1821 in poetry

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In 1821, poetry saw a major moment in England. The English Romantic poet John Keats died in Rome on February 23, at the age of 25. His tombstone bears the famous line: “Here lies one whose name was writ in water,” a line Keats asked to have carved himself.

Later in the year, Percy Bysshe Shelley published Adonais, an elegy for Keats. It is a long poem that mourns the loss of a friend and celebrates Keats’s life and gift as a poet. The death of Keats and Shelley's tribute made 1821 a memorable year in Romantic poetry, while poets around the world continued writing in the same spirit.