Schema and Documentation for Mapping Keats’s Progress project
author: Martin Holmes

Mapping Keats’s Progress

Manual for Author, Editors and Coders

Martin Holmes

Project history

This project began life as a Dreamweaver-constructed site which, although its interface and structure were functional and attractive, had become a huge mass of incomprehensible nested structures, including 24 JavaScript and 69 CSS files. In the fall of 2017, we began the process of rewriting it, with the aim of keeping it as simple as possible while reproducing and enhancing the design and functionality.

Although HCMC projects normally work with TEI XML and generate HTML from the XML, this project was so far advanced using HTML5 that we decided to retain XHTML5 as the encoding language, for the sake of simplicity; the encoding needs of the project are relatively simple, and if necessary we can generate TEI from the XHTML5, so we took this opportunity to try out the process of using a TEI ODD file to generate a very constrained RelaxNG schema, incorporating Schematron, to bring the advantages of XML editing in Oxygen to an XHTML5 project. This has worked very well so far.

Requirements

To edit material for the site, you will need to be using a computer with the following software:

- The Subversion client (to check materials out of and back into the repository)
- The Oxygen XML Editor. It it technically possible to edit the materials in any text editor, but the code will not be checked or constrained, and you will not have a lot of the editing help provided by the Oxygen editor, so the results will most likely be invalid and may break the website.

To build a local copy of the site to view your changes, in addition to the software above, you will also need to install Python 3. Python is used to figure out which images are actually used in the pages, and copy only those images to the output site.

To build the site and upload it to the webserver, in addition to the software above, you will also need to install rsync.

Project materials and organization

The project materials are all kept in a Subversion repository at https://hcmc.uvic.ca/svn/keats/. See the section on Using the Subversion repository for detailed instructions on how to get the materials and manage the files. The folder organization is as follows:

boilerplate

- This contains HTML components that are used as templates when building the output pages. Edit with care, since changes will affect all pages on the site.

content

- This folder contains all the editable content for the site, in XML files, along with associated audio, images, etc. Although the content files have the extension .xml, these files are actually XHTML5 documents rooted on the <div> element. The idea is that they remain as simple as possible to edit; the surrounding site stuff (banner, menu, footer etc.) is only added at build time.

The files fall into two distinct categories: Timeline files, whose filenames represent a date in the timeline, and Info files, which are named descriptively.

content/audio

- This contains a handful of audio files containing readings of some of the poems. These are linked from the individual poem files.

content/gallery

- This folder contains all the image files for the image gallery on the site. It is divided into two folders, gallery_thumb (smaller images) and gallery_full (full-size images). These files are linked from content/theImages.xml, which is the gallery page.

content/images

- This folder contains all of the non-map images used on timeline pages. Many of the files in this folder are not used, and will probably be deleted or archived at some point.

content/neighbourhoodMaps

- This folder contains a large number of images of maps, used at the beginning of the timeline articles. There are many redundancies (such as huge PNG versions of images where JPG versions are more appropriate, as well as actual duplicates with different names). There are also HTML pages which serve no purpose in the new version of the site. This needs cleaning up, and the unwanted material should be archived.

content/poems

- This contains XHTML5 files for all of Keats’s poems (with some possible exceptions). These poem pages were generated initially from the Oxford Text Archive TEI file of The Poems of John Keats, which is distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Minor corrections have been made, and more editorial work will be done on these in the future.

css

- This folder contains CSS files for three purposes: the main site content on the published site (style.css), display of content when editing in Oxygen Author mode (oxygen.css), and display of instructions and documentation (instructions.css).

documentation

- This folder contains the documentation generated from the ODD file. That's what you're reading now. It also includes any related files such as articles or presentations on the technical aspects of the site.

js

- This contains the very small quantity of JavaScript used in the new version of the site. None of this script is actually required for the functioning of the site; it's just enhancement.

old_content

- This folder is essentially obsolete, and will eventually be archived. It contains versions of the old site HTML which were processed to simplify them and make them well-formed, so that the content could be more easily integrated into the new site.

schema
- This folder contains the ODD file (keats.odd) which is used to generate the schemas (keats.rng and keats.sch) which constrain and validate the content of the documents. See The ODD file and documenation for more info.
site

- You will only see this folder once you have built the site; the build process creates the full website, containing all the complete pages and all (and only) the images which are actually used in those pages. This folder is not tracked in Subversion, and its contents are deleted and replaced during every build process.

templates

- This is the folder from which Oxygen draws a template to create a new page for the site, when you choose File / New / John Keats Site Content Document (for example).

utilities

- This folder contains some Java, Python and other files which are used during the site build process.

xsl

- All the XSLT files which turn the XML files in the content folder into HTML for the output are stored here, in addition to some other transformations used for automating some of the tagging process.

