John Keats

John Keats 31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and PercyBysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime, his reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of allEnglish poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. Jorge LuisBorges stated that his first encounter with Keats” work was the most significant literary experience of his life.

The poetry of Keats is characterised by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. This is typical of romantic poets, as they aimed to accentuate extreme emotion through an emphasis on natural imagery. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analysed in English literature. Some of the most acclaimed works of Keats are «Ode to a Nightingale«, «Sleep and Poetry«, and the famous sonnet «On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer«

John Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on 31 October 1795 to Thomas Keats and his wife, Frances Jennings. There is little evidence of his exact birthplace. Although Keats and his family seem to have marked his birthday on 29 October, baptism records give the date as the 31st. He was the eldest of four surviving children; his younger siblings were George (1797–1841), Thomas (1799–1818), and Frances Mary «Fanny» (1803–1889) who eventually married Spanish author Valentín Llanos Gutiérrez. Another son was lost in infancy. His father first worked as a hostler at the stables attached to the Swan and Hoop Inn, an establishment he later managed, and where the growing family lived for some years.

In April 1804, when Keats was eight, his father died from a skull fracture, suffered when he fell from his horse while returning from a visit to Keats and his brother George at school.Thomas Keats died intestate. Frances remarried two months later, but left her new husband soon afterwards, and the four children went to live with their grandmother, Alice Jennings, in the village of Edmonton.

Famous poems

Endymion                                                                                                                                            

Published:1818                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Based on the Greek myth of Endymion in which the moon Goddess Selene falls in love with a mortal, Keats’ Endymion is divided into four books, approximately thousand lines each. Most of the contemporary critics disliked the poem but it is now among his most famous work

On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer

Published:1816 Statue of Homer outside the Bavarian State Library in Munich Keats and his friend Charles Cowden Clarke spent an evening reading George Chapman’s superb 17th century translation of Homer’s classics Iliad and Odyssey. Keats wrote this sonnet as a gift for Clarke who found it the next day on the breakfast table. The poem has become a classic, often cited to demonstrate the emotional power of a great work of art and its ability to create an epiphany in its beholder.

#6 The Eve of St. Agnes Published : 1820

Saint Agnes by Domenichino                                                                                                   

Saint Agnes is the patron saint of young girls and Saint Agnes’ Eve falls on the 20th of January. Keats’ poem is based on the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on the eve of St. Agnes. The poem was influential in 19th century literature and is considered one of Keats’ finest.

#5 Ode to a Nightingale

Published:1819

W. J. Neatby’s 1899 illustration for Ode to a Nightingale

A nightingale built its nest near Keats’ home in the spring of 1819 and inspired by its song, Keats wrote this famous ode in a single day. In the poem Keats describes a nightingale that experiences a type of death but does not actually die. The bird is able to live through its song, a fate which is impossible for a human to achieve.

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Published:1820

Keats’ Urn – Tracing of an engraving of the Sosibios vase by Keats

Keats believed that classical Greek art was idealistic and captured Greek virtues. This led to him writing ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ which has five stanzas of 10 lines in which he has discoursed on the design of a Grecian urn. At the time of its publication, the poem was not received well by the critics but it is now considered one of the greatest odes in the English language.

By Demetris G.