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John Keats: the story on HearLore | HearLore
John Keats
John Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on the 31st of October 1795, into a world that would eventually crown him a master of English verse, yet his origins were far from the aristocratic circles of his literary successors. He was the eldest of four surviving children born to Thomas and Frances Keats, with his father working as an ostler at the Swan and Hoop Inn, a humble establishment that later became the site of the Globe pub. Despite the family's modest means, Keats was sent to a progressive school in Enfield run by John Clarke, where he developed a deep love for classics and history under the mentorship of the headmaster's son, Charles Cowden Clarke. This early education laid the groundwork for a literary career that would be cut short by death, but the path to that career was paved with the grim reality of his family's financial struggles. His father died in April 1804 from a skull fracture after falling from a horse, and his mother succumbed to tuberculosis in March 1810, leaving the children in the custody of their grandmother. The loss of his parents and the subsequent financial instability forced Keats into a medical apprenticeship with Thomas Hammond, a surgeon and apothecary, a profession that offered financial security but felt increasingly like a cage to the young poet. By 1815, he had registered as a medical student at Guy's Hospital, where he distinguished himself as a dresser, assisting surgeons during operations, yet his heart was increasingly drawn to the world of poetry. The stark choice he faced between a secure medical career and the uncertain life of a poet weighed heavily on him, and by the end of 1816, he had resolved to abandon medicine entirely, a decision that would plunge him into debt and isolation.
The Cockney School
The literary world of early 19th-century London was a battleground of class and style, and John Keats found himself at the center of a storm that would define his reputation for decades. In October 1816, he was introduced to the influential Leigh Hunt, a close friend of Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, which marked the beginning of his immersion in a circle of radical thinkers and poets. This association led to the publication of his first volume, Poems, in March 1817, but the reception was a disaster. The Quarterly Review published a scathing attack by John Wilson Croker, who dismissed Keats as a disciple of the Cockney School, a term coined to describe writers who lacked the proper education and social standing to be taken seriously. The Blackwood's Magazine review by John Gibson Lockhart was even more brutal, describing Endymion, Keats's epic poem, as imperturbable drivelling idiocy and advising him to return to his apothecary shop. These reviews were not merely literary criticism; they were political attacks on a group of upstart young writers who had not attended Eton, Harrow, or Oxford, and who used uncouth language and low diction. The hostility was so intense that Keats felt he was being snuffed out by an article, a sentiment echoed by Lord Byron, who quipped that Keats had been killed by the reviews. Despite the public condemnation, Keats found support in his new publishers, Taylor and Hessey, and in the friendship of Richard Woodhouse, a lawyer who became a devoted champion of his work. Woodhouse collected Keatsiana, documenting as much as he could about the poetry, and his archive remains one of the main sources of information on Keats's work. The poet's ability to endure such harsh criticism while continuing to write with increasing intensity is a testament to his resilience and the depth of his conviction in his own genius.
Common questions
When and where was John Keats born?
John Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on the 31st of October 1795. He was the eldest of four surviving children born to Thomas and Frances Keats.
Why did John Keats abandon his medical career?
John Keats abandoned his medical career by the end of 1816 to pursue poetry despite the resulting debt and isolation. He had registered as a medical student at Guy's Hospital in 1815 but felt increasingly constrained by the profession.
What happened to John Keats during the winter of 1818?
John Keats wrote his most mature work during the winter of 1818, including Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn. This period also saw the death of his brother Tom from tuberculosis on the 1st of December 1818.
Who was Fanny Brawne and how did she relate to John Keats?
Fanny Brawne was the woman who became the love of John Keats's life after they met between September and November 1818. She moved into the other half of Wentworth Place on the 3rd of April 1819, allowing them to see each other daily.
When and where did John Keats die?
John Keats died in Rome on the 23rd of February 1821 at the age of 25. He was buried in the city's Protestant Cemetery with an epitaph stating Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water.
How did John Keats's reputation change after his death?
John Keats's reputation grew steadily after his death, and by the end of the 19th century he was placed in the canon of English literature. His work inspired the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and poets such as Wilfred Owen, W. B. Yeats, and T. S. Eliot.
The winter of 1818, 19 marked the beginning of John Keats's annus mirabilis, a year in which he wrote his most mature and enduring work, despite the personal tragedies that surrounded him. He moved to Wentworth Place, a newly built house owned by his friend Charles Armitage Brown, located on the edge of Hampstead Heath. It was here, under a plum tree in the garden, that he composed Ode to a Nightingale, a poem that would become one of his most famous works. The story of its creation, as told by Brown, describes Keats sitting for two or three hours under the tree, inspired by the song of a nightingale that had built her nest near the house. Although some contemporaries, including Charles Wentworth Dilke, denied the story, the poem itself stands as a testament to the power of nature and imagination in Keats's work. During this period, he also wrote Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode on Melancholy, The Eve of St. Agnes, La Belle Dame sans Merci, and Hyperion, among other works. The poems were heavily loaded with sensualities, a style that was both praised and criticized by his contemporaries. Keats's ability to express the inner intensity of his emotions through natural imagery was a hallmark of the Romantic movement, and his work from this period is considered some of the greatest in the English language. The year was also marked by personal tragedy, as his brother Tom died of tuberculosis on the 1st of December 1818, a disease that would eventually claim Keats himself. The loss of his brother, combined with the financial struggles and the harsh criticism of his work, created a backdrop of darkness and depression that permeated his writing. Yet, it was in this crucible of suffering and loss that Keats produced his most profound and enduring poetry, a body of work that would eventually be recognized as one of the most important poetic achievements of the 19th century.