[root folder]

- Inside the root folder are two ant build files: build.xml is the file that runs the site build process, and buildSchema.xml turns the ODD file into a RelaxNG schema. a Schematron schema, and the documentation you're reading now. During the schema build process, some information is harvested from the document collection so that (for example) when a person is tagged in the text, the list of possible values for the @data-id attribute includes all the people from the content/people.xml file.

Using the Subversion Repository

We keep all the project files in a Subversion Repository. This is a version-control system that ensures that every version of every file can be retrieved if necessary, and prevents one person from inadvertently overwriting changes to a file made by someone else.

Subversion runs on one of our HCMC servers, which is called hcmc.uvic.ca. In order to use it, you will need to install a Subversion client on your computer, and also learn a couple of simple command-line commands. Subversion is usually abbreviated to svn.

Installing a Subversion client

How you will do this depends on which operating system you are using.

Windows

Obtain a command-line client from SLIKSVN (https://sliksvn.com/download/). There is no cost. Make sure to download the correct version; there are versions for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.

Macintosh

On older versions of Mac OSX (prior to 10.8), the Subversion client was installed by default, so if you're using one of those versions, you don't need to install it. However, it was removed from the default install of more recent versions. This is the simplest way to install it:

- Open a terminal.
- Type svn --version and press Enter.
- The system should offer to install the command-line tools for you. Click on the Install button.
- When the install is completed, type svn --version and press Enter again. You should see the svn version, along with some other information.

Linux

Subversion is installed as part of a regular desktop on most Linux distributions.

Checking out the repository for the first time

Once your subversion client is installed, the first thing we need to do is to check out the repository. To do this, you need to open a terminal window:

- On Windows, click on the Start menu and type cmd into the search box.
- On a Mac, select Terminal from the Utilities folder in Applications.
- On Linux, press Control + Alt + T.

Now we'll check that svn is installed and working. Type svn checkout and press return. If the terminal responses that there are Not enough arguments provided, then svn is working OK.

Now we'll create a directory for our project files:

mkdir keats

And now we've created that directory, we'll navigate into it:

cd keats

And now we'll check out the files from the repository into our directory. Make sure you don't forget the space and period at the end of this command:

svn checkout https://hcmc.uvic.ca/svn/keats .

The server should ask for your netlink user name and password. Then you should see the files download to your drive.

Using SVN in your daily work

These are the basic rules when you're working with svn:

Before you start work, update your local files:

- Open a terminal
- cd keats
- svn update

You can leave the terminal open while you work. Then, when you're ready to commit your changes:

- svn update (again, just in case anything else has been committed by someone else)
- svn commit -m "A message explaining the changes you have made"

That's basically it. If you see any warnings or error messages from svn, check that you're in the right folder in your terminal. You may also see error messages if two people have been editing the same file at the same time, and Subversion needs you to make a decision about whose changes should be kept. Contact Martin immediately if you have any problems with svn; it's best to solve problems quickly so that your work is always up to date and stored safely.

Timeline files

The Timeline articles are the heart of the project. Each one consists of a single XML file which is named for its date, using standard ISO format:

- 1815-11.xml
- 1816.xml
- 1816-03-16.xml

There are two types of content in these files: some of them contain a chronology, which is an overview of the events over a period of (typically) a year, and some of them contain an article, which is a single entry in the timeline. Chronology documents typically have the name of a single year (such as 1819.xml, while regular articles have more granular dates such as 1819-01-02.xml.

A chronology file looks like this: <div class="chronology"><h3>Select Chronology 1821</h3><ul><li><strong>Jan-Feb</strong>: in Rome; desperately ill; Severn reports <q>His stomach is ruined and the state of his mind the worst possible one in his condition</q>; Severn: <q>his suffering now is beyond description</q>; Keats desires a bottle of opium to kill himself; Severn: <q>Keats is desiring his death with dreadful earnestness</q></li><li><strong>Feb</strong>: in Rome; <q>I shall soon be laid in the quiet grave—thank God for the quiet grave—O! I can feel the cold earth upon me—the daisies growing over me—O for this quiet—it will be my first</q>; Keats dies, 23 February, 11 pm; buried 26 February </li></ul></div> The <div>/@class attribute specifies that this is a chronology, and the content is an and <h3> element followed by an unordered list. Chronologies are displayed on the left of the screen in the output pages. The chronology for a given time-period will be incorporated into each of the article files which fall within that time-period.

