Rome
- Protestant
Cemetery
|
| Rome's Protestant Cemetery is small, and is divided roughly
into two halves. The section in which Shelley's ashes are
buried faces the entrance gate, and is densely crowded with
gravestones. Shelley's grave is set off in a sheltered area
at the rear—the roof can be seen between the trees
in the first photo below. Next to him is buried his friend
Edward Trelawny, who died in England in 1881. |
|
|
| The
inscription
on Shelley's
gravestone
assures the
reader that "Nothing
of him that
doth fade,
/ But doth
suffer a
sea-change
/ Into something
rich and
strange." |
|
|
|
Unhappily,
Shelley's
remains
suffered
not only
a sea-change
but a variety
of other
transformations
before
arriving
at the
cemetery.
A number
of romanticized
paintings
depict
Shelley’s
cremation:
the young
poet lies
serenely
atop his
bier, surrounded
by his
friends
(including
Byron)
and grieving
widow.
Actually,
what was
left of
Shelley’s
body was
hardly
in any condition
to be painted.
The corpse
had washed
up some
ten days
after the
drowning
and all
exposed
flesh was
gone—Shelley
was identified
by his socks,
trousers,
and a volume
of Keats’s poetry
in his pocket.
The body
was then
covered
in quicklime
and temporarily
buried in
a shallow
grave until
permission
for cremation
could be
acquired.
Mary did
not attend
the cremation;
Byron was
there for
a short
time but
got nauseous
and had
to leave.
The ashes
were eventually transferred
to the Protestant
cemetery in Rome.
|
| John Keats is buried in the less populated, more parklike
section of the cemetery, in a quiet corner close to the
Pyramid (seen here in a contemporary drawing). |
 |
| Like Shelley, he rests next to a friend—in this case,
the artist Joseph Severn, who cared for Keats during his
last illness and drew the young poet's final portrait. |
 |
| Between them lies the grave of Severn's son. |
|
|
| Not
far away is
the gravesite
of William
("Willmouse")
Shelley,
who died in
Rome on 7
June 1819,
at the age
of three. |
|
|
| The
Protestant
Cemetery is
near the Pyramid
metro stop;
it lies behind
the Pyramid
itself, and
is locked
up at 5:30
PM. |
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