A short biography of John Keats
Books 'n' Cats
25,387 views
You've probably heard of John Keats, but he's more than the simpering Romantic poet we're familiar with. Learn more about Keats's brief life, from his grisly duties as surgeon's assitant to the turbulent romance with the woman he loved.
See our video on consumption here: Why people thought tuberculosis was hot
Written, presented, and edited by Rosie Whitcombe
@books_ncats Twitter & Instagram
Directed, produced, and edited by Matty Phillips
@ma_ps_ Twitter & Instagram
https://mphotos.uk/
Bibliography
Gibson Lockhart, John, ‘The Cockney School of Poetry, No. IV’, in Blackwood’s Magazine, 1817-25: Selections from Maga’s Infancy, ed. by Tom Mole, 6 vols. (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2006)
Keats, John, The Letters of John Keats, ed. by Hyder Edward Rollins, 2 vols. (Cambridge: CUP, 2011)
Monckton Milnes, Richard, Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats, 2 vols. (London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1848)
Motion, Andrew, Keats (London: Faber, 1997)
Roe, Nicholas, John Keats: A New Life (Cornwall: Yale University Press, 2013)
Stillinger, Jack, ‘The “story” of Keats’, The Cambridge Companion to John Keats, ed. by Susan J. Wolfson (Cambridge: CUP, 2001) pp. 246-60
Extra citations from The Letters of John Keats, vol. 2:
'confess if your heart is too much fasten'd on the world [...] confess to me how many things are necessary to you besides me' p. 291
'I cannot live without you, and not only you; but chaste you; virtuous you' p. 304
'Let me be but certain that you are mine heart and soul, and I could die more happily than I could otherwise live' pp. 293-4
'You must be mine to die upon the rack if I want you' p. 291
'If you could really what is call'd enjoy yourself at a Party [...] you never have not ever will love me' p. 291
'You are to me an object intensely desirable--the air I breathe in a room empty of you is unhealthy' p. 304
'Do not think of anything but me' p. 290
20 Comments
Thank you. Exactly what I was looking for - a short and well presented summary of Keats’ life.
Hope you’ve covered more poets.
Superb. Nice cat. We’ve 5…and a half (a stray who has adopted us. We know our place).
Sadly on the rise again.
A short biography of John Keats
Books 'n' Cats
25,387 views
You've probably heard of John Keats, but he's more than the simpering Romantic poet we're familiar with. Learn more about Keats's brief life, from his grisly duties as surgeon's assitant to the turbulent romance with the woman he loved.
See our video on consumption here: Why people thought tuberculosis was hot
Written, presented, and edited by Rosie Whitcombe
@books_ncats Twitter & Instagram
Directed, produced, and edited by Matty Phillips
@ma_ps_ Twitter & Instagram
https://mphotos.uk/
Bibliography
Gibson Lockhart, John, ‘The Cockney School of Poetry, No. IV’, in Blackwood’s Magazine, 1817-25: Selections from Maga’s Infancy, ed. by Tom Mole, 6 vols. (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2006)
Keats, John, The Letters of John Keats, ed. by Hyder Edward Rollins, 2 vols. (Cambridge: CUP, 2011)
Monckton Milnes, Richard, Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats, 2 vols. (London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1848)
Motion, Andrew, Keats (London: Faber, 1997)
Roe, Nicholas, John Keats: A New Life (Cornwall: Yale University Press, 2013)
Stillinger, Jack, ‘The “story” of Keats’, The Cambridge Companion to John Keats, ed. by Susan J. Wolfson (Cambridge: CUP, 2001) pp. 246-60
Extra citations from The Letters of John Keats, vol. 2:
'confess if your heart is too much fasten'd on the world [...] confess to me how many things are necessary to you besides me' p. 291
'I cannot live without you, and not only you; but chaste you; virtuous you' p. 304
'Let me be but certain that you are mine heart and soul, and I could die more happily than I could otherwise live' pp. 293-4
'You must be mine to die upon the rack if I want you' p. 291
'If you could really what is call'd enjoy yourself at a Party [...] you never have not ever will love me' p. 291
'You are to me an object intensely desirable--the air I breathe in a room empty of you is unhealthy' p. 304
'Do not think of anything but me' p. 290
I was a professor of Computer Science some forty years ago, at a state university in Minnesota. Every Friday, I would set aside ten minutes to recite some bit of poetry to my students, simply because I've always believed the Liberal Arts are important to everyone, regardless of intended profession. That term, on one of those days, it was "Ode on a Grecian Urn."
One of my students was twenty years older than rest, coming back to school to prepare for a new profession. He'd previously been an accountant.
At the end of his graduating term, he approached me to ask if were coming to the graduation exercises, for he wanted me to meet his elderly parents. I asked why.
He responded that in all his four decades of school and work, he'd never even heard of Keats, and that my little Friday afternoon tidbit opened his eyes to...well, you get the idea. In all my years of teaching, that surely ranks at the top of what I've been able to accomplish with my pupils.
I still recite that ode weekly to myself, each time fondly recalling my early visit to Keats House in Hampstead as a lad when first beginning collegiate life. I love all the Romantic poets, but Keats ever remains my favorite.
D-A