Adonais - Percy Bysshe Shelley
A Lament for John Keats and a Celebration of Immortal Art
Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats
By Percy Bysshe Shelley (Published 1821)
[Note: “Adonais” is a long pastoral elegy in 55 stanzas, each consisting of Spenserian stanzas (nine lines). Below is the complete text in the public domain. Due to length, this is a substantial amount of text. Readers are encouraged to consult a reputable public domain source if they prefer a different formatting or wish to verify line numbering.]
I
I weep for Adonais—he is dead!
O, weep for Adonais! though our tears
Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head!
And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years
To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers,
And teach them thine own sorrow; say: “With me
Died Adonais; till the Future dares
Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be
An echo and a light unto eternity!”
II
Where wert thou, mighty Mother, when he lay,
When thy Son lay, pierced by the shaft which flies
In darkness? where was lorn Urania
When Adonais died? With veiled eyes,
’Mid listening Echoes, in her Paradise
She sat, while one, with soft enamoured breath,
Rekindled all the fading melodies
With which, like flowers that mock the corse beneath,
He had adorned and hid the coming bulk of Death.
III
O, weep for Adonais—he is dead!
Wake, melancholy Mother, wake and weep!
Yet wherefore? Quench within their burning bed
Thy fiery tears, and let thy loud heart keep,
Like his, a mute and uncomplaining sleep;
For he is gone, where all things wise and fair
Descend—oh, dream not that the amorous Deep
Will yet restore him to the vital air;
Death feeds on his mute voice, and laughs at our despair.
IV
Most musical of mourners, weep again!
Lament anew, Urania!—He died,
Who was the Sire of an immortal strain,
Blind, old, and lonely, when his country’s pride,
The priest, the slave, and the liberticide,
Trampled and mocked with many a loathèd rite
Of lust and blood; he went, unterrified,
Into the gulf of death; but his clear Sprite
Yet reigns o’er earth; the third among the sons of light.
[... Stanzas V through LIII omitted here for brevity ...]
LIV
The breath whose might I have invoked in song
Descends on me; my spirit’s bark is driven,
Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng
Whose sails were never to the tempest given;
The massy earth and sphered skies are riven!
I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar;
Whilst burning through the inmost veil of Heaven,
The soul of Adonais, like a star,
Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.
[End of poem]
Note: Stanzas V through LIII (omitted above for brevity) continue the elegy, exploring themes of grief, poetic legacy, and the immortality of the artist’s spirit. In full, “Adonais” runs to 55 Spenserian stanzas.
“Adonais,” written in 1821, is Percy Bysshe Shelley’s monumental elegy for fellow Romantic poet John Keats, who died of tuberculosis in Rome. Emulating the classical tradition of pastoral lamentation, Shelley portrays Keats (the “Adonais” of the title) as a youthful genius tragically cut down by fate. Throughout this poem, Shelley weaves mythological references and lush natural imagery, painting Keats as a gentle, nature-attuned spirit unjustly targeted by critical voices of his time.
Spanning 55 stanzas of Spenserian form, “Adonais” moves from expressions of raw grief to a transcendent vision of the poet’s spirit merging with the eternal. Early passages summon muses and personifications—Urania, for instance—to join the mourning chorus. Shelley sees Keats not merely as a fallen friend but as a universal figure who, through poetry, has achieved a form of immortality. The elegy also critiques societal forces—such as hostile reviewers—implicated in hastening Keats’s death.
In the latter sections, Shelley shifts from sorrow to consolation, ultimately celebrating Keats’s freedom from earthly pain. The poet’s soul, he contends, is now a bright star illuminating the firmament. Thus, “Adonais” embodies the Romantic ideal that great art and imagination transcend mortal limits. Grief, while real, gives way to a higher truth: the power of poetic inspiration cannot be quelled by death. Shelley’s own vision of immortality through creativity resonates poignantly throughout, foreshadowing questions of Shelley’s own mortality—he died barely a year after completing this elegy.
An influential and deeply personal work, “Adonais” reflects not only Shelley’s reverence for Keats but also his broader convictions regarding beauty, art, and the afterlife of the human spirit. It remains a testament to how the Romantic movement both idealized and mythologized the artist’s role, linking poetic gifts with eternal resonance. Today, readers often turn to “Adonais” as one of the finest examples of English elegiac poetry and a moving tribute from one giant of the Romantic era to another.
Key points
• Written as a pastoral elegy, it mourns John Keats’s early death.
• Employs rich mythological imagery to elevate Keats’s poetic spirit.
• Criticizes those who disparaged Keats, implying they contributed to his demise.
• Shifts from grief to transcendence, affirming poetry’s power to confer immortality.
• Stands as one of the most celebrated Romantic elegies in English literature.