Discuss the use of the myth of Urania and Adonais in the poem "Adonais".

Urania (also known as “Venus” or “Aphrodite”), who is Adonis’ lover in the myth, is rewritten here as the young man’s mother (possibly because Keats had no lover at the time of his death).

Shelley blames Keats’ death on literary criticism that was recently published (see lines 150-53; he was unaware that Keats was suffering from tuberculosis). He scorns the weakness and cowardice of the critic compared with the poet, echoing his famous essay providing “A Defense of Poetry.” The poet wonders why Adonis’ mother (“Urania”) was not able to do more to save her beloved son, and he summons all spirits, living and dead, to join him in his mourning. Shelley argues that Keats’ had great potential as a poet and is perhaps the “loveliest and the last” great spirit of the Romantic period (an argument that might be true).