John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821)
Keats was a Londoner and one of the principal poets of the English Romantic movement. During his short life, his work received constant critical attacks from the periodicals of the day, but his influence on poets such as Alfred Tennyson has been immense. Elaborate word choice and sensual imagery characterize Keats's poetry, including a series of odes that were his masterpieces and which remain among the most popular poems in English literature. Keats's letters, which expound on his aesthetic theory of "negative capability", are among the most celebrated by any writer. Keats life ended in tragedy. He contracted tuberculoses, fought heroically against the disease which was to terminate his life. He died at the early age of 25 and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. His last request was to be buried under a tombstone reading "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." His name was not to appear on the stone. Despite these requests, however, Severn and Brown also added the epitaph: "This grave contains all that was mortal, of a young English poet, who on his death bed, in the bitterness of his heart, at the malicious power of his enemies, desired these words to be engraved on his tombstone" along with the image of a lyre with broken strings. As a poet Keats is receptive, imaginative and thoughtful. Beauty moved him most of all. His famous words” A thing of beauty is a joy forever” (from Endymion)
Poem: This living Hand (Love’s philosophy)
Poem: On the Grasshopper and Cricket (Love’s philosophy)
|