George From Ireland - Reflections's video: John Keats: bicentenary of his death

John Keats was born in London in 1795. The house he was born no longer stands. Its site is near Moorgate Tube Station. His father ran a livery stables and an inn. When Keats was 9 his father fell off his horse and died. Only two months later his mother rewed. That marriage was unfruitful and the couple separated after a few months. John was a teenager when his mother died. The family was not poor. Keats had a large patrimony. However, the solicitor who was trustee did not hand over the funds and John Keats was unaware of his inheritance. John was a bright lad and studied hard at his books. He drunk deep of the classics. At the age of 14 Keats was apprenticed to an apothecary and a doctor. Keats had to assist in medical procedures. At the age of 18 Keats published the not so cryptically named volume entitled 'Poems by John Keats.' Before long he was making waves in literary London. For a time Keats studied at Guy's Hospital, London. It is called Guy's not because it only treats males! The hospital has always treated females too! It was founded by Mr Guy. John Keats qualified as an apothecary (pharmacist). This entitled him to carry out some medical procedures. He resided with affluent friends at Hampstead which was then a village outside London. Today Hampstead is well within the confines of London. John Keats had two brothers and one sister. One of his brothers contracted tuberculosis. This was an incurable condition of the lungs. The brother coughed up blood. Tuberculosis (TB) was sometimes called consumption. It was often a poor person's disease. Those who were undernourished, cold, wet and generally debilitated were susceptible. Keats nursed his sibling. Fanny Brawne was Keats' muse. She was his near neighbour. Keats adored her. However, he was not a man of means. Fanny's family opposed a marriage on the ground that the impecunious apothecary could not provide for her. John was only 5'1''. He felt his lack of stature made many women unapproachable. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were among the most storied poets in English in that epoch. John Keats befriended them. They were both better than him. In 1818 Keats started coughing up blood. He had seen his brother fall victim to TB. John Keats knew enough about to medicine to realise that he was doomed. John had considered upgrading his qualification to become a physician. This would have amelioriated his precarious financial situation. However, he wished to devote more time to poesy. Therefore, he declined to do so. Keats' reputation rests partially on his odes. These poems include Ode to a Nightingale, Ode to a Grecia Urn and Ode on Melancholy. The tone of hs verses turned darker and more morbid. That was because he felt morbidity creeping over him. He wrote, 'Now more than ever seems it rich to die/ To cease upon a midnight without pain.' In 1820 Keats was coughing up arterial blood. He chose to shift to Italy. It was believed that the milder and more arid climate would be salubrious for him. He set sail in early 1821. Keats arrived at Rome. He stayed near the Spanish Steps. He had a significant quantity of opium with him. His friend did not let him have much. John was in severe pain and it was feared that John would willfully administer himself a fatal dose because John was in so much pain. Keats was highly cognizant that the Grim Reaper would not tarry long. He yearned for renowned but feared he would never achieve a modicum of recognition. His quill penned the bold words, 'I think I shall be rememebered among the English poets after my death.' However, when it came to planning his headstone. He left strict instructions: his name was not to be engraved in the gravestone. He ordered that he be described only as 'a young English poet.' John asked for a quotation to be etched upon the headstone: here lies one whose name is writ in water. Was this to suggest that his work as ephemeral as he? John was in an out of consciousness. He was coughing up large amounts of blood. He grew very feeble. It was clear that the end was nigh. At the moment of his dissolution he appeared to welcome death as a blessed release from his throes of agony. He proclaimed 'thank God it has come' and died. He is 25. Keats remained one of the most celebrated poets in any language. John Keats lies in Cimiterio Accatolica in Rome. That is the Non-Catholic Graveyard. It is often inaccurately limned as the Protestant Graveyard. The cemetery is bounded by the southern wall of Rome. How apt that he rests there for all eternity in the Eternal City. John had been raised on Latin and his magnificent imagination had been fired by classical lore. John Keats never married. He had no children. The head master of Eton at the time was Dr John Keate. Keate and Keats are two different people. They are not related! Keate's Lane at Eton alludes to the head master and not to the versifier.