The Love and The Disease
John Keats's personal life was as turbulent and intense as his poetry, particularly in his relationship with Fanny Brawne, the woman who would become the love of his life. He first met Fanny between September and November 1818, and by the 3rd of April 1819, she and her widowed mother moved into the other half of Wentworth Place, allowing Keats and Fanny to see each other every day. Their relationship was marked by a deep emotional connection, yet it was shadowed by the illness of Tom Keats and the poet's own financial struggles. Keats wrote to Fanny on the 13th of October 1819, declaring that his love had made him selfish and that he could not exist without her. He described his love as a religion, stating that he could die for it, a sentiment that would become tragically prophetic. The relationship was unconsummated, and jealousy and the fear of his impending death gnawed at him. Keats's letters to Fanny are filled with expressions of his love and his despair, and they remain some of the most poignant documents of his life. At the same time, his health was rapidly deteriorating. He had been suffering from tuberculosis, a disease that was often referred to as consumption, and which was associated with weakness and repressed passion. In September 1820, he left for Rome, knowing he would probably never see Fanny again. The journey was a minor catastrophe, with storms and a dead calm slowing the ship's progress, and he reached Rome on the 14th of November, by which time any hope of the warmer climate he sought had disappeared. The medical treatment he received in Rome, including bleeding and a starvation diet, likely hastened his death, and he died on the 23rd of February 1821, at the age of 25. The tragedy of his life was compounded by the fact that none of Fanny's letters to him survive, leaving a gap in the historical record that has been filled by speculation and legend.
The Final Journey
The final months of John Keats's life were a slow and steady decline into the final stage of tuberculosis, a disease that was not yet understood to have a single infectious origin. His autopsy showed that his lung had almost disintegrated, and he was coughing up blood and covered in sweat. Joseph Severn, his devoted friend and companion, nursed him with unwavering loyalty, observing how Keats would sometimes cry upon waking to find himself still alive. Keats's last letter, written on the 30th of November 1820 to Charles Armitage Brown, expressed his despair and his sense of leading a posthumous existence. He was angry with both Severn and the attending physician, Dr. James Clark, for not giving him laudanum to ease his pain, and he repeatedly asked how long his posthumous existence was to go on. The medical treatment he received, including bleeding and a starvation diet, was standard for the time but likely contributed to his weakness. Keats died in Rome on the 23rd of February 1821, and his body was buried in the city's Protestant Cemetery. His last request was to be placed under a tombstone bearing no name or date, only the words, Here lies One whose Name was writ in Water. This epitaph, added by Severn and Brown in protest at the critical reception of Keats's work, has become one of the most famous lines in English literature. The irony of his death, so soon after the publication of his most celebrated works, and the fact that he was buried in a foreign land, far from the home he had left, added to the tragedy of his life. The Italian health authorities, concerned about public health, burnt the furniture in Keats's room, scraped the walls, and made new windows, doors, and flooring, ensuring that his final days were erased from the physical world. Yet, his spirit lived on, and his work would eventually be recognized as one of the greatest achievements of the Romantic era.
The Posthumous Poet
When John Keats died at the age of 25, he had been writing poetry seriously for only about six years, and publishing for only four. In his lifetime, sales of his three volumes of poetry probably amounted to only 200 copies, and his reputation was largely defined by the harsh criticism he had received. However, his posthumous reputation grew steadily and remarkably, and by the end of the 19th century, he was placed in the canon of English literature. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, were inspired by Keats and painted scenes from his poems, creating lush, arresting images that remain closely associated with his work. The Encyclopædia Britannica of 1888 described Ode to a Nightingale as one of the final masterpieces of human work in all time and for all ages, and poets such as Wilfred Owen, W. B. Yeats, and T. S. Eliot found inspiration in his work. The largest collection of Keats's letters, manuscripts, and other papers is in the Houghton Library at Harvard University, and his legacy continues to be celebrated through the annual Keats-Shelley Poetry Award. The story of Keats's life and work is one of tragedy and triumph, of a poet who was killed by the reviews of his time but who ultimately triumphed over them to become one of the greatest poets in the English language. His letters, which were first published in 1848 and 1878, are now highly regarded in the canon of English literary correspondence, and his ideas about poetry, such as negative capability and the chameleon poet, have become part of the common currency of literary criticism. The story of John Keats is a testament to the power of art to transcend the limitations of time and the harshness of life, and to the enduring legacy of a poet who wrote his name in water but whose words have been written in the hearts of generations.