John Keats (1795 1821)

British Romantic Poet

John Keats was the youngest of the major romantic poets. He was born in London, to a lower
middle-class family. The loss of his parents marked him with a sense of lifes precariousness, a
theme that recurs in his poetry. He was apprenticed to a surgeon and in 1816 was licensed as a
pharmacist and surgeon. This training in science helped to ground his poetry in the sensory
details of nature and everyday life.

His first published poem, O, solitude, aroused the interest of Leigh Hunt, the editor who
encouraged him to quit his medical practice and devote his life to poetry. Keats saw this as the
noblest goal one could have and was filled with a deep sense of the continuity of poetry and
literature through the ages, a great love for English literature, and a desire to return poetry to its
roots in Chaucer, Shakespeare and Spenser.

His first published collection entitled simply Poems (1817) was dedicated to Leigh Hunt. His
second work fell short of his own expectations but the following ones would contain some of
the greatest poems in English language. He died at the age of 25 of tuberculosis.

B. Keats was keenly aware of the destructive human impact on nature and that appreciation of
nature often occurs only when people become aware that natural beauty is fragile and can be
destroyed and lost forever.

In short, the romantics believed that untouched nature involved a sense of awe and grandeur
within people; that experiencing this awe could allow people to experience a feeling of
purification and redemption; that untouched nature was superior to humanity; and that the long-
term presence of people in nature could only be detrimental to it. These principles have long
guided attitudes towards the preservation and use of wilderness areas and continue to the present
day.

Ballad: short poem that tells a simple story and has a repeated refrain. They were originally
intended to be sung. Early ballads, known as folk ballads, were passed down through generations
so their authors are often unknown. Later ballads composed by known authors are called literary
ballads (The rime of the ancient mariner, La belle dame sans merci).

Ode: an extended lyric poem characterized by exalted emotion and dignified style. An ode
usually concerns a single, serious theme. Most odes are addressed to an object or individual.

Odes are distinguished from other lyric poetic forms by their complex rhythmic and stanzaic
patterns (Ode to a Nightingale).
John Keatss ode:To Autumn, written in September 1819, was the last ode he wrote that year.
Critics saw the poems supremacy among Keatss work.

To Autumn is simply a description of the fall season and seems to serve a s a conclusion to the
odes that Keats wrote before it. Like his other odes, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on
Melancholy and Ode on a Grecian Urn, the poem can be seen as a commentary on grief, most
likely in response to the death of Keatss beloved brother Tom.

To Autumn expresses the poets deep love and sensual connection with nature, and his view of
nature as a place of spiritual contemplation and renewal - typical of the romantics.