Lord Byron and Percy Byssche Shelley, much like Coleridge and Wordsworth, were a good friends that strongly influenced one another's poetry. Their friendship might seem unlikely - Shelley growing up privileged and with an excellent education and Byron have a noble title but no money to that title - but they actually had a lot in common. Neither ever shyed away from scandalizing their peers, though Byron's charming persona might have saved him from Shelley's exiled fate, and both were political radicals, proponents of individual rights. They were active in the Greek revolution against the Turks.

Their poetry also has much in common. Both men are deferent to the might and power of nature (particularly in Byron's speech to the sea) and both recognize the fraily of humankind (Ozymandias). But while their poetry is representative of their friendship, it is not representative of them as people. Lord Byron is commonly believed to have been a loner, ostracized from society, who brooded over his dark thoughts and depression. However, this is a too-common misconception, as Byron was very extroverted and active in society.