Chapter I: Front Matter

LIFE OF JOHN KEATS.

BY

WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI.

LONDON
WALTER SCOTT
24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW

1887

(_All rights reserved._)

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. PAGE

Keats's grandfather Jennings; his father and mother; Keats
born in London, October 31, 1795; his brothers and sister;
goes to the school of John Clarke at Enfield, and is tutored
by Charles Cowden Clarke; death of his parents; is
apprenticed to a surgeon, Hammond; leaves Hammond,
and studies surgery; reads Spenser, and takes to poetry;
his literary acquaintances--Leigh Hunt, Haydon, J.
Hamilton Reynolds, Dilke, &c.; Keats's first volume,
"Poems," 1817 11

CHAPTER II.

Keats begins "Endymion," May 1817; his health suffers in
Oxford; finishes "Endymion" in November; his friend,
Charles Armitage Brown; his brother George marries
and emigrates to America; Keats and Brown make a
walking tour in Scotland and Ireland; returns to Hampstead,
owing to a sore throat; death of his brother Tom;
his description of Miss Cox ("Charmian"), and of Miss
Brawne, with whom he falls in love; a difference with
Haydon; visits Winchester; George Keats returns for
a short while from America, but goes away again without
doing anything to relieve John Keats from straits in
money matters. 23

CHAPTER III.

Keats's consumptive illness begins, February 1820; he rallies,
but has a relapse in June; he stays with Leigh Hunt, and
leaves him suddenly; publication of his last volume,
"Lamia" &c.; returns to Hampstead before starting
for Italy; his love-letters to Miss Brawne--extracts;
Haydon's last sight of him; he sails for Italy with Joseph
Severn; letter to Brown; Naples and Rome; extracts from
Severn's letters; Keats dies in Rome, February 23, 1821. 40

CHAPTER IV.

Keats rhymes in infancy; his first writings, the "Imitation
of Spenser," and some sonnets; not precocious as a poet;
his sonnet on Chapman's Homer; contents of his first
volume, "Poems," 1817; Hunt's first sight of his poems
in MS.; "Sleep and Poetry," extract regarding poetry
of the Pope school, &c.; the publishers, Messrs. Ollier,
give up the volume as a failure. 64

CHAPTER V.

"Endymion"; Keats's classical predilections; extract (from
"I stood tiptoe" &c.) about Diana and Endymion; details
as to the composition of "Endymion," 1817; preface to
the poem; the critique in _The Quarterly Review_; attack
in _Blackwood's Magazine_; question whether Keats broke
down under hostile criticism; evidence on this subject in
his own letters, and by Shelley, Lord Houghton, Haydon,
Byron, Hunt, George Keats, Cowden Clarke, Severn;
conclusion. 73

CHAPTER VI.

Poems included in the "Lamia" volume, 1820; "Isabella";
"The Eve of St. Agnes"; "Hyperion"; "Lamia";
five odes; other poems--sonnet on "The Nile"; "The
Eve of St. Mark," "Otho the Great," "La Belle Dame
sans Merci," "The Cap and Bells," final sonnet, &c.;
prose writings. 107

CHAPTER VII.

Keats's grave in Rome; projects of Brown and others for
writing his Life; his brother George, and his sister, Mrs.
Llanos; Miss Brawne; discussion as to Hunt's friendship
to Keats; other friends--Bailey, Haydon, Shelley. 118

CHAPTER VIII.

Keats's appearance; portraits; difficulties in estimating his
character; his poetic ambition, and feeling on subjects of
historical or public interest; his intensity of thought;
moral tone; question as to his strength of character--Haydon's
opinion; demeanour among friends; studious
resolves; suspicious tendency; his feeling toward women--poem
quoted; love of flowers and music; politics;
irritation against Leigh Hunt; his letters; antagonism
to science; remarks on contemporary writers; axioms on
poetry; self-analysis as to his perceptions as a poet; feelings
as to painting; sense of humour, punning, &c.; indifference
in religious matters; his sentiments as to the
immortality of the soul; fondness for wine and game;
summary. 124