A timeline article file looks like this:

<div><h3>12 August 1820: Keats: <q>Cheating the Consumption</q></h3><div><h4>Wentworth Place, Hampstead</h4><figure class="center"><img src="neighbourhoodMaps/wentworthPlace_map2/WentworthPlace_map2_SMALL.jpg" width="500" height="300" data-lg-version="neighbourhoodMaps/wentworthPlace_map2/WentworthPlace_map2_LARGE.jpg"/><figcaption>Click the map to see a larger version</figcaption></figure><p>Wentworth Place, Hampstead: After about seven weeks staying with his friend and one-time mentor Leigh Hunt and Hunt’s somewhat hectic family (with five children running around) at Mortimer Terrace in Kentish Town, Keats on 12 August returns to Wentworth Place in Hampstead to stay with the Brawne family: a widowed mother and her three children, one to whom—Fanny—Keats is betrothed. He wears her ring. Keats had formerly stayed in the other half of Wentworth Place (a double house). </p></div></div>

Key points to note:

- The timeline article is rooted on a <div> element with no @class attribute.
- The <h3> element forms a heading which will be displayed in a list of headings for articles within the relevant time period. Clicking on the heading will open up the article.
- The <h3> is followed by a <div> which contains the body of the article.
- The <div> starts with an <h4> element, which is the main heading for the article.
- Immediately below the heading, there is a <figure> which consists of a location map. This is typical of timeline articles.
- The figure consists of an <img> element and a <figcaption>.
- The <img> element has a custom attribute @data-lg-version, which points to a larger version of the image in the @src attribute.
- At build time, the <img> will be processed into two distinct images, the smaller of which is displayed immediately, with the larger popping up when the smaller is clicked.
- The convention is to name the two image files identically, except for _SMALL and _LARGE immediately before the file extension.

Info files

Info files are the other site pages which are not part of the timeline. They have descriptive filenames in camelBack format. Info pages look very similar to chronology pages:

<div><h3><span class="bookTitle">Mapping Keats’s Progress</span> and the Holy Grail</h3><p><span class="bookTitle">MKP</span> has three conjoined purposes. </p><p>The <strong>first: </strong><em>To map some of Keats’s life in London</em>. </p></div>

Poem files

The site includes a complete set of Keats's poetry, mostly generated from the Oxford Text Archive TEI file of The Poems of John Keats, which is distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Minor corrections have been made, some poems have been added from other sources, and more editorial work will be done on these in the future. All the poem files are inside the content/poems folder. A poem file looks like this:

<div><h3>I am as brisk</h3><ul><li>I am as brisk</li><li>As a bottle of wisk-k</li><li>Ey and as nimble</li><li>As a milliner’s thimble.</li></ul></div>

The poem title is in an <h3> element, and the lines are list items in a <ul> element. For poems which contain multiple stanzas, each stanza is a separate <div> containing a <ul>. This structure allows a stanza number or other heading to be supplied:

<div class="poem"><h3>The Cap And Bells; Or, The Jealousies: A Faery Tale — Unfinished</h3><div><h4>I.</h4><ul><li>In midmost Ind, beside Hydaspes cool,</li><li>There stood, or hover’d, tremulous in the air,</li><li>A faery city ’neath the potent rule</li><li>Of Emperor Elfinan; fam’d ev’rywhere</li><li>For love of mortal women, maidens fair,</li><li>Whose lips were solid, whose soft hands were made</li><li>Of a fit mould and beauty, ripe and rare,</li><li>To tamper his slight wooing, warm yet staid:</li><li>He lov’d girls smooth as shades, but hated a mere shade.</li></ul></div><div><h4>II.</h4><ul><li>This was a crime forbidden by the law;</li></ul></div></div>

Individual lines in a stanza may be indented by varying amounts. This can be encoded using the values of the @class attribute on the <li> ant element:

<div><h4>1</h4><ul><li>My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pain</li><li class="in2">My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk</li><li>Or emptied some dull opiate to the drain</li><li class="in2">One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk</li><li>’Tis not through envy of thy happy lot</li><li class="in2">But being too happy in thine happiness,</li><li class="in4">That thou, light-winged Dryad of the tree</li><li class="in6">In some melodious plo</li><li class="in2">Of beechen green, and shadows numberless</li><li class="in4">Singest of summer in full-throated ease</li></ul></div>

The values "in1", "in2" ... "in9" are available; "in1" means indent this line by the width of 1 em, and so on.

The JavaScript Search functionality

This project has served as a pilot for the Endings project at UVic, and in particular for our research into ways to provide basic search functionality without a dependency on external services such as Google or on server-side processing. An experimental JavaScript-only search engine was developed for the site in 2018 by Martin Holmes at the HCMC. This search is based on index files which are generated during the full site build process.

These files are stored in site/js/search, and there are (currently) over 12,000 of them. The process works like this:

- Each XML file in the content directory is tokenized.
- Each token is stemmed using a Python 3 implementation of the Porter Stemming Algorithm.
- A JSON file is created for each unique stemmed token. It is named with the token plus the extension .json, and stored in site/js/search/.
- That file is populated with an object for each document which contains the token, along with the title of the document and the number of occurrences of the token in that document.

When a search is launched from the search page on the site, this is what happens:

- The search string is tokenized.
- Each token is stemmed using a JavaScript implementation of Porter Stemming.
- The browser requests a JSON file for each stemmed token.
- When it has received all the available files (or rejections for files which don't exist), it compiles the results into a list of documents.
- It sorts the document lists based on two criteria: how many of the search terms appear in the document, and how many instances of the search terms appear in the document. The objective is to prioritize documents which contain as many of the search terms as possible, and then rank those by how many instances they actually have.

