John Keats was one of the last, great poets of the Romantic Era (which lasted from 1792-1822). He wrote poetry of great
sensual beauty and with a unique passion for details as well as the music of the language. There were many poets living at the
same time as him, many who were more famous and treated more seriously (whether praised or notorious). The most
respected of the Romantic poets was William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. They were considered the "senior" poets or
the "patriarchs" of Romantic poetry who began the movement at the time of the French Revolution.

Next came the younger, more rebellious group of poets, these included the notorious and scandalous poets (for their time),
Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The fifth poet to gain a reputation (unfortunately, posthumously) was John Keats. He
was unlucky in the respect he didn't fit into the older, respected group based on his age, nor in the younger group, for he was
neither a lord nor in the upper classes. He was one of the first "middle class" poets of the then emerging middle class to gain the
public attention.

 Keats the Medical Student
One of the aspects about Keats that also is unique to the background of the other Romantic poets was that he was trained to
be in the "professions." Keats was apprenticed at a young age to be a surgeon. He eventually got his license as an apothecary
and could have done quite well financially if he decided to go into this line of work rather than poetry.

Keats's medical education, however, didn't end with his apothecary license. He went on to become a medical student. It was
only after he met Leigh Hunt that he decided that he didn't want to become a doctor; his true passion was for poetry. After this
decision he left medical school for good. He only practiced his medical skill when his younger brother, Tom Keats, was dying.

 The "Cockney" Poet
Keats father tended a stable next to his place of birth (1795). Throughout his childhood and into his early life there were
countless problems with money. His father died when he was still very young and once his mother died of tuberculosis when he
was fourteen, Keats' and his siblings' inheritance was tied up in technical legalities for years. He initially attended medical
school, but finding his interest (and talent) in poetry to be greater, he abandoned medicine to pursue a career in poetry.

A century ago, a poet still could make a comfortable living, providing he was popular enough. Unfortunately, the popularity he
craved never was forthcoming. Two critics (who cowardly remained anonymous) wrote scathing reviews of Keats's poetry,
one labeling him as a "Cockney" poet since he lived in London and not the respectable "Lake District" of Wordsworth and
Coleridge. Since he was not formerly educated at Cambridge or Oxford (like Byron and Shelley) nor held a title of any kind, it
was easy to label him (despite his poetic merit) as being distinctly "lower class".

His poetry
Though some of his early poetry (which he wrote when he was twenty to twenty-two) wouldn't be considered "top-notch," the
rate in which his poetry excelled and matured was astonishing. In his last year before he was struck ill with the soon-to-be-fatal
tuberculosis, in 1820 he produced "The Eve of St. Agnes," "The Lamia," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and the amazing
unfinished epics, "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion." Keats, who was considered "uneducated," spent a great deal of time
studying Shakespeare and Milton. He admired and imitated these two masters and it reflects in his poetry. The sensuous,
detailed and all-encompassing quality of his work has often been likened to Shakespeare. I believe that if he had lived a full life
and had not died at 26 he would have equalled Shakespeare in the depth, beauty and pathos of his poetic language.

 Keats and Fanny Brawne
Keats flirted and had many innocent relationships with young women when he was a teenager. Many were not as serious as
when he fell in love with Fanny Brawne.
Fanny Brawne appealed to Keats because she was a witty, high-spirited girl with a good sense of humor and an unusual
understanding of Keats's personality. She was seventeen when she first met Keats and enjoyed not only his effusive praise for
her beauty, but unfairly met with harsh criticism on Keats's part, especially after he contracted tuberculosis.
He accused her of flirting with Charles Brown and often scolded her for going off to parties. As the tuberculosis grew worse,
Keats demanded more from her. She nursed him when he stayed at the Brawne's house before he left for Italy. She endured
Keats's erratic mood swings and obsessive jealousy with incredible grace, tolerance and understanding. I believe Keats must
not be blamed for his behavior, since he didn't hate Fanny, but hated the fact she represented life. He not only hated he was
being torn away from her, but from life itself.
It turned out Keats was right. He died early into the following year. Fanny always was saddened by Keats's early death (he
was her first fiancée), but she didn't dwell on the past. She eventually married and led a full life, though she kept many letters
and mementos from Keats.

 The "Family Disease"
Keats wasn't marked out alone by the scourge of tuberculosis but nearly the whole Keats family.
As a child Keats's uncle died of tuberculosis and then his mother by the time he was fourteen. The death which hurt Keats the
most was the death of his favorite brother, Tom, who he desperately tried to nurse back to health. Tom was sixteen when he
died.
Keats was next on the tuberculosis death-list. It is believed he contracted it when he was nursing Tom and there it incubated in
his lungs. Some speculate it first manifested itself in the Northern Tour Keats took with Charles Brown where he caught a chill
and then got a terrible sore throat. The sore throat kept reoccurring and the full-blown tuberculosis showed itself on a cold
March night when Keats forgot his coat. He came back greatly chilled and coughed up some blood. The terrible hemmorhages
began soon after and he died that February.
George Keats contracted tuberculosis a few years after Keats's death. The only survivor of Keats's immediate family who
never fell victim to the "family disease" was Fanny Keats, the youngest child of the Keats family.

 Keats's Persona
sensitive, frail young poet struck down in mid-life by harsh criticism is largely because of Percy Bysshe Shelley who
perpetuated this myth in Adonais. Though Shelley meant well by the poem, it was not true and he didn't completely understand
Keats's personality.
The more you read about Keats and his life, the more you realize he represented life, not death. He was in love with life and all
within life.
Keats was actually very strong and healthy. He was unusually short, even for the times (a little over five feet), but made up for it
in a friendly and exuberant personality. Keats easily attracted friends and remained generous and loyal to them. Had Keats not
contracted tuberculosis, he might have easily lived a long, full and very productive life. Keats, however, still retains most of his
fame from his remarkable "death-themed" odes and the tragedy of his early death.

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