Starlight Wood, which follows in the footsteps of several Romantic artists, writers and poets (including Shelley) across the 19th century countryside.

• Find out more about Fiona Sampson's Starlight Wood.

We will post Fiona's discussion of the poem in the coming weeks.