John Keats was the youngest of the romantic poets. He was born on 31st October, 1795, in London. His life was tragic in the sense that he suffered many calamities during his very short life. His brother Tom and his mother died of consumption. He also lost his father at a very early age. His disappointment in live with Fanny Brawne, whom he loved passionately aggravated the family disease to which he himself had fallen prey. There were financial difficulties too in his life. After his boyhood he never had a home of his own and had to move from one lodging to the other. Finally he went to Italy to regain his lost health where he died on 23rd February, 1821.
As Keats was afflicted by consumption, he was obsessed with the idea of death. Acutely aware of the pain and sufferings of poverty and illness, he wrote about these subjects with great poetic force. His poetry has the vividness of detail and intensity of emotion. His poems are just like a painting in which the object is depicted with the minutest detail.
Keats was a student of surgery. During the years 1810 to 1814, he was an apprentice to a surgeon Mr. Hammond. During this period he was very much influenced by Spenser. Keats’ first volume of poems appeared in 1817. It made a little impression but soon ceased to sell. There were two significant poems in this volume namely ‘Sleep and Poetry’ and ‘I Stood Tiptoe Upon a Hill’. It was followed by ‘Endymion’ in 1818 in his second volume. Soon after a couple of cruel reviews, in which criticism of real failings of Keats’ immature poetry, along with sneers at his birth and abuse of his poetry’s most beautiful passages, appeared first in Blackwood’s Magazine and then in the Quarterly.
It was believed that these reviews would kill Keats but it was a complete error. Keats was not the man to be discouraged. His own words show this:
As Keats was afflicted by consumption, he was obsessed with the idea of death. Acutely aware of the pain and sufferings of poverty and illness, he wrote about these subjects with great poetic force. His poetry has the vividness of detail and intensity of emotion. His poems are just like a painting in which the object is depicted with the minutest detail.
Keats was a student of surgery. During the years 1810 to 1814, he was an apprentice to a surgeon Mr. Hammond. During this period he was very much influenced by Spenser. Keats’ first volume of poems appeared in 1817. It made a little impression but soon ceased to sell. There were two significant poems in this volume namely ‘Sleep and Poetry’ and ‘I Stood Tiptoe Upon a Hill’. It was followed by ‘Endymion’ in 1818 in his second volume. Soon after a couple of cruel reviews, in which criticism of real failings of Keats’ immature poetry, along with sneers at his birth and abuse of his poetry’s most beautiful passages, appeared first in Blackwood’s Magazine and then in the Quarterly.
It was believed that these reviews would kill Keats but it was a complete error. Keats was not the man to be discouraged. His own words show this:
“I begin to get a little acquainted with my own strength and weakness. Praise or blame has but a momentary effect on the man whose love of beauty in the abstract makes him a severe critic of his own works.”
So all amateur writers, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a good response from your writings in the beginning. Keats’ life sets a very good example for us – first, he did not get disheartened by the cruel response of the critics; secondly, we all remember him as one of the greatest poets in English literature and this is on the basis of his short literary career till the age of 23. So all you folks pick up your pens and get going.
We’ll talk about his poetry next time!
1 comment:
Keats, one of my favorites.
I'll be keeping a close eye on your following posts! Keep up the good work. :-)
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