 Mary Shelley 's last full @-@ length book , written in the form of letters and published in 1844 , was Rambles in Germany and Italy in 1840 , 1842 and 1843 , which recorded her travels with her son Percy Florence and his university friends . In Rambles , Shelley follows the tradition of Mary Wollstonecraft 's Letters Written in Sweden , Norway , and Denmark and her own A History of a Six Weeks ' Tour in mapping her personal and political landscape through the discourse of sensibility and sympathy . For Shelley , building sympathetic connections between people is the way to build civil society and to increase knowledge : " knowledge , to enlighten and free the mind from clinging deadening prejudices — a wider circle of sympathy with our fellow @-@ creatures ; — these are the uses of travel " . Between observations on scenery , culture , and " the people , especially in a political point of view " , she uses the travelogue form to explore her roles as a widow and mother and to reflect on revolutionary nationalism in Italy . She also records her " pilgrimage " to scenes associated with Percy Shelley . According to critic Clarissa Orr , Mary Shelley 's adoption of a persona of philosophical motherhood gives Rambles the unity of a prose poem , with " death and memory as central themes " . At the same time , Shelley makes an egalitarian case against monarchy , class distinctions , slavery , and war . 
