Meet the Author
John Keats
English · 1795–1821 · Romantic poet
Portrait: William Hilton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
An English Romantic poet who trained in medicine, wrote his major odes in 1819, and died of tuberculosis in Rome at 25.
2 StoryBites Editions2 Poems
Why read John Keats?
Keats packs thought and sensation into tight forms, and he returns again and again to beauty, time, and death. Ode on a Grecian Urn questions a scene frozen on an ancient vase, while When I Have Fears is a sonnet about dying before his work is done. Read him for dense imagery and for endings that are still argued over.
A life in six dates
- 1795Born in London
- 1816Qualifies as an apothecary
- 1817Publishes his first book, Poems
- 1818Writes When I Have Fears, first printed in 1848
- 1819Writes Ode on a Grecian Urn and his other major odes
- 1820Publishes Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, then sails for Italy
- 1821Dies of tuberculosis in Rome
Themes across the collection
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
The younger RomanticsKeats wrote in the same years as Shelley and Byron, though he came from a humbler background and some reviewers attacked him harshly.
Negative capabilityIn an 1817 letter Keats praised the ability to rest in uncertainties and doubts without reaching after fact and reason, which helps explain his open-ended odes.
Illness and early deathKeats nursed his brother Tom, who died of tuberculosis in 1818, and knew the disease from his medical training.