Keats’s life and family
John Keats was born prematurely to Frances Jennings and Thomas Keats, a Devonshire man in late October 1775 in one of the villages in London. He was born at a time when poetry was re-awakening. His father was a very poor man; he inherited most of his properties from his father-in-law. John was the eldest of the five children born to Frances and Thomas. His siblings included George, Tom, Fanny, and Edward, who had died in childhood. Keats’s brothers grew together in brotherhood; their family pride was remarkable in society. However, the pride of Keats’ brother was only future-oriented; none of them paid attention to the past events. They aimed at uplifting the name of their family without regarding their history; they left no record concerning their success in life (Forman, 228).
Frances and Thomas loved their children very much; they wished to send them to Harrow for their education. However, due to their family’s wanting economic status, John and his siblings undertook their early education at Enfield School, a school that was well renowned for offering liberal education. While in Enfield school, John had a role model by the name of Charles Clarke. Charles Clarke was the son of Enfield School’s headmaster. In addition to having enough learning materials, Charles was good at literature. He encouraged and taught John how to write and read (Allot, 60).
John lost his father through death in April 1804; he had fallen from a horse on his way home. The death of his father, a stable-keeper greatly affected him. His father’s death had led to his mother’s remarriage with Moorgate, another man within London City. The remarriage of his mother with Moorgate, a stable-keeper exposed him to a lot of mental tortures. His unrest intensified after the separation between his mother and the stepfather. As a result of his mother’s separation from his stepfather, John together with his mother and siblings moved to Edmonton to live with their grandmother, Mrs. Jennings. While in his grandmother’s home, John took his studies from one of the nearby schools. Unfortunately, the economic status of Mrs. Jennings affected his character traits greatly; he spent much of his time in school fighting his fellow pupils including his brothers instead of reading. His physical appearance and character traits made the majority of the people link him with the military instead of literature. However, it was in this school that John developed a passion for literature.
John and his siblings lost their mother in 1810. She had died of tuberculosis at the age of 35. The death of his mother led to his grandmother taking the role of taking care of him and his siblings. Due to inability as a result of old age, his grandmother hired two guardians, Mr. Rowland Sandell and Mr. Richard Abbey to take care of him together with his siblings. The appointment of the two guardians further affected John’s academic advancement; he was removed from where he was schooling in 1811 by Mr. Abbey and turned into a surgeon apprentice (Forman, 230). To his advantage the surgeon area was located near his old school; he accessed the school library regularly and continued receiving encouragement from his senior friend, Charles. He worked as a surgeon apprentice for Mr. Thomas Hammond for about five years. In 1814 at the age of 19, John fought his master that resulted in a separation that led to him joining one of the local schools as a student. It was in that same year that John devoted much of his time to studying literature.
Keats’ Friends
John got influenced by the works of Edmund Spenser, a poet into loving poetry. His friend by name Leigh Hunt aided him significantly in 1816. Hunt exposed John to other literature writers such as Percy Shelley and Wordsworth, and a painter Haydon. Haydon was a renowned man in Greece. He had succeeded in the sculpturing competitions that took place in great parts of Greece. His half-insane character had led to the whole world considering him as an individual selected by external circumstances to represent his country. However, from his work portrayed in the painting of great pictures such as Dentatus and Macbeth, it is evident that he was a great painter. Thus, the association of John with Hydon marketed him in the world.
Through George, John became friends with Joseph Severn. Joseph was one of the young boys that loved music. His music art was broadly known in London. John’s poetry was also influenced by the character traits of Joseph Severn. Joseph was one of the prominent poets that defended Christianity in drafting many of his poems. He also took part in acting with John in British Museums, resulting in John’s advancement in the field of poetry. Through his brothers, John also befriended Charles Wells. This is evidenced by his writing of 1816; in it, John addressed him in rhyme of flowers. Wells a schoolmate to Tom Keats was a small, redheaded boy that loved animals. However, his friendship with Wells did not last long; Wells’s act of diminishing his young brother, Tom in the writing of love letters (Blades, 201).
The influence of the eminent writers enabled John to advance his writing profession as a poet. Additionally, the success of publishing his first poem motivated him into publishing his first pile of poems in 1817. Shelley, one of John’s new friends played a crucial role in advising him on how to become one of the greatest poets. He also advised him on the importance of developing substantial bodies before publishing a poem. However, his negligence of Shelley’s pieces of advice and support of divisive Hunt led to his poetry not selling well. In the same year, while working in the Isle of Wight, John met his brother by the name of Tom and decided to take care of him. Tom was suffering from tuberculosis, a disease that had led to the death of their mother. He died in 1818.
In addition to loving poetry, John had also an interest in pleasure life; after finishing writing his poem “Endymion”, John traveled to Scotland to meet his friend by the name Charles Brown. With him, they had happy moments till when he traveled back and found his brother’s condition unpromising.
Keats illness
The death of Tom Keats had led to John’s movement to Hampstead located in London to stay in Brown’s house. In Brown’s house, John met Fanny Brawne and fell in love with her. His persistence in the production of poetry work led to his production of the bests poems in 1819. Among the poems that he produced that year and considered the best include “Ode to Psyche”, “Lamia” and “Ode to a Nightingale”. Unfortunately, John had also contracted tuberculosis, a disease that had caused the death of his mother and brother. In addition to a wanting economic status, the deterioration of his condition led to his separation from his girlfriend, Fanny (Keats, 501). It led to his movement from London to Italy with his friend by the name of Joseph Severn after taking in pieces of advice from his doctors. However, the movement from London to Italy only granted him a bonus of one year; he died towards the end of February 1821 while in Rome.
Keats poetry
In writing his poems, John Keats reflected on his memories of past events. For instance, in writing Chapman’s sonnet, John uses the lines “realms of gold” to express his acknowledgment of the past poems. In writing the poem “To Autumn”, John pays attention to all human senses. This describes John as an observant poet who takes into consideration of the physical things in the environment. For instance, in the first stanza, John writes about mists and the abundance of fruits. With that line, John describes how the summer season plays a great role in the ripening of fruits (Bate, 487). In writing “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “Ode to a Nightingale”, John also involves summer settings. According to John in his poem “To Autumn”, autumn is a harvesting season. This is evidenced by the second stanza of his poem (Bate, 487).
In conclusion, John Keats was a genius poet. Despite undergoing many challenges while pursuing his academic objectives, he manages to advance and write many poems that captured the interest of many renowned poets in the world. John had also a great interest in nature; most of his poems had a summer setting.
Works Cited
Allot, Miriam. John Keats. Edenbridge: Longman Group, 1976. Print.
Bate, Walter. John Keats. New York: Harvard University Press, 1963. Print.
Blades, John. John Keats. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. Print.
Forman, Buxton. The Letters of John Keats. New York: Kessinger Publishing, 2004. Print.
Keats, John. John Keats: Selected Poems. New York: Penguin Books Limited, 1999. Print.