On Keats

The epitaph on Keats' tombstone - 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'.

Time with us - 1795-1821. Did not begin writing poetry until he was 18 years of age, and critics generally agree that his early verse was not so promising. In 1816, he wrote the first of his greatest poems, a sonnet (!) entitled 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer'.

His first volume of poems, entitled Poems, came out in 1817, and was largely ignored. It was followed next year by Endymion, a single poem of more than 4, 000 lines about a quest for ideal beauty/happiness.


To be continued...