John Keats (1795-1821)
England

"I' m certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of imagination."-John Keats

Born in London, and eldest son of a livery stable-keeper, Keats was nevertheless educated in French and Latin, and well-known for his temper, pugnacity, wit, and generosity. In 1811, he served as an apprentice to an apothecary-surgeon, yet Keats' interest lied in English literature, myths, and fairy tales. In 1815, Keats left the apprenticeship and began the production of his poetry while studying medicine at a hospital. But his writing took precedence over medicine and he did not continue to pursue a career. In 1816, his first poem, Solitude, was published in literary figure Leigh Hunt's Examiner. At this time he familiarized himself with Leigh Hunt, his circle, artist Haydon, Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, and Percy Shelley. This acquaintance provided a great influence for his own poetry. In 1817, under the suggestion of Haydon, Keats retired to the Isle of Wight. There he began work on Endymion, his first long poem which was published in 1818 on his return to London. In March of 1818, Keats contracted tuberculosis as a result of nursing his brother Tom. The first signs of the disease were revealed during Keats' visit to Ireland. While he nursed his dying brother, withstood personal and critical attacks upon himself and his work, and then finally experienced Tom's death and endured through his own failing health, he fell hopelessly in love with Fanny Brawne, of which La Belle Dame sans merci, among many other poems, is attributed to. Keats love was not satisfied. Fanny would not marry him because of his poor health and poor financial situation. In 1819, Keats wrote the poems the Eve of St. Agnes, Ode to Psyche, La Belle Dame sans merci, Ode on Indolence, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode on Melancholy, Ode to a Nightingale, Lamia, Fall of Hyperiod, To Autumn, and the historical tragedy, King Stephen, and a satirical burlesque, The Cap and Bells. In 1820, he published his third volume of poetry, and journeyed to Italy in a futile attempt to improve his health.

Criticism

Keats' tombstone held this engraving: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water (Noyes 1120)." The engraving suggested Keats' feeling that his life and work were ephemeral and his mark on time virtually nonexistent. His experiences covered love, death, hopelessness, thwarted ambition, and failing health. Such things haunted him through the whole of his life and flowed through to his pen in "When I Have Fears" (1848):

"When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery…
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance...
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink (Noyes 1163)."

Yet disease was the only thing that claimed him; his courage and strength allowed him to achieve the prestige of being considered one of the greatest English poets. He enjoyed solitude, nature, and transcending beyond himself to reveal the mysteries and truths of nature. In his poem "Solitude," Keats gladly welcomes solitude in the presence of nature: "O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,/Let it not be among the jumbled heap/Of murky buildings; climb with me the/steep,--/Nature's observatory-whence the dell,/Its flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell (Noyes 1125)…" Upon this verse Keats remarked his favor for nature over the "murky buildings" of the city. Keats was idealistic, sympathetic, passionate, intuitive, ambitious; thus his poetry reflected the essence of Romanticism and the pains of human strife expressed through his own vivid color and tone, and his memorable and unique diction. It is unsurprising that many readers find exhilaration, peace, and strength in his verse.

Works

Poems (1817)
"I stood tip-toe upon a little hill"
"Sleep and Poetry"
"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"
Endymion (1818)
Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820)

"Ode to a Nightingale"
"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
"To Autumn"
"Ode on Melancholy"
"La Belle Dame sans Merci"
"The Eve of St. Agnes"
"When I have fears that I may cease to be"
"Bright star! would I were as steadfast as thou art"
"Lines on the Mermaid Tavern"
"Fancy"
"Bards of Passion and of Mirth"
"Hyperion"
"Solitude"

Additional Information
http://englishhistory.net/keats.html

Sources:

Noyes, Russell. English Romantic Poetry and Prose. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.