John, Mary, George, and Percy: The Romantic Poets in Italy with Hilary Bockham

Join Hilary Bockham for an exploration of the intertwined lives of the authors of some of the most beautiful words ever written in the English language. Their true-life stories are wilder than fiction. Together we will meet John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Lord George Byron and discover their friendship and remarkable poetry.

The seventeenth century was a revolutionary period in the western world. A small group of English poets, true to their time, rejected the elitist poetry of the day and blazed a new trail forward in English literature. Their lives were brief and tragic, and almost unbelievable.

Together, we will travel to Rome, where John Keats died just three months after his arrival. Struggling to recover from tuberculosis, a disease killing one in four Londoners at the time, Keats was sent to Italy by fellow literary friends to heal. His poetic admirer, the rebelliously spirited Percy Shelley, wrote the elegiac Adonais in response to his untimely death. Eighteen months later, still in Italy, Shelley went missing from a sailing vessel off the coast of Pisa. He had been visiting poet Lord Byron, known for his wild and outrageous spirit, another great of the Romantic poetry school. Percy’s wife, Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, paced Italian beaches for days searching for news of her lost husband. When Percy’s body was found, at last, he was identified by a volume of Keats’ poetry in his pocket. Lord Byron died just two years later during a battle to liberate the Greeks from Turkey, and finally, Mary, a few years hence, was buried in England together with Percy Shelley's actual heart.

Led by an expert on art history, Hilary Bockham, this interactive seminar will explore the life and work of Romantic poets John Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Shelly, and Lord George Byron. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of their time in Italy and their impact on seventeenth-century literature.

This conversation is part of a five-part series on the Romantic poets with Hilary Bockham. Each session is designed as a stand-alone seminar as well as part of a five-week series.

• John, Mary, George, and Percy: The Romantic Poets in Italy with Hilary Bockham  
• Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know: The Life and Poetry of Lord Byron with Hilary Bockham
• A Thing of Beauty Is A Joy Forever: The Life and Poetry of John Keats with Hilary Bockham
• Rise Like Lions, Ye Are Many, They Are Few: The Revolutionary Life and Poetry of Percy Shelley with Hilary Bockham
• Beware; For I Am Fearless, and Therefore Powerful: The Life and Poetry of Mary Shelley with Hilary Bockham

Hilary has been one of our experts for fifteen years. She was born in England, where she studied Art and Literature and began her career there as an art teacher. A few years later she followed her interest in fashion and costume and became an internationally successful fashion designer. She designed costumes for several international dance companies and was a guest lecturer at several UK Design Colleges. For ten years before her arrival in Italy in 2005, she ran her own Exhibition Services company, providing customized services for Art Galleries and Museums throughout Britain. She specializes in Renaissance and Baroque art in Rome.

This conversation is not suitable for children under age 16

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.