As companion and friend to the two great poets, Edward Trelawny tells the story of the two great poets from 1821 when he met Shelley and Byron in Pisa. From the first, vivid impressions - he was surprised to find Shelley a "mild-looking beardless boy" and Byron , despite his "halting gait" as "fresh, vigorous and animated as any man I ever saw" - until Byron's death in 1824, he gives a lifelike picture of their days together and their conversations.