The Feast of the Poets well received by Hunt's friends. The new edition was dedicated to Thomas Mitchell and it ended with a sonnet that was dedicated to Thomas Barnes, both friends of Hunt. The poem would be revised throughout Hunt's life, including an edition in 1815. The poem satirically describes many of Hunt's contemporaries: Wordsworth is experiencing a "second childhood", Coleridge "muddles" in writing, and William Gifford is a "sour little gentleman". Four great poets, Thomas Moore, Walter Scott, Robert Southey, and Thomas Campbell are allowed to dine with Apollo while Samuel Rogers is only allowed to have tea. In the rewrite, Hunt says
The Feast of the Poets on the British Romantic poetry, including "Lyrical Ballads", that sought to overcome the standards of neoclassical poetry with emphasis on the problems inherent in the French standards created by those like Nicholas Despreaux-Boileau. As such, Hunt praises Wordsworth as the leader of a new type of poetry. Although Byron is not fully discussed in early editions of the poem, he is discussed in the notes as an individual who would become an important person who had already "taken his place, beyond a doubt, in the list of English Poets". By the 1815 edition, Byron was introduced and was praised by