John Keats

1795 - 1821

 

 

John Keats was born the son of a stable manager at Moorfields, London in 1795. His father died in 1804 and his mother in 1810. His interest in poetry had been sparked by his time at Clarke's School in Enfield where he was befriended by Charles Cowden Clarke, the son of the headmaster. While his first poem, Lines Written in Imitation of Spencer, was not written until 1814, he had commenced a translation of Virgil's Æneid. He rapidly developed as a poet and completed Endymion in 1817. It received poor reviews, especially from The Quarterly Review and he considered giving up writing. Fortunately, he had a higher opinion of his ability than the reviewers and wrote in a letter to his brother, George, that 'I think I shall be among the English poets after my death'.

Over the period 1818 - 1819 he produced his best work including: Hyperion, Ode On a Grecian Urn, Ode to Psyche and many others. Sadly, he contracted tuberculosis and in an effort to stem the disease went to Rome (despite an offer from Shelley to go to Pisa - who knows how Keats, Shelley and Byron might have inspired each other!) where he died in February 1821.

 

If you like these, why not add to your library through Amazon:

The Complete Poems of John Keats
Modern library
USA or UK