The Literary Gothic | John Keats

Keats, John

While not the Romantic poet most commonly associated with the supernatural — too bad, since he was born on Halloween; that distinction belongs to Coleridge, although Southey, Byron, and Scott also come readily to mind — Keats's poems listed below (and some passages in his letters) reveal an artistic sensibility well acquainted with the Gothic and supernaturalist literature of his time.

Sites:

The Life and Work of John Keats

Fairly rich site; biographical and contextual information, with lots of interesting images. Highly recommended.

Biographical essay

[Sarah Wootton, U Durham; Literary Encyclopedia]

Biographical note

[Wikipedia]

Keats-Shelley House, Rome this link opens a new window

This site features a brief biography of Keats as well as information on the house itself and its other famous inhabitants.

Keats Exhibition, British Library

Includes biography and some poems.

Biographical note

[The Authors Calendar]

Biographical overview

From the website for An Introduction to Poetry, a college anthology edited by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia; Pearson-Longman Publishing]

Brief biographical note

[GaleGroup Publishing]

Biographical note

Discusses Keats as a writer of "natural history" in the Romantic period. [Ashton Nichols, Dickinson College]

Brief biographical note

[John W. Cousins, A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910]

Keats Hyper-Concordance

Part of the The Victorian Literary Studies Archive, this concordance allows you to search etexts by Keats.

Electronic Concordance to Keats's Poetry

Another research for searching Keats' work, up to the usual high quality of Romantic Circles' scholarly resources.

Keats' Grave

[PoetsGraves]

Portraits

Includes not only portraits by Keats's contemporaries, but both life and death masks. [National Portrait Gallery, London]

Keats lifemask
(Princeton U Library)

click the cover image for more info from Amazon.com

Etexts:

Poems below are from Project Bartleby unless otherwise noted.

"The Eve of St. Agnes" (66K)

"Isabella; or The Pot of Basil" (84K)

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" [composed 1819]

- at Project Bartleby (9K)
- at U Toronto

This is the revised version of the poem, although it was the first version to be published; it is also known as the Indicator version since that's the title of the journal in which it was published. Keats revised his poem—most critics prefer the original version—for publication in the 10 May 1820 number of this journal, which was edited by his friend, fellow poet, and political radical Leigh Hunt. (6K)

- at Life and Works of John Keats. Both versions on one page.
- at Project Bartleby again

This is the 1819 version from another edition of Keats' poetry, with only minor punctuational differences from the Project Bartleby version linked above.

"Lamia, Part I" (62K) and "Lamia, Part II" (48K)

"Ode on Melancholy"

- at U of Toronto

Letters.

The following extracts contain some of Keats's brief remarks on the Gothic/supernatural.

Letter to J. H. Reynolds, 14 March 1818 (extract) LitGothic etext

Letter to George and Georgiana Keats, 14 Feb. 1819 (extract) LitGothic etext

Letter to John Taylor, 17 Nov. 1819 LitGothic etext

Books:

All of the above supernaturalist poems of Keats (along with "The Eve of St. Mark" and, of course, most of Keats' other great works) are available in John Barnard's edition of Keats' poetry in the Penguin Classics series:

Essays and Reviews: