Walter Savage Landor was born in Warwick, England, the son of Walter Landor and his second wife, Elizabeth Savage. After attending public school and receiving private tutoring, Landor attended Trinity College at Oxford University for two years. Throughout his youth he already displayed both a command and deep interest in the study of Latin translation and composition.

Landor did not finish his studies at Oxford; instead, he moved to London and began privately studying French, Italian, and Greek. His first book of poetry, The Poems of Walter Savage Landor, was published in 1795, and included fashionable imitations of famous poems, satires on university life, and political topics related to the wars between France and Great Britain. Landor's writings would return again throughout his life to political topics, imitations, and classic epigrams and idylls. Landor never really profited from his writings, instead relying on an allowance from his father and then on private income at the death of first his father in 1805 and then his mother in 1829.

Landor had an ongoing affair with Nancy Jones ("Iöne" of many of his early poems) from meeting her on holiday in 1793 until her death sometime in or before 1806. In 1802 he met Jane Sophia Swift (the "Ianthe" of his poems); while he fell in love with her, they never married. In 1808 Landor met Romantic poet and contemporary Robert Southey (1774-1843), with whom he developed a lifelong friendship; he developed acquaintances with a wide variety of English authors and poets of the 19th century. In 1811 Landor married Julia Thuillier, with whom he had four children.

Throughout the early 19th century, Landor traveled throughout Europe, living at various points in France, Spain, and Italy. In 1835, after his marriage broke down completely, Landor moved to Bath, England, and settled there for over 20 years. By the 1840s, Landor and editor and biographer John Forster (1812-1876) met, and Forster encouraged Landor's later literary activities. He also helped Landor collect his English language works into The Works of Walter Savage Landor (1846), which met with success in both Great Britain and the United States.

Landor experimented with genre and wrote both poetry and prose works throughout his life. He would frequently return to his older works, revising and republishing. He was best known and made famous by his Imaginary Conversations (originally 2 volumes published in 1824, a third volume added in 1828), in which literary and political figures from throughout European history held prose dialogues. Other works include the poem Gebir (1798), verse drama Count Julian (1812), and shorter poems and idylls on Greek themes collected in The Hellenics (1847).

[Information retrieved from "Walter Savage Landor," Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/walter-savage-landor.]