Animal Rights: Percy Bysshe Shelly, “It is only by softening and…”

“It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust.”
Percy Bysshe Shelly

Who was Percy Bysshe Shelly
Born on August 4, 1792—the year of the Terror in France—Percy Bysshe Shelley (the “Bysshe” from his grandfather, a peer of the realm) was the son of Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley. As the elder son among one brother, John, and four sisters, Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, and Hellen, Percy stood in line not only to inherit his grandfather’s considerable estate but also to sit in Parliament one day. In his position as oldest male child, young Percy was beloved and admired by his sisters, his parents, and even the servants in his early reign as young lord of Field Place, the family home near Horsham, Sussex.

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https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/percy-bysshe-shelley

Shelly’s contribution to animal rights

History of Animal Rights: Shelly

Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major English Romantic poets was a controversial personality, an unconventional thinker of the time in which he lived. His uncompromising idealism and unorthodox life made him a much maligned figure. Shelly championed such causes as free love, atheism and vegetarianism, all of which were totally radical ideas in his day. He was an advocate of social justice for the working classes and likewise
for the injustices which he saw perpetrated upon all living creatures. Shelly became a fighter for the rights of animals after personally witnessing many and varied mistreatments which occurred during the domestication and and slaughtering of animals. In the more modern era it was Shelly who was among the first to speak out in regard to our treatment of animals as a progressive political issue equivalent with our treatment of other human beings. He considered that the slaughter of animals for food was not only the root crime of the human race but also the cause of all our other immoral and criminal behaviours.

Read more:
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-percy-bysshe-shelly.html

Take Action

Vegan Society
https://www.vegansociety.com/

PETA
https://how-to-go-vegan.peta.org/

Motivation/Inspiration: Percy Bysshe Shelly,” Away, away, from men and towns, To the wild wood…”

“Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs—
To the silent wilderness
Where the soul need not repress its music
Percy Bysshe Shelly

Who was Percy Bysshe Shelly?

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets, who is regarded by some as among the finest lyric and philosophical poets in the English language, and one of the most influential.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley

Animal Rights: Quotes From the Past

The Deeper Minds Of All Ages Have Had Pity For Animals
Friedrich Nietzsche

Below are just a few quotes from those who supported animals rights beginning with the ancient world to the present day.

“We declare, then, that it is absurd for them to say that the practise of flesh-eating is based on nature . For that man is not naturally carnivorous is, in the first place, obvious from the structure of his body.   A mans frame is in no way similar to those creatures who were made for flesh-eating; he has no hooked beak or sharp nails or jagged teeth, no strong stomach or warmth of vital fluids able to digest and assimilate a heavy diet of flesh.”
Plutarch

Read more about Plutarch:

http://think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_A_History_Plutarch.htm

“The greatest progress of Righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favour of non-injury to life and abstention from killing living beings.”
King Ashoka

Read more about King Ashoka
http://think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_A_History_King%20Asoka.htm

The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer? Why should the law refuse its protection to any sensitive being? The time will come when humanity will extend its mantle over everything which breathes…”
Jeremy Bentham

Read More About Jeremy Bentham:
http://think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_rights_a_History_Jeremy_Bentham.htm

 

“An infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty. Men who have practised tortures on animals without pity, relating them without shame, how can they still hold their heads among human beings?”
Samuel Johnson

Read more about Samuel Johnson:
http://think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_a_History_Samuel%20Johnson.htm

On a natural system of diet, old age would be our last and our only malady; the term of our existence would be protracted; we should enjoy life, and no longer preclude others from the enjoyment of it.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Read more about Percy Bysshe Shelley

http://think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal%20Rights%20A%20History%20Percy%20Bysshe%20Shelly.htm

You can read a more thorough history of animal rights:
http://think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_A_History.htm

Animal rights: Percy Bysshe Shelly,” It were much better that a sentient being should never have…

It were much better that a sentient being should never have existed, than that it should have existed only to endure unmitigated misery.
Percy Bysshe Shelley

Who was Percy Bysshe Shelley?

“Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets, who is regarded by some as among the finest lyric and philosophical poets in the English language, and one of the most influential. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not see fame during his lifetime, but…”

Read more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley

Animal Rights: A History Percy Bysshe Shelly

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 – 1822

Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major English Romantic poets was a controversial personality, an unconventional thinker of the time in which he lived. His uncompromising idealism and unorthodox life made him a much maligned figure. Shelly championed such causes as free love, atheism and vegetarianism, all of which were totally radical ideas in his day. He was an advocate of social justice for the working classes and likewisefor the injustices which he saw perpetrated upon all living creatures. Shelly became a fighter for the rights of animals after personally witnessing many and varied mistreatments which occurred during the domestication and and slaughtering of animals. In the more modern era it was Shelly who was among the first to speak out in regard to our treatment of animals as a progressive political issue equivalent with our treatment of other human beings. He considered that the slaughter of animals for food was not only the root crime of the human race but also the cause of all our other immoral and criminal behaviours.

Read more:
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-percy-bysshe-shelly.html