The purpose of this search is not to improve on Google; in its current incarnation, it is inferior to a serious search engine in many ways. Instead, the idea is to provide a search function that will work anywhere, without dependencies or advertising, and which will work into the indefinite future. A Google Search page is also provided, but this of course depends on someone (currently Martin Holmes) maintaining a Google Custom Search profile for the site, and the results include ads.

The JavaScript Search functionality is expected to be further developed in future.

The build process

The organization of the repository is designed to keep the editing process as simple as possible, by removing all site-level global features such as menus and banners from the text which is actually being authored/edited. That means that a build process must be performed to produce the actual site which is uploaded to the server. This section documents the build process.

In order to run the full build process, you will need the following software to be installed on your computer:

- Java (preferably version 1.8 or above)
- Apache Ant (current version)
- Python 3
- rsync

In the root folder is a file called build.xml, which is the controller for the entire build process. It is an script file for the Apache Ant build tool. To see the full details of the build process, you can read that file, or just open a terminal in the project root and type:

ant -projecthelp

These are the basic features of the full build process:

Validation of content documents
- All the HTML files in the content folder are validated with a RelaxNG schema, and with some additional Schematron rules. If validation fails on any file, the build is aborted.
Listing of images
- All the HTML files are parsed to find all the linked images. These are listed, and then copied to the output folder. If any linked image is not found, the build fails.
Building of HTML pages
- All the simple HTML fragments in the content folder are turned into complete pages, with menus, headers, footers and so on. In addition, some pages which do not exist in the content folder, but which are required for the timeline functionality, are automatically generated. The site index page is also constructed.
Building of search indexes
- The JavaScript Search functionality depends on a collection of JSON files which are generated by tokenizing and stemming the original content documents (so that site chrome and other common features are not included in the indexes). This process takes a few minutes to complete.
Copying of ancillary files
- Extra required files, such as CSS and JavaScript, are copied to the output folder.
Validation of output site
- The complete output site, once created, is validated with the v.Nu Nu Html Checker. The checker is a Java library; if the library is not found on the local system, it is downloaded automatically.
Upload of new version of the site to the server
- The default build does not run the upload target; you should check that the output site looks and behaves as it should before uploading to the server. There are two rsync tasks, one of which uploads (as the hcmc user) to hcmc.uvic.ca/keats (the test site), while the other uploads to the main site on unix.uvic.ca.

There is also a quick build process (target quick) which is used within the Oxygen environment to build a quick version of the site without going through the long process of generating the search indexes. This leaves any existing search indexes intact, so it can be used for a quick rebuild during development once a set of indexes has been generated (although the indexes will no longer be in sync with any content changes that have happened, of course).

How to do stuff

How to get the project materials

All the project materials are stored in our Subversion repository. See Using the Subversion Repository for information on how to check them out and commit changes.

How to open the Oxygen project

All editing should be done with the Oxygen XML Editor. Start Oxygen, then click on Project / Open Project, browse to the project folder, and select keats.xpr. When Oxygen asks you if you want to allow it to make changes to the Oxygen interface, say OK.

How to edit an existing file

All existing site content is stored in the content folder. Open a file in Oxygen and edit it. Before you commit changes back to the Subversion repository, make sure the file is valid by clicking on the Red Check icon.

How to create a new file

If you want to add a new poem or create a new micro-article, do this:

- In Oxygen, click on File / New..., then choose siteContent [John Keats site content document].
- Save the file with a new name in the appropriate place in the content folder. Make sure the filename follows the existing rules: no punctuation, no spaces, camelBack.xml for information files and YYYY-MM-DD.xml for timeline files.
- Add the new file to the Subversion repository: svn add content/myNewFile.xml
- When the file is complete, validate it, and commit it (see information on Subversion above).

How to test your changes to a page

To do this, you will need to be on a computer which has Oxygen, and Python 3. With the XML file you have edited open in the Oxygen editor, click on the red triangle button in the toolbar (Apply Transformation Scenario). If there are no errors, the site should be quickly rebuilt, and when the process is complete, the web page created from your file should be opened in your web browser.

How to add an image to a page

Adding an image to a page is a three-stage process:

- Name the image correctly and save it in the right place.
- Add it to svn so that it's stored in the repository.
- Add code to include the image on a page.

First, save the file in a suitable format, with a conformant filename. In most cases, the format should be JPEG, with some compression (say 93%). This is the best option for optimizing file size and clarity.

Now give it a conformant filename. Filenames should use ONLY letters, numbers, and underscores; never include punctuation, spaces, quotation marks or any similar character. Filenames should follow the camelback pattern, starting with a lower-case letter and marking each word-boundary by an uppercase; file extensions should always be lower-case:

- wentworthHouse.jpg
- makeKeatsGreatAgain.jpg
- haydonByWNicholson_c1820.jpg

You will notice that there are lots of images in the folders which do not follow these rules. These are evil and will be renamed when there is time to make the changes.

