John Keats

John Keats

John Keats was born October 31, 1795 in London England to Frances Jennings and Thomas Keats. He was the first of five children. His mother's parents, John and Alice Jennings, were rather well-off and after his parents were married they allowed his father to manage the livery business. In the summer of 1803 John and his brother were sent to board at the John Clarke's school in Enfield, close to his grandparents' house. This small school had a liberal, progressive outlook and a progressive curriculum more modern than the larger, more prestigious schools. Clarke's school was known for its family atmosphere. Keats developed an interest in classics and history which would stay with him throughout his short life. Keats befriended the headmaster's son, Charles Cowden Clarke, whom became a very important influence, mentor and friend. He is the one who introduced Keats to Renaissance literature. Keats is described as a volatile character "always in extremes", given to indolence and fighting. Keats father died when he was 8 years old, after a fall from his horse.

At 13, he began to focus his energy towards reading and studying, He won his first academic prize in 1809. When he was 14 his mother passed away from tuberculosis. Eventually Keats left the Clarke's school in the summer of 1811 to enter an apprenticeship with an Edmonton surgeon and apothecary named Thomas Hammond, although he had already formed a keen taste for poetry, classical mythology, and tales of history and romance. Keats's training took up increasing amounts of his writing time and he felt increasingly ambivalent about his medical career. He felt presented with a stark choice. Keats's first surviving poem, An Imitation of Spenser, had been written in 1814, when Keats was 19. Now, strongly drawn by ambition, inspired by fellow poet, Leigh Hunt, and stressed by family financial crises, he suffered periods of depression. His brother George wrote that John "feared that he should never be a poet, & if he was not he would destroy himself." In 1816, Keats received his apothecary's license which made him eligible to practice as an apothecary, physician, and surgeon, but before the end of the year he announced to his guardian that he had resolved to be a poet, not a surgeon. Although John's short life was full of many hardships and difficulties, Keats was able to go on with his life and cage up his emotions. When he wrote, Keats put his entire mood into his work. His emotions can be traced throughout his poetry, which adds true passion to his works. Using this style, Keats wrote some of the best literary works ever created.

Some of Keats major works were written in May of 1819, including "ode to a nightingale," "ode to a Grecian urn," and "ode on Melancholy." Keats was famous for writing odes. An ode is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. Keats wrote in the Romanticism period when enlightenment was happening and many people stressed personal emotion, free play of the imagination, and freedom from rules of form. Keats did just that. His works are all tied into his life experiences. Keats often wrote about his traumatic childhood and the loves he had encountered along the way. Since Keats life was centered with major conflicts whether it was internal or external, it often showed in his poetry. Many of his poems are against the norm in this period of time, and often deal with life versus death, or the ideal versus the real.

(READ "ON DEATH" THE POEM FIRST)

The poem 'On Death' is one of Keats' shortest and most meaningful poems. He questions that what if death is only sleep and life is the dream. Best times in our lives may just be imaginary like a phantom. We think that it is painful to die, but what if it is just the end of a dream. Keats shows how we all live great lives while destroying them with our massive fear of death.

Keats uses a great simile in the line, "And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by,". It refers to the beautiful things in our life that we value so greatly as just a memory. Phantoms cannot be touched or moved, they are only images. What if the people that you see around you are not really there and you are really just imagining them while you sleep in reality. The idea that Keats is