A little biography of John Keats

John Keats was born on 31 October 1795 in London. His father worked at a livery stable, but died in 1804. His mother re-married, but died of tuberculosis in 1810.

Keats was educated at a school in Enfield. When he left at 16, he was apprenticed to a surgeon. He wrote his first poems in 1814. In 1816, he abandoned medicine to concentrate on poetry. His first volume of poetry was published the following year.

In 1818, Keats nursed his brother Tom through the final stages of tuberculosis, the disease that had killed their mother. Tom died in December and Keats moved to his friend Charles Brown's house in Hampstead. There he met and fell deeply in love with a neighbour, the 18-year old Fanny Brawne.

This was the beginning of Keats' most creative period. He wrote, among others, 'The Eve of St Agnes', 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', 'Ode to a Nightingale' and 'To Autumn'. The group of five odes, which include 'Ode to a Nightingale', are ranked among the greatest short poems in the English language.

From September 1819, Keats produced little more poetry. His financial difficulties were now severe. He became engaged to Fanny Brawne, but with no money there was little prospect of them marrying.

Early in 1820, Keats began to display symptoms of tuberculosis. His second volume of poetry was published in July, but he was by now very ill. In September, Keats and his friend Joseph Severn left for the warmer weather of Italy, in the hope that this would improve Keats' health. When they reached Rome, Keats was confined to bed. Severn nursed him devotedly, but Keats died in Rome on 23 February 1821. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.

John Keats was born on 31 October 1795 in London. His father worked at a livery stable, but died in 1804. His mother re-married, but died of tuberculosis in 1810.

BBC.CO.UK “Historic Figures”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/keats_john.shtml

http://www.john-keats.com/

The poem in relation with the poet’s poetic production

Firstly, I have to tell that Keat’s poetry is characterized by his abundant, imaginary and melancholic language and one of the relations that its poem (The Autumn) has with the rest of the poems of John Keats is that Keats has used a melancholic and abundant language.

As well, this poem is an ode and John Keats wrote a important number of odes at the year of 1819, so it is an evident relation. The Autumn was written in 1819 and it belongs to the more authentic and memorable poems of his life unlike his first works which were really criticised.

The importance for the poet’s life

The Autumn was one of the best-known works of John Keats because his works publicated in 1820 (Lamia, Isabella, The eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems) were located inside his productive years. But what is true, is that he could not enjoy the positive resonance of the publication of this poem as many others mentioned before.

Based in BBC.CO.UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/keats.shtml

Historical moment

The historical moment when the poem was written and published was “Romanticism”. So here there is an explication about this literary movement based on Wikipedia.

Romanticism is an artistic, literary and intellectual movement originated about the middle of the 18^th century in Western Europe, during the Industrial Revolution. This term has been used to refer to certain artists, poets, writers, musicians, and political, philosophical and social thinkers too. All of these people were of the late 18^th century and early 19^th century. But what is true is that the specific definitionof Romanticism has been mostly subject of lots of debates in some fields such as intellectual history and literay history .

But what really interest us is the term Romanticism inside literature. Romanticism in literature typically refers to the late 18^th century and the 19^th century. The most important terms found in Romantic literature are the criticism of the past, emphasis on women and children, and respect for the nature. Now we can see that in the poem The autumn we find the theme of the respect of the nature so we can see the relation.

Romanticism in Britain literature is mostly associated with the poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. But Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and john Keats constitute another phase of romanticism in Britain.

Some of the best regarded poets of the time were in fact women. Yet educated women were targets of masculine scorn.

In 1819 (when the poem was written), an assembly of workers demanding parliamentary reform was attacked by sabre-wielding troops in what became known as the “Peterloo Massacre”.

So the poem “The Autumn” is placed inside Romanticism movement and its save the characteristics of this period of time.

Based in Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats

Relation of the poem with today

I think that this poem has a relation with today because, John Keats tells to readers how is the autumn for him and the autumn in the real world, so before and now, this season more or less has the same processes for to change from summer to winter. However, since my point of view I really think that today’s live characteristics are really different an in what are themes of poetry we find a distant relation too because now we don’t think in the same way as people did it before.