Next, you have to decide where the image should be stored in the repository. These are the options:

- content/images. This is appropriate for photographs of historical locations, paintings, and so on.
- content/images/facsimiles. This is the right place for images of printed or handwritten documents.
- neighbourhoodMaps. This is where to store a single image of a map.
- neighbourhoodMaps/[subfolder]. If you are creating two versions of your image, one large and one small for interactive display purposes, you can create a subfolder, and name the two images using _LARGE and _SMALL, like this:

- welbeckSt

- welbeckStreetCavendishSq_LARGE.jpg
- welbeckStreetCavendishSq_SMALL.jpg

Now add the image(s) to svn. If it's a single image, it would be like this: svn add content/images/wentworthHouse.jpg If you have created a folder with two images in it, just add the folder: svn add content/neighbourhoodMaps/welbeckSt When you next do an svn commit, the images will be sent to the server.

Next, you have to add the image into the page, using the <figure>, <img> and <figcaption> elements. The first decision to make is whether you want the image to take up the full width of the page, or whether it should float to the left or to the right, with the text flowing past it: <figure class="center"> [...]</figure> <figure class="leftFloat"> [...]</figure> <figure class="rightFloat"> [...]</figure>

Next, you add the link to the image itself, along with a caption. This is the most simple use-case (a single image with no larger version): <figure class="leftFloat"><img src="images/WilliamHazlitt.jpg" width="380" height="420"/><figcaption>William Hazlitt</figcaption></figure> It is compulsory to provide a caption in the <figcaption> element. Always include the @width and @height values from the actual image (or if you want to try to make it appear smaller than it is, use values which are (say) one half or one quarter of the real values).

A more complex case is where you have two versions of an image, one small and one large. Here, you can use the @data-lg-version attribute on the <img> element to point to the larger one: <figure class="leftFloat"><img src="images/wentworthPlaceByISWilliams_SMALL.jpg" width="500" height="436" data-lg-version="images/wentworthPlaceByISWilliams_LARGE.jpg"/><figcaption>Wentworth Place (Keats House), by I. S. Williams, c.1940 (Victoria &amp; Albert Museum)</figcaption></figure> When the user clicks on the small floated image, the larger one will pop up.

Finally, another common pattern is to have a single file which you want to display in small format initially, but then allow the user to click on it to see the full size version. This uses the same pattern as before, but with the same values for the @src and @data-lg-version attributes: <figure class="rightFloat"><img src="images/chronicleAdForPoems.jpg" width="394" height="395" data-lg-version="images/chronicleAdForPoems.jpg"/><figcaption><q>Keats’s New Poems,</q> advertised in <span class="journalTitle">The Morning Chronicle</span>, 28 Feb 1821, unaware of Keats’s death</figcaption></figure>

How to add an image to the gallery

The gallery images are all stored in content/gallery. There are two subfolders:

- content/gallery/gallery_full, containing the full-size images. These are in JPEG format, and are named/numbered consecutively:

- galFull_001.jpg
- galFull_002.jpg
- ...

When you add a new image, simply give it the next appropriate numbered filename.
- content/gallery/gallery_thumb, containing the thumbnail versions of the images. These are named exactly the same way:

- galThumb_001.jpg
- galThumb_002.jpg
- ...

When you create a thumbnail for a landscape image, make its width 160px. When you create one for a portrait image, make its height 120px.

Create the images, then add them to svn in the normal way.

Next, you need to edit content/theImages.xml to add the new item to the gallery. Create a new <li> element containing an <img> element, following the examples of the existing gallery items, like this: <li><img src="gallery/gallery_thumb/galThumb_128.jpg" data-lg-version="gallery/gallery_full/galFull_128.jpg" width="75" height="120" title="Keats, book cover of Trillings's selection of Keats's letters, 1956"/></li> The dimensions are those of the thumbnail image, and the @title attribute content will become the caption for the image.

How to add items to the topic index

The topic index (linked as Index in the main site menu) is a combination of automatically-generated items and hand-crafted items. The hand-crafted items are in the form of a table, with each row constituting a single entry. Each row (<tr>) contains three cell (<td>) elements, which function as follows: <tr><td>[Index under]</td><td>[Explanation]</td><td>[Page id]</td></tr> For example: <tr><td><span class="name" data-id="coleridge_s">Coleridge, Samuel Taylor</span></td><td>Keats walks with and humorously records</td><td>1819-04-11</td></tr> This item will be indexed under Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (meaning that a list of items including this one will be presented under that heading). This particular entry is about Keats walking with Coleridge, and it will link to the page for 11th April, 1819. Since Coleridge is a person in the personography, his name is tagged and linked as it would normally be.

The sequence of items in the topic index table is not significant; the alphabetical organization will be done automatically by the build process. So you can add a new entry at the beginning of the table, at the end, or anywhere else that’s convenient. To delete an entry, simply remove the table row containing it.

