Keat’s life was passionately throbbing and physically crippled. His poetry is a direct product of his life. So it is poetry is related to the poet’s private self. Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats and Byron were all preoccupied with self. Keats life and so poetry are different from those of other romantic poets. Wordsworth’s poetry is philosophical; Shelley is full of Utopian political idealism. Byron’s is full of personal idealism; But Keat’s life has been an ‘endless search for the identity of his own self. His poetry is the record of that search. As a man, he desired for the life of sensations. As a poet he translated the sensations into poetry.

Keats was born in 1795. The circumstances in which he was brought up were strongly unfavorable to the creation of art and literature. Thomas Keats was his father. His father was a stable Keeper at the Swan and Hoop Inn in London. It was a prosperous inn owned by. John Jennings. Thomas Keats fell in love with his master’s daughter. He married her in 1794 much against the will of Mr. Jennings. John Keats was the first of the five children. He had three brothers and a sister.

After few years of his marriage, Thomas Keats was accepted by his father-in-law. Then he took over the entire charge of the rich business of his father-in-law. He became wealthy and dreamt of giving a better future for his children. The family lived happily. The children were comfortable with the affection of their parents. John was the dearest to his mother.

Keats received education in a school at Enfield which was kept by John Clarke. The separation from his mother was painful to him. But soon he developed self-confidence. He became very friendly with the headmaster’s son, Charles Cowden Clarke. This friendship encourages and depend the literary tastes in him. At school he was very smart and active. He took keen interest in games and other outward activities. He was not serious about his studies.

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Then started the tragic period of his life. Only at the age of nine, he lost his father. His father died suddenly in an accidental fail from horse in 1804. It was the first great disaster in Keat’s life. Again within two months he heard of his mother’s remarriage with an ordinary man, Mr. Rawlings. He married her keeping an eye on her great properties. Keats was deeply attached to his mother. So this event gave him the rudest emotional shock. Through out his life he was to go in search of an idealized father in one older man after another. His mother’s subsequence disappearance and mysterious disgrace added to his suffering His mother was the idealized woman for him in his early days. But after her betrayal he continued to have the fear for all women.

These disasters of his early childhood from the deepest elements of his poetic self. A life long nervousness developed in his nature. He withdrew himself from all outdoor activities. In Clarke’s Academy at Enfield he engaged himself fully to reading and contemplation. He read extensively. He was charmed by the imaginary world of myths and legends. In them he found a relief to the burdens of real life. Before the completion of school life, was familiar with the works of Homer, Ovid, Milton and Shakespeare.

Then his guardian, Mr. Abbey forced him to study medicine and surgery. Keats was placed under Mr. Thomas Hammond, a reputed surgeon of the time. The study of medicine did not interest him. He was charmed by the magic of book. He devoted most of his time in the company of nature and writing poems. During that stage Clarke introduced him to Spencer. Keats felt inspired to write poems but he was not sure of himself. Then a friendship developed between Keats and Laigh Hunt. It brought confidence to him. Through Hunt he was introduced to Robert Haydon, a passionate painter. Wordsworth, Shelley and Hazlitt etc.

In 1816 Keats gave up his medical study. He began as a full-time poet. Then his younger brother, Tom fell ill. His other brother, George was still not sure of a career. Keats’s financial condition was getting worse. Tom’s condition becomes suddenly serious. George also married unexpectedly and was trying to go to America. Keats was very much attached to his brother. He was greatly shocked.

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In order to recover from that he visited Scotland with Brown. He was greatly charmed by the natural beauties of Scotland Meanwhile his “Endymion” was published. When he returned from Scotland he was depressed to find adverse reviews of his book. He himself developed sore throat and congestion. Tom’s consumption aggravated. All these problems together could upset him. But soon he recovered from the shock. He nursed Tom day and night knowing for sure that Tom would no more survive.

During this period he fell in love. It was a love at first sight. He met Fanny Browne at Mr. Brown’s house. She was of his age. Thus he was in great dilemmas. On the one hand Tom’s condition demanded his regular attention. On the other hand he burnt in the flame of love Tom died. It was a rude shock to Keats. George had already left for America. He was completely despaired. He remained so for three months. Then his love for life and Fanny inspired him. At about this time he wrote “The Eve of St. Agnes” in memory of his growing love for Fanny.

His love was not a pleasant Affair. Fanny’s mother did not agree to give her in Keat’s hand unless he improved his financial condition. The engagement was done. But it was kept a secret. Keat’s financial grew worse. Mr. Abby was the guardian of Keat’s and his brothers’ and sister. He misappropriated a fair snare of property. George was facing financial hardship in America from time to time Keats had to send money to him. Keats had not other source of income than the sale of his books. Due to adverse criticism of his books, they did not sell good. Still he faced the situation bravely.

In 1819, Brown took him to the Isle of Weight. It was a calm and lonely place. Brown hoped that Keats would work better there. In between Fanny left him. It was intolerable for him. He returned to London. His health started giving way. He got the news of George’s failure in business in America. He felt totally frustrated. He suffered from consumption. He became sure of his early death. Still he struggled to live and fulfill his dream of becoming a great poet.

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On doctor’s advice, his friends took him to the warm climate of Italy. But his separation from friends and Fanny was too much for him. There he died on the night of February 21, 1921. Before his death, he had a will for an epitaph on his tomb. After his death his words-

“Here lies one whose, name was writ in water” were inscribed on his tomb-stone.

But after his death his poetry rose to high popularity. He is now considered one of the greatest poets.

