title: The Necessity of Atheism (annotated)
author: Percy Shelley
description: Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792  8 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets, and is regarded by some as among the finest lyric 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 recognition for his poetry grew steadily following his death. Shelley was a key member of a close circle of visionary poets and writers that included Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Love Peacock, and his own second wife, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Shelley is perhaps best known for classic poems such as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud and The Masque of Anarchy. His other major works include a groundbreaking verse drama The Cenci (1819) and long, visionary poems such as Queen Mab (later reworked as The Daemon of the World), Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, Adonas, Prometheus Unbound (1820)widely considered to be his masterpieceHellas: A Lyrical Drama (1821), and his final, unfinished work, The Triumph of Life
zlib_text: ![](images/00001.jpg)
  
  * * *
  
  
    
    
  The Necessity of Atheism
  
  
    
    
  [There Is No God  
    
  ](The%20Necessity%20of%20Atheism_split_001.html#filepos1634)[On Life  
    
  ](The%20Necessity%20of%20Atheism_split_001.html#filepos23795)[On A Future
  State
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  # The Necessity of Atheism
  
  
  ### Percy Bysshe Shelley
  
  
  
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  * There Is No God
  
  
  * On Life
  
  
  * On A Future State
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  ### There Is No God
  
  
  
  
  
  This negation must be understood solely to affect a creative Deity.
  
  
  The hypothesis of a pervading Spirit co-eternal with the universe
  
  
  remains unshaken.
  
  
  
  
  
  A close examination of the validity of the proofs adduced to
  
  
  support any proposition is the only secure way of attaining truth, on
  
  
  the advantages of which it is unnecessary to descant: our knowledge of
  
  
  the existence, of a Deity is a subject of such importance that it
  
  