John Keats, an English poet, was born on October 31st 1795 in Finsbury Pavement near London. He was the eldest of four children born to his father, Thomas and his mother Frances.
John's father managed and owned a stable being able to earn enough money to send him and his brother George to the Academy of Enfield. There, eight year old John became friends with the headmaster's son Cowden Clarke and was more interested in fighting rather than literature. A former classmate, Edward Holmes said that John "would fight any one."
Around this time, Keats' father was tragically killed from serious injuries suffered after his horse stumbled whilst riding. Two months after his father's death, Keats' mother Frances was quick to remarry and move the family to her mother's place. The new marriage turned out to be a failure with Frances losing the family's stables as well as part of her inheritance to her estranged partner. This prompted her to leave Keats and his siblings.
At age 15, Keats' mother returned home but she was not in a good state and in March 1809, Frances died of tuberculosis which had killed her brother three months earlier.
During this time, Keats had formed a closer relationship with his headmaster and his son Charles. As a response to the loneliness felt after his mother's recent death, he took an interest in academics reading many texts and winning first prize in essay competitions that took place in his last three terms of school. Keats also went to the effort of translating essays into the the languages of French and Latin. Quickly, he became one of his headmaster's favourite students.
As John continued with school, his headmaster encouraged him to put his energy into the school's library and explore different stories. This is where John grew to recognise that literature held so much power and romance.
However, literature was not John's first career path. John's grandmother chose for the family's finances to be controlled by a London merchant named Richard Abbey. Abbey was extremely protective of the money therefore letting the Keats children have little control over it. As per Abbey's choice, Keats was pulled out of the Academy of Enfield to be a surgeon's apprentice. Close to the completion of the apprenticeship, Keats left his master and became a hospital student in London. Whilst studying, his friend Cowden Clarke encouraged his devotion to literature leading to Keats dropping out of his medical career to pursue writing.
Through Cowden Clarke's father, Keats was able to meet the publisher of the examiner, Leigh Hunt. Hunt became Keats' first publisher supporting him very early on in his career. He also intorduced Keats to an acclaimed group of English poets which included the likes of Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth.
In 1817, Keats new found group of friends influenced him to release his first colume of poetry titled Poems by John Keats. The year after, Keats released "Endymion" which was a four thousand line poem based on the Greek myth.
Keats received heavy criticism due to his bold style of writing. He noticed the ciritcism and it is fair to say that it did effect him. Fellow writer Shelley accounts that it led to a decline in his health however this has since proven to be false.
In the summer of 1818, Keats took a walking tour around Northern England an Scotland but had to return home later that year to care for his brother, Tom, who was sufferring from tuberculosis. It was also around this time that Keats fell in love with a woman named Fanny Brawne and continued to write publishing a poem titled "Isabella" two months later.
The death of Keats' brother halted his writing and it wasn't until late 1819 that he started to write again. This was also the year that Keats contracted tuberculosis with his health quickly worsening. His last volume of poetry was published and he travelled to Italy on the advice from his doctor that a warmer climate would be better for his health. This trip as well as Keats health and writing career led to the end of his relationship with Fanny Brawne.
The Italian weather proved to be good for Keats' health however within in a month he was ill again and painfully dying. Keats' passed away on February 23, 1821 aged just 25 years old.
Sources for this biography can be found here, here and here.
The image of Keats can be found here.
The image used in the header can be found here.
John's father managed and owned a stable being able to earn enough money to send him and his brother George to the Academy of Enfield. There, eight year old John became friends with the headmaster's son Cowden Clarke and was more interested in fighting rather than literature. A former classmate, Edward Holmes said that John "would fight any one."
Around this time, Keats' father was tragically killed from serious injuries suffered after his horse stumbled whilst riding. Two months after his father's death, Keats' mother Frances was quick to remarry and move the family to her mother's place. The new marriage turned out to be a failure with Frances losing the family's stables as well as part of her inheritance to her estranged partner. This prompted her to leave Keats and his siblings.
At age 15, Keats' mother returned home but she was not in a good state and in March 1809, Frances died of tuberculosis which had killed her brother three months earlier.
During this time, Keats had formed a closer relationship with his headmaster and his son Charles. As a response to the loneliness felt after his mother's recent death, he took an interest in academics reading many texts and winning first prize in essay competitions that took place in his last three terms of school. Keats also went to the effort of translating essays into the the languages of French and Latin. Quickly, he became one of his headmaster's favourite students.
As John continued with school, his headmaster encouraged him to put his energy into the school's library and explore different stories. This is where John grew to recognise that literature held so much power and romance.
However, literature was not John's first career path. John's grandmother chose for the family's finances to be controlled by a London merchant named Richard Abbey. Abbey was extremely protective of the money therefore letting the Keats children have little control over it. As per Abbey's choice, Keats was pulled out of the Academy of Enfield to be a surgeon's apprentice. Close to the completion of the apprenticeship, Keats left his master and became a hospital student in London. Whilst studying, his friend Cowden Clarke encouraged his devotion to literature leading to Keats dropping out of his medical career to pursue writing.
Through Cowden Clarke's father, Keats was able to meet the publisher of the examiner, Leigh Hunt. Hunt became Keats' first publisher supporting him very early on in his career. He also intorduced Keats to an acclaimed group of English poets which included the likes of Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth.
In 1817, Keats new found group of friends influenced him to release his first colume of poetry titled Poems by John Keats. The year after, Keats released "Endymion" which was a four thousand line poem based on the Greek myth.
Keats received heavy criticism due to his bold style of writing. He noticed the ciritcism and it is fair to say that it did effect him. Fellow writer Shelley accounts that it led to a decline in his health however this has since proven to be false.
In the summer of 1818, Keats took a walking tour around Northern England an Scotland but had to return home later that year to care for his brother, Tom, who was sufferring from tuberculosis. It was also around this time that Keats fell in love with a woman named Fanny Brawne and continued to write publishing a poem titled "Isabella" two months later.
The death of Keats' brother halted his writing and it wasn't until late 1819 that he started to write again. This was also the year that Keats contracted tuberculosis with his health quickly worsening. His last volume of poetry was published and he travelled to Italy on the advice from his doctor that a warmer climate would be better for his health. This trip as well as Keats health and writing career led to the end of his relationship with Fanny Brawne.
The Italian weather proved to be good for Keats' health however within in a month he was ill again and painfully dying. Keats' passed away on February 23, 1821 aged just 25 years old.
Sources for this biography can be found here, here and here.
The image of Keats can be found here.
The image used in the header can be found here.