Creator / John Keats

Posthumous portrait by William Hilton, 1822

"I have written independently without Judgment. I may write independently, and with Judgment, hereafter. The Genius of Poetry must work out its own salvation in a man: It cannot be matured by law and precept, but by sensation and watchfulness in itself — That which is creative must create itself — In Endymion, I leaped headlong into the sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a, silly pipe, and took tea and comfortable advice. I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."

— John Keats, from a letter to James Hessey

John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet who is seen as part of the second generation of Romantic poets, alongside Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His work was indifferently received in his lifetime, but his fame grew rapidly after his death.

Keats was born in Moorgate, London to Thomas and Frances Keats, the eldest of four surviving children; his younger siblings were George, Thomas, and Frances Mary. The elder Thomas worked for his father-in-law at the stables attached to the Swan and Hoop Inn, which he eventually managed and where the growing family lived for some years. Keats was baptised at St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, and sent to a local dame school as a child.

Keats died of tuberculosis when he was only 25. Given what he accomplished in only that time, there is much speculation about what he could have done with a full career — for example, he was in progress on an epic poem, The Fall of Hyperion, which had the potential to become a classic on the level of Paradise Lost but was left unfinished when he died. We'll never know.

He is most famous for his series of odes, which remain very popular today. They include "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Ode to a Nightingale", and "Ode on Melancholy". He also wrote many other poems, including "Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art", "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "The Eve of St. Agnes".

Way over on the idealistic side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Big fan of Beauty Equals Goodness, very much not a fan of Measuring the Marigolds. Like other Romantics, Nature Lover featured a lot. Tropes applying to him in real life include Too Good for This Sinful Earth, and Vindicated by History. He and Lord Byron were the Sensitive Guy and Manly Man of the Romantic poets, respectively.

In 2009, a movie, Bright Star, was made about his relationship with his Muse/Girl Next Door, Fanny Brawne.

Oh, and if you notice that a Science Fiction fan knows anything at all about him, credit the Hyperion Cantos, which collectively constitute a primer on the life and desires of John Keats, and includes him (kinda) as a significant character.

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