AskEssays.com - Discover essay samples

John Keats

4.9 of 5.0 (177 reviews)

Contains
469 words
Category
People

John Keats Page 1
John Keats Page 2
John Keats Page 3
The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

John Keats


English Literature Biographical Speech


Keats, John (1795-1821)


English poet, one of the most gifted and appealing of the 19th century and a seminal figure of the romantic movement.


Keats was born in London, October 31, 1795,and was the eldest of four children. His father was a livery-stable owner, however he was killed in a riding accident when Keats was only nine and his mother died six years later of tuberculosis. Keats was educated at the Clarke School, in Enfield, and at the age of 15 was apprenticed to a surgeon. Subsequently, from 1814 to 1816, Keats studied medicine in London hospitals; in 1816 he became a licensed apothecary (druggist) but never practiced his profession, deciding instead to be a poet.


Early Works


Keats had already written a translation of Vergil's Aeneid and some verse; his first published poems (1816) were the sonnets "Oh, Solitude if I with Thee Must Dwell" and "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer." Both poems appeared in the Examiner, a literary periodical edited by the essayist and poet Leigh Hunt, one of the champions of the romantic movement in English literature. Hunt introduced Keats to a circle of literary men, including the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; the group's influence enabled Keats to see his first volume published, Poems by John Keats (1817). The principal poems in the volume were the sonnet on Chapman's Homer, the sonnet "To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent," "I Stood Tip-Toe upon a Little Hill," and "Sleep and Poetry," which defended the principles of romanticism as promulgated by Hunt and attacked the practice of romanticism as represented by the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron.


Keats's second volume, Endymion, was published in 1818. Based upon the myth of Endymion and the moon goddess, it was attacked by two of the most influential critical magazines of the time, the Quarterly Review and Blackwood's Magazine. Calling the romantic verse of Hunt's literary circle "the Cockney school of poetry," Blackwood's declared Endymion to be nonsense and recommended that Keats give up poetry.


Last Works


In 1820 Keats became ill with tuberculosis. The illness may have been aggravated by the emotional strain of his attachment to Fanny Brawne (1801-65), a young woman with whom he had fallen passionately in love. Nevertheless, the period 1818-20 was one of great creativity. In July 1820, the third and best of his volumes of poetry, Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, was published. The three title poems, dealing with mythical and legendary themes of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance times, are rich in imagery and phrasing. The volume also contains the unfinished poem "Hyperion," containing some of Keats's finest work, and three poems considered among ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 469 words of 938.

Keywords: john keats poems, john keats biography, john keats quotes, john keats biography pdf, john keats as a romantic poet, john keats ode to a nightingale, john keats poetry, john keats books

Similar essays


Cyrano de Bergerac

While reading , I found myself often wondering whether or not Cyrano had led a happy life. Actually, I never once wondered that, but that is irrelevant, because Cyrano's happiness is the focus of this essay. Was he happy? Truth be told, I cannot say for sure. If we look upon his life, it would seem that he was a bit of a martyr, always sacrific...

90 reviews
Download
Florence nightingale 2

Florence Nightingale helped make hospitals cleaner and more efficient, she helped make nursing an important, respected profession, and helped change the world around her into a better, more caring place. Would you like to be in a dirty, smelly hospital with fleas and rats? Would you want to have a nurse care for you who knows nothing about dise...

32 reviews
Download
Dr

. martin luther king, jr. . Martin Luther King, Jr. ?I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ?We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal?...I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by...

206 reviews
Download
Eleanor Roosevelt

was an honest person who had responsibility and compassion towards her husband, family and her fellow man, whatever their social status. She used great citizenship and initiative actions in dealing with anyone who was fortunate enough to make her acquaintance. was an outspoken advocate of social justice. During the years she has taken over...

160 reviews
Download
John Rocker

\"Imagine having to take the (No.) 7 train to (Shea Stadium) looking like you\'re (in) Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It\'s depressing. \"The biggest thing I don\'t like about New York...

180 reviews
Download
Atsisiųsti šį darbą