Adonais – Percy Bysshe Shelley

"He is a portion of the loveliness Which once he made more lovely."

This pastoral elegy was written for John Keats after his death in Rome. Shelley mourns the loss of the young genius, attacks the critics who scorned him, and envisions Keats's spirit becoming part of the eternal beauty of the universe. He invites the reader to stop mourning and recognize that death is merely an awakening from the dream of life.

Adonais is one of the greatest elegies in English, ranking with Milton's 'Lycidas'. It is a passionate defense of the poet's divine mission and a sublime meditation on immortality.