Five Romantic Poet Myths Debunked: Byron, Keats, Blake, and Shelley
An exploration of five prevalent misconceptions about notable Romantic poets highlights intriguing historical inaccuracies. Despite claims that Lord Byron was the first vampire, such legends predate him; he was born in 1788 in London and lived at Newstead Abbey, inspiring John Polidori's "The Vampyre." John Keats, who passed away from tuberculosis in 1821, is incorrectly thought to have been destroyed by criticism. William Blake was cleared of anti-monarchist charges in 1804. Controversy continues over rumors surrounding Byron's incestuous relationship with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, while Mary Shelley preserved the heart of Percy Shelley until her own death in 1851.
Key facts
- The Romantic poets traditionally comprise six core figures: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and John Keats.
- Lord Byron was born in London in 1788 and lived at Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.
- John Polidori wrote The Vampyre after the 1816 Geneva ghost story contest that also led Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein.
- John Keats died in 1821 at age 25 from tuberculosis, not from a bad review.
- Byron published lines in Canto 11 of Don Juan in 1823 claiming Keats was killed by one critique.
- William Blake was tried for sedition in early 1804 after ejecting soldier John Schofield from his Sussex garden and was acquitted.
- Byron left Britain in 1816 and never returned, amid rumors of an incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh.
- Edward John Trelawny claimed he removed Percy Shelley's unburned heart from the cremation fire at Viareggio in 1822; Mary Shelley kept it until her death in 1851.
Entities
Artists
- William Wordsworth
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- William Blake
- Lord Byron
- Percy Shelley
- John Keats
- Mary Shelley
- John Polidori
- Lady Caroline Lamb
- Annabella Byron
- Augusta Leigh
- Ada Lovelace
- Leigh Hunt
- Edward John Trelawny
- Catherine Blake
- John Schofield
- Richard Westall
- Henry Meyer
- George Henry Harlow
- William Hilton
- Joseph Severn
- Charles Armitage Brown
- Thomas Phillips
- James Holmes
- Charles Hayter
- Amelia Curran
- Louis Édouard Fournier
Institutions
- National Portrait Gallery
- Royal Academy of Arts
- Blackwood's Magazine
- The Quarterly Review
- Yale Center for British Art
- National Museums Liverpool
- St. Peter's Church, Bournemouth
- The Collector
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Newstead Abbey
- Nottinghamshire
- Geneva
- Switzerland
- Sussex
- Rome
- Italy
- Pisa
- Livorno
- Viareggio
- Bournemouth
- France