 the year 1816 in literature involved some significant literary events and new works. ==events== * april 14 - lord byron's poems "a sketch from private life" and "fare thee well", concerning his separation from his wife anne isabella, are published without authority in the champion. * may - lady caroline lamb's novel glenarvon is published in london, a roman Ã  clef containing an unflattering portrait of her ex-lover lord byron in the rakish title character of lord ruthven. * july - lord byron, mary wollstonecraft godwin, percy bysshe shelley and john polidori, gathered at the villa diodati by lake geneva in a rainy switzerland in this 'year without a summer', tell each other tales. this gives rise to two classic gothic narratives, mary shelley's frankenstein and polidori's the vampyre (based on byron's "fragment of a novel"). byron also writes the poem darkness. in late august shelley and godwin return to england, taking with them some of byron's manuscripts for his publisher. * september 16 ** lord byron's monody on the death of the right honourable r. b. sheridan, written at the request of douglas kinnaird, is spoken at the theatre royal, drury lane, london by mrs. maria davison. ** actor william macready makes his london debut, at covent garden as orestes in the distressed mother, a translation of racine's andromaque by ambrose philips. * october ** charles wentworth dilke and his friend charles armitage brown take up residence at wentworth place in hampstead, on the northern edge of london. ** john keats writes his sonnet "on first looking into chapman's homer". * november 25 - the chestnut street theatre in philadelphia (united states) becomes the world's first to be illuminated by gas lighting. * december - john keats composes the poem "sleep and poetry" while staying at the hampstead house of his friend leigh hunt, who introduces him to shelley. * december 5 - lord byron's [[the p
1816_books Years_in_literature