What I learned today

The following information I found in a book titled Panati's Extraordinary Endings Of Practically Everything And Everybody.
The book has tons of fun things to read and I highly recommend picking up a copy.

This is a condensed version from what I read in the book.
I promise that it will be worth reading.
Okay so John Keats had this friend.
His name was Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Now Percy was married to Mary Shelley (lady who wrote Frankenstein).
You don't need really need to know that loop, but what the heck.
So Percy was told by his doctor to move to Italy.
Italy at the time was seen as having a rejuvenating climate.
Percy travels there with his wife and two children on their yacht.
Within a year, their infant dies from a high fever.
The following year, their two-year-old falls ill and succumbs to his illness.
Life was fragile. I'm sure you can deduce that from the proceeding sentences though.
Okay, so Percy goes into a writing frenzy after his children die.
He pumps out a number of famous poems over the next 3-4 years.
In 1821 he hears news that his friend John Keats has passed and decides to write his "perfect poem" to commemorate Keats.
This poem, much to Percy's disappointment, gets negative reviews and so he decides to end his writing career.
Percy becomes depressed and suicidal.
In July 1821 Percy decides to lift his spirits and sets sail with friend Edward Williams.
He sails to Piso and enjoys himself.
On the return trip, he is sailing from the harbor as a sudden storm sets in.
A man in a fishing vessel, by the name of Trelawny, waves his arms frantically to get them to turn the yacht around and head back to the harbor.
Edward and Percy ignore the man (who Percy befriended during his stay in Piso).
The storm struck and passed within 30 minutes but during that time, the yacht capsizes and both men drowned.
Mary Shelly becomes heart broken and clings to the hopes that their boat went off coast and will show up on a distant island.
News gets back that he was in fact dead and had drowned at sea.
Trelawny happens to be around when the identifying of the body takes place and he quickly points out that is was indeed Percy.
In Percy's breast pocket was the last collection of poems written by John Keats before he passed away.

This is where it gets interesting.
Now there was a law that when a body washed on shore, it had to be burned.
This was to prevent the spread of disease.
Now Trelawny, some friends of Percy, and some curious locals are the only people at the burning.
Trelawny, who worshiped the poet, reaches into the fire and pulls Percy's heart from his body.
He sends it to Mary Shelly in a jar and the heart sits on her desk for years.
Percy's ashes get sent back to his wife and she puts them in a grave.
Trelawny travels to the grave site and is not satisfied with the grave accommodations.
He uses all the money he has and purchases two new headstones for two graves.
One for the empty plot next to Percy.
You'd think that he would do the noble thing and have the plot for Shelly.
In his infatuation for Percy, he writes a letter to Mary Shelly and informs her that the new plot next to Percy is for himself.
To this day, Trelawny -the man whom Percy knew less than six months- is buried in the grave next to the famous poet Percy Shelly.
Not his wife.

If you enjoyed this bit of writing, make sure to check out the rest of my blog. WARNING: I'm no famous poet and I don't plan on drowning at sea. END WARNING.