Leigh Hunt was a prolific poet, essayist, and journalist, who was friends with some of the most important literary figures of his time, including Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Though his outspoken political views created turmoil in his life—Hunt spent two years in prison for publishing libel on the Prince Regent—he dedicated much of his energy, especially in his later years, to poetry. His poems take many forms, alternatively experimental and traditional, and have many different themes, from criticism of contemporary poets to mythological examinations.