Which Romantic poet wrote 'Adonais', an elegy for John Keats?

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote “Adonais,” an elegy for John Keats. Shelley composed the poem in 1821 after learning that Keats had died in Rome from tuberculosis at only 25. Its title recalls Adonis, the beautiful figure from Greek mythology whose premature death became a symbol of mourning and renewal.

“Adonais” belongs to the tradition of the pastoral elegy, a form associated with works such as John Milton’s “Lycidas.” Shelley presents Keats as a dead shepherd-poet and summons mythological figures, nature, and fellow writers to mourn him. The poem eventually turns from grief toward consolation, arguing that Keats has become part of an eternal spiritual reality rather than simply disappearing.

Shelley and Keats had met through their mutual friend Leigh Hunt and exchanged letters, though their relationship was not always entirely easy. Shelley admired Keats’s developing talent and had invited him to stay in Pisa during his illness. A common mix-up is to assume Byron wrote the poem because Byron appears among its mourners; Byron did not write “Adonais.”