His Works:

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In 1815, Keats wrote some sonnets and lyrics like “A Hymn to Appolta” and “The Epistle to George Felton Matthew”. These two poems are unusually rich in sensuous beauty of nature. In 1816 he wrote many more poems. They were matures ones. Two of them are note worthy. They are the sonnet. “On First Locking into Chapman’s Homer” and “Sleep and Poetry”. Both these poems constitute a manifesto of Keats’ aesthetic vision.

“On first looking into Chapman’s Hommer” is more important for its structural symmetry, use of imagery and word music. “Sleep and Poetry” is a more ambitious poem. It contains Keat’s Poetic creeds. Here he has personified sleep in clear sensuous image. The poem being with an invocation to sleep. In the second stanza there is an invocation to poet

The pieces like “A Hymn to Appolo”, “The Epistle to George Felton Matthew.” “I stood Tiptoe” and “sleep and poetry” constitute Keats’ first volume of poems, “Poems” (1817).

Then he wrote “Endymion”. It is a long poem having more than four hundred lines. It deals with the theme of love and beauty. It has the structure of a parable. It constitutes Keats’ precise philosophy of beauty, truth and imagination. “Endymion” was published in 1818 and it was followed by a series of adverse criticisms.

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The period from 1818 to 1820 was a period of great problems for him. But it was the most productive period. In 1820 volume, there are great poems like “Isabella”, the first version of “Hyperion”, “The eve of St. Agnes”, the Odes Limit. “La Belle Dame Sans Meric.” During this period also he wrote “Other, the Great”, a poetic drama, “The Eve of St. Mark” and the second version of “Hyperion” Isabella” is a tragic poem. It is a narrative. It has more touch of Keat’s personal life. “The Eve of St. Agnes” is a narrative poem of romantic love. This is the happiest of Keats’ poems. It has lyrical beauty, sensuous imagery, magical atmosphere and thrilling music. It shows the pictorial power of Keats’ imagination at its best.

“Lamia” is a long, narrative poem. It is based upon the myth of a serpent woman. By witchcraft she transforms herself into a beautiful girl. Then she reduces Lycius, a dreamyed youth. But at the end a sage sees through her deception find dissolves her back to her original from Lycius, in utter frustration, stabs himself to death. The Plot of the poem is based on the conflict between reason and romance. It records Keats’ growing suspicion and jealousies of Fanny. In the poem, Lamia is Fanny, Lycius is Keats, and the sage is his friend, Charles Brown.

“The Eve of St. Mark” a companion piece of “The Eve of St. Agnes”. It shows Keat’s preoccupation with death. “Hyperion” is a narrative poem. It is very popular. In its first version Keats shows Milton’s influence on him. It is based on the myth of struggle between the Titans and Olympians. The Titans were dynasty of the gods. In its first version the poem was left unfinished, the second version was also incomplete due to his growing illness and subsequent death.

The four Odes, “Ode to Psyche…………………… Ode to the Nightingale, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “Ode to Autumn” are the finest poetic achievement of Keats.

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As a poet:

It is a fact that in his life time Keats was a neglected poet Wordsworth rejected him as a pagan. Shelley called him Greek but Leigh Hunt only could see a great poet in him. Quite some time after his death, slowly the interest in his works grew. Arnold found in him an ideal poetic character. The critics of the last part of the nineteenth century like Pater, Wilde and Symons saw in him a pure poet. The Georgian poets praise him for his appreciation of the beauties of the imaginative world. The Georgian poets praise him for his appreciation of the beauties of the imaginative world. The modern poets praise him for having extended the possibilities of English language and bounds of subjective experience. Keats is now a greater influence on the recent poets.

Keats’s life and poetry are inseparable. Each of his poems is inspired by an intimate personal experience and yet it attains impersonality. There is a healthy integration of life and art in his poetry. With his feeling for-beauty, he could perceive the vital connection between beauty and truth

Keats is a romantic poet. But his romanticism is different from that of the other Romantics. He began writing under the influence of Spenser and Milton. With Spenser he felt a kinship of sensibility. With Milton he felt a kinship of poetic ambition. Both these poets strengthened the elements of escapism in him In Spenser he found an ideal of nature’s sensuous beauty and physical charm. In Milton he found an imagined contemplation of heroism to escape from the rude realities of every day life.

Keats early romanticism is characteristic with an escape into “the life of the sensations.” Poetry offers Keats another way of escape from the cruel realities of everyday life. Through poetry he could transport himself to the world of imagination. In his mind, poetry and nature become almost identical, “I stood Tip-toe” and “The Eve of St. Agnes” embody this sort of romanticism. Here the poet gets joy from escaping into the world of sensations and imagination.

But towards the end he tried to grow out of this escapist romanticism. With Lamia’ begins his realization that the world of beauty, myth and Imagination is unreal “Hyperion” marks a growth in this vision. Here he does not try to escape from the suffering of life. Rather he tries to accept them through wisdom and understanding Thus Keats has shown an interesting development from the romance to realism. But he could not live long enough to comprehend -fully the implications of realism.

Another characteristic feature of Keats as a poet in his sensuous response to nature and art. His sensations are pure constituting beauty and truth and joy. Even in his later poetry sensuousness remains the central quality. His later poems are full of sensation-causing objects. The “Ode to Autumn” is a nice example of his sensuousness.

“Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary-floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep.

Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while they hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look;

Thou watchest the last oozing hours by hours.”

Keats’s poetry is full of word-pictures. He points word- pictures brilliantly with all the color, vividness and richness of the original. ‘Endymion’ is rich in word-pictures human beauty and passion. Aid odis are remarkable for their ironical and ambiguous word-pictures.