91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Plaque

Percy Shelley - W1

Inscription

Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792 - 1822, poet, lived here in 1811.
English Heritage

Shelley lodged here after he was expelled from Oxford.

Site: Percy Shelley - W1 (3 memorials)

W1, Poland Street, 15

The English Heritage plaque is on this corner building, in Poland Street. The apparent blue plaque just below the mural, is painted to mimic a blue plaque.

In the mural we have interrupted a black-haired young man (woman?) who had been reading a book while sitting/standing (in a very odd pose) in front of a green field with trees in the background. In the foreground is a solitary tree that has been blasted in two. To the right the branches of another tree can be seen, the tree itself being outside the frame. The foreground trees are shedding their leaves as if it were autumn but the background trees are still in green leaf. We ourselves are just inside an arcade, the arches of which can be see at the top of the mural.

The wild, dark hair suggests the figure with the book may represent Shelley himself.

Sadly, the mural has suffered some damp damage, creating a vertical grey line towards the right-hand edge.

explains that the Ode explores the death and decay that the autumn winds usher in and suggests that the subject of this 1989 mural may have been prompted by the Great Storm of 1987.

Credit for this entry to: Bob Baker

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Percy Shelley - W1

Subjects commemorated i

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Poet. Born at Field Place, near Horsham in Sussex. Had a habit of eloping wit...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Percy Shelley - W1

Created by i

English Heritage

English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that ma...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Percy Shelley - W1

Also at this site i

Soho mural - faux plaque

Soho mural - faux plaque

The Soho Mural 'Ode to the West Wind', 1989, Louise Vines for London Wall 01 ...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Soho mural - figure

Soho mural - figure

This figure may be intended to represent Shelley himself.

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Nearby Memorials

Fleet River tributary - Mount Pleasant

Fleet River tributary - Mount Pleasant

WC1, Mount Pleasant, Fleet Valley Pocket Park

The plaque's prominent reference to Queen Square is confusing. The map at Dead End Street shows a Fleet tributary near Queen Square but i...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Institute of Taxation

Institute of Taxation

EC4, Pancras Lane

The Taxation plaque is the one nearest the camera.  The St Benet blue plaque is on the far wall and the St Benet inscribed stone plaque i...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Heals - south

Heals - south

W1, Tottenham Court Road, Heals

This plaque is on the last but one southern pier of the southern building. 

6 subjects commemorated
Shepherd's Bush Library - foundation stone

Shepherd's Bush Library - foundation stone

W12, Uxbridge Road, 7

The blue plaque is next to the lower right window of the building, and the foundation stone is on the right of the doorway. The Hunt and...

1 subject commemorated
Pierre Rouve

Pierre Rouve

SW3, Markham Street, 50

We contacted a colleague who speaks Bulgarian, and she confirms that the right hand inscription means the same as the English. Amazingly ...

1 subject commemorated