One more example shows how to add an index entry about one of Keats’s poems: <tr><td><span class="poemTitle" data-poem="poem_bright_star_would_i_were_stedfast">Bright Star,</span></td><td>first publication of</td><td>1819-10-11</td></tr> Here, the name of the poem is truncated in the first cell, but since it is linked as a poem <span class="poemTitle">), it will automatically be placed under the subheading with the full poem title ( Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art (poem)).

How to rebuild the site

To do this, you will need to be on a computer which has Java, Ant, and Python 3. Open a terminal in the root folder of the project, and type:

ant

If all goes well, the resulting site should be created in the site folder in the project root. The process takes three to five minutes, with most of the time taken up with creating the search index files.

How to upload a new version of the site to the server

To do this, you will need to be on a computer which has Java, Ant and rsync installed. Open a terminal in the root folder of the project, and type:

ant rsyncToLiveServer

ant rsyncToLiveServer

You will need to supply the password for the site, which is on the unix.uvic.ca server.

Guidelines for editing and tagging

Titles of poems, books etc.

Titles of poems, books, works of art, and so on are tagged as follows: <span class="poemTitle">Tintern Abbey</span><span class="bookTitle">Endymion</span><span class="journalTitle">The Examiner</span><span class="article">Keats’s Sylvan Historian: History Without Footnotes</span><span class="artTitle">Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem</span> The @class attribute ensures that the item will be correctly rendered on the website, in italics or in quotation marks as appropriate. Therefore it is not necessary to think about the styling or quotation marks; just tag all titles appropriately and the rendering will take care of itself.

Note that the title of a poem in the poem itself is not tagged with a <span> element; instead it is an <h3> element.

There are keystroke shortcuts to apply many of these tags automatically in Oxygen.

People's names

The names of all people who appear in the personography are tagged as follows: <span class="name" data-id="keats_g">George Keats</span> The @data-id attribute contains the id of the person from the personography. This ensures that the person's name will have a mouseover-popup feature that provides a brief biography of that person for the curious reader. It also ensures that the fact that this person is mentioned on a particular page will be captured in the site index. The site convention calls for a person's name to be tagged only once per paragraph, the first time it appears in that paragraph.

Linking Keats's poem titles to poems

The site includes a complete set of Keats's poems, and you can link the mention of a poem title to the poem itself, so that on the website, the title becomes a clickable link which pulls up the poem in a popup: ...Hunt is also the first to put Keats in print by publishing <span class="poemTitle"><a href="poems/poem_o_solitude.xml">O Solitude</a>,</span> in Hunt’s journal <span class="journalTitle">The Examiner</span>... Note how the <a> element, which points to the poem itself, encloses only the actual title of the poem, while the surrounding <span> element, which specifies the contents as a poem title, includes the trailing comma, because the comma must appear inside the quotation marks which will be supplied around the poem title.

Tagging quotations

Use the <q> element to tag quotations: Later in the month, Keats implicitly comments upon his own development: <q>Nothing is finer for the purposes of great productions, than the very gradual ripening of the intellectual powers</q> (letters, 23/24 Jan) Using the <q> element ensures that the correct opening and closing quotation marks appear in the output. Do not use literal quotation marks.

The personography

The personography consists of a list of people considered important in Keats’s life and development, located in the content/people.xml file. The biographical information in this file is used to generate popups when mousing over someone's name in a text, and the people are also automatically indexed as a result of being in this file.

The placeography

The placeography consists of a list of places considered important in Keats’s life and development, located in the content/places.xml file. The content in this file is currently used only in building the interactive maps (see below), but it may be used later in a similar manner to the personography data. Each location has a unique id consisting of a four-letter upper-case string based on its name.

The maps

Modern map showing locations and journeys of significance in Keats’s life is created using the BreezeMap project codebase. Since BreezeMap is a TEI project, the map data is stored in TEI XML files, in the map. folder. Refer to the BreezeMap documentation for information on how to edit geographical information in these files. Note that the actual place information is taken at build time from the content/places.xml file. The relationships between locations in the map files and the placeography is based on similar ids: for example, where a place in the placeography has the id AUCH, the equivalent TEI <place> element in the map file for Keats's Tour (map/keatsTour.xml) has the id KTAUCH.

The key information in the TEI files is a list of places, each of which has a unique id, a canonical placename, and a location, which contains a geo element with the coordinate geometry in GeoJSON format, along with a sequence of one or more date elements which are used to specify when Keats was at that location. This data is used to built interactive maps based on OpenLayers, using the BreezeMap project build process, as part of the main Keats site build. An empty <desc> element is populated at build time from the placeography file.

