Shelley was a well-known English romantic poet whose poems exemplified passion, beauty, imagination, love, creativity, political liberty, and nature. Shelley, who was very sensitive and possessed special attributes of hope, love, joy, and imagination, was a firm believer in the attainment of human pleasure. His work expressed these beliefs through poems that were both serious and humorous. Shelley's mother was only 18 when he was born, and his father was an ambitious but unfulfilled young man who died when Shelley was only 12 years old. From an early age, Percy had to take care of his sick mother and younger sister. He also wrote poetry from an early age and soon became known for his lyrical poems about nature, love, and politics. In 1795, at the age of 20, he married Mary Wollstonecraft. The couple had one son together but were divorced four years later. In 1816, at the age of 36, Shelley married Harriet Westbrook. They had three children together but were separated in 1836. In 1851, at the age of 47, he married Jane Clairmont. She was 16 years old and pregnant with her first child when they met. This marriage too was short lived and in 1854 she died giving birth to a daughter. In 1866, at the age of 54, Shelley married Clara Hoppner. They had two sons together but she died in 1877.