s Preface to The Revolt of Islam, and it continually shadowed his career.
             I aspire to be something better. The circumstances of my accidental
             education have been favorable to this ambition.
             An early inspiration to Shelley's thoughts was William Godwin. The effects of Godwin's writings upon Shelley would extend beyond his high school years. The book Political Justice entranced Shelley. The idea of a world dominated by philosophy rather than religion can be seen in Shelley's own ideals of Millennialism. Shelley accepted enthusiastically Godwin's promotion of free love instead of the cursed institution of marriage.
             Shelley's own family did not understand him from the beginning. Shelley had expected an inheritance from his father, but upon Shelley's expulsion from Oxford his father disinherited him. Shelley's mother discouraged his reading of books as well as she felt that the reading added to his madness (Ka
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