The relationships diagram

The file content/relationships.xml is the host page for the interactive relationship diagram, Keats’s Selected Social Network. It contains an HTML <details> element with an explanation of the diagram. The diagram itself is an SVG document, content/images/relationships/relationships.svg. The SVG is imported into the page at build time by virtue of a special processing instruction: <div id="divRelationships">&lt;?relationshipsDiagram?&gt;</div> which should not be edited. The SVG itself is hand-coded in Oxygen, because this approach proved more reliable, robust and manageable than using any graphics editor. The SVG code is included directly into the output HTML page, rather than through an <img> tag, so that its components become part of the page's DOM and can be addressed with JavaScript and thus made interactive.

Oxygen keystroke shortcuts

For the convenience of editors working on the texts in the Oxygen XML Editor, the following keystroke shortcuts are available. M1 = Command (Mac) or Control (Windows, Linux); M2 = Shift.

Shortcut	Description	Code inserted
M1 M2 A	Tag something as an article title	<span class="articleTitle">${selection}</span>
M1 M2 B	Tag something as a book or monograph title	<span class="bookTitle">${selection}</span>
M1 M2 Q	Quotation: Tag something as a quotation	<q>${selection}</q>
M1 QUOTE	Curly apostrophe: U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK: preferred character for apostrophe	’
M1 M2 0	Curly double closing quote	”
M1 M2 9	Curly double opening quote	“
M1 M2 J	Tag something as a journal or periodical title	<span class="journalTitle">${selection}</span>
M1 M2 P	Tag something as a poem title	<span class="poemTitle">${selection}</span>
M1 M2 N	Tag a name with <span class="name">	<span class="name" data-id="${caret}">${selection}</span>

The ODD file and documentation

The two schemas (RelaxNG and Schematron) that we use to validate and constrain the content documents are both generated from the file schema/keats.odd, as is the documentation in documents/keats.html. ODD files are normally used to create schemas for TEI XML projects, but this project makes use of the ODD specification and processing provided by the TEI infrastructure to provide validation and documentation for documents which are not TEI at all; they're pure XHTML5.

Why not just use the standard HTML5 validator? Well, we do, in fact; the output pages in the site are all validated using the vnu.jar validator at the end of the build process. However, that validator allows the full range of HTML5 elements and attributes, and it does not constrain the values of important attributes; in other words, it's too permissive. Our own schema is intended to provide much tighter control over what is allowed in the documents in the content directory. This enables us to enforce site-wide styles, and provide more prompts and help for editors working in the Oxygen XML Editor.

Getting help

If you need technical help with any aspect of this project/website, contact Martin Holmes mholmes@uvic.ca.

Base schema module for all XHTML5 elements defined in this ODD. Module for Google-specific search page element 'search'.

<div>
Division of a document; used as the root for Keats content blocks.
The core container element for a content block. This may also nest, to provide subsections.
The level of your heading (h3, h4 or h5) must fit with the depth of your division nesting; so the top-level div would have h3, a div inside it would have h4, and a div inside that would have h5.
@class
"chronology"
Chronology list
Chronology list which is used across many dates in a year range.
"footnote"
Footnote
A footnote appearing at the bottom of the page.
"homePage"
Content appearing on the home page
The home page of the site is a special case with radically different content. This item should only be used in index.xml.
"poem"
Poem
A poem reproduced on the page.
"gcse-searchbox"
Google Search Box. ONLY USED ON THE SEARCH PAGE.

<h3>
Level 3 heading
The h3 (level 3 heading) element provides the heading for micro-article documents.

<h4>
Level 4 heading

<h5>
Level 5 heading

<p>
Prose paragraph.

<details>
Expandable details element with summary child.

<summary>
Single-line summary for detaile element.

<noscript>
Element which contains a message to be displayed to users when the user-agent (browser) does not support scripting.

<blockquote>
Block quotation.

<q>
Inline quotation. In rendering, quotation marks will be supplied, so do not include them.

<nav>
Navigation menu. Should contain a ul element with the menu items.
@class
"mainMenu"
The main site menu

<ul>
Unordered list, usually bulleted.
@class
"gallery"
A list of images to be presented in the form of a gallery.
"people"
A list of individuals mentioned in the documents.
"places"
A list of places mentioned in the documents and appearing on maps.
"topicIndex"
A list of topic items forming an index to the site. This will be constructed automatically by the build process; do not edit it.

<ol>
Ordered list, usually numbered.

<data>
A programmatic data element used for encoding relationships between individuals in the personography. It has custom attributes to store the data itself, and may contain text content constituting an optional description of the relationship being encoded.
@data-p1
The first (source) person in the relationship.
"abbey_r"
Abbey, Richard
Abbey, Richard (1765–1837): a fairly prosperous and ambitious London tea dealer/broker and holder of some public offices; trustee of the Keats family legacy after the deaths of Keats’s mother and maternal grandparents (Abbey is appointed by Keats’s grandmother, Alice Jennings, in 1810; the other appointee, John Nowland Sandell, a well-to-do businessman, dies in 1816); Abbey is mistrusted by Keats and his sister, Fanny, who lives with the Abbey family for a spell; he strongly disapproves of Keats’s poetic aspirations (and politics); significantly, Keats is never fully aware of his finances in the form of inherited family money; brothers Tom and George at times work for Abbey.
"bailey_b"
Bailey, Benjamin
Bailey, Benjamin (1791–1853): scholar with philosophical and literary interests, ordained church clergyman (curacy); meets Keats in spring 1817; shares interests in Wordsworth, Milton, Plato, Dante, and Hazlitt with Keats; Keats writes a few very important and theoretically explorative letters to Bailey, and Keats found him of noble disposition (he publicly defends Keats); Keats stays with Bailey at Oxford University (Magdalen Hall) in September 1818 into early October; visits Stratford with Keats; later in life, Bailey wrote minor poetry and sermons; eventually becomes an archdeacon.
"beaumont_f"
Beaumont, Francis
Beaumont, Francis (1584–1616): Jacobean dramatist, poet; most famous as a collaborator with John Fletcher; Keats owned a copy of 4-volume 1811 edition of The Dramatic Works of Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher; Keats writes a poem about an evening spent at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, in which he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern, written January 1818.
"bentham_j"
Bentham, Jeremy
Bentham, Jeremy (1747-1832): Utilitarian philosopher, driven by pragmatic thinking and moral approach to understanding and describing human nature and human rights; interested in topics like penal reform, education, and hospitals.
"bewick_w"
Bewick, William
Bewick, William (1795–1866): an art student of Keats’s very good friend, the historical painter Benjamin Robert Haydon; Bewick socializes with Keats via Haydon and others in Keats’s circle: in a letter of 11 February 1818, Bewick calls them very intellectual dinners, and he mentions the presence of Keats the poet, Hazlitt the critic, Haydon, Hunt the publisher, &c., &; Keats runs into Bewick at exhibitions; Bewick goes on to become a portrait and historical painter of average though professional qualities.
"boccaccio"
Boccaccio
Boccaccio (1313–1375): Italian Renaissance humanist, writer, scholar, poet; most famous for his innovatively realistic poem, Decameron; Keats’s and his friend John Hamilton Reynolds entertain assembling a volume of poems based on Boccaccio’s Decameron; Keats’s somewhat interesting though indifferent poem Isabella (written 1818, published in the 1820 collection) is inspired by Boccaccio.
"brawne_f"
Brawne, Fanny
Brawne, Fanny (1800–65): born in London’s West End; likely meets Keats autumn 1818 via the Dilkes (she’s eighteen); with widowed, kindly mother and siblings, lives next door to Keats at Wentworth Place, spring 1819 (they take care of Keats, Aug. 1820); lively, social, smart (proficient in German and French), musical, keen perceptions, strong opinions, fashionable, middle-class, but disliked by some of Keats’s friends, who see her as flirtatious and vain (early Keats biographers tend to view her as unfit for Keats); perhaps unofficially betrothed to Keats in late 1818, but more likely a mutual declaration of love; Keats writes striking love letters to her, but when Keats becomes ill they devolve into overly longing and jealous rants as Keats becomes increasing ill and distraught that he might never again be with her (publication of Keats’s love letters in 1878 causes some literary commotion); she remarries in 1833 and has a daughter and two sons; dies in London; Fanny’s widowed mother, Frances, is very kind toward Keats.
"brougham_h"
Brougham, Henry
Brougham, Henry (1778–1868): lawyer, founder and contributor of Edinburgh Review; member of Parliament on the Whig side, a leader in the House of Commons, known for liberal reforms (on abolition, education, criminal issues, voting reform), famous for his causes and speeches; later Lord Chancellor of Great Britain; as a politician, Brougham contests Westmorland, while Keats is very disappointed that William Wordsworth is a supporter of Lord Lowther, who controls the Tory side for Westmorland: sad—sad—sad— writes Keats 26 June 1818.
"brown_c"
Brown, Charles Armitage
Brown, Charles Armitage (1787–1842): businessman, fur merchant, decent amateur artist, writer of a comic opera and some translations as well as a study of Shakespeare’s poems; some literary lectures; lived independently on inheritance money; one of Keats’s very closest friends (Keats is twenty-one when they meet), and knew Keats as well as anyone; extraordinarily supportive of and generous with Keats; lives with Keats on a few occasions; also travels with Keats, most famously on their long walking tour in the summer of 1818; kept a considerable collection of transcripts of Keats’s work; co-author with Keats of a somewhat indifferent play (never produced), Otho the Great; co-owner of Wentworth Place (two semi-detached houses), now Keats House; attempted a memoir of Keats.
"burns_r"
Burns, Robert
Burns, Robert (1759–1796): Scottish poet and songwriter, celebrated for his use of Scots vernacular; exciseman in later life; ambitious, freethinking; likely dies of bacterial endocarditis, perhaps compromised by alcohol; a legend by Keats’s time, venerated by the Romantics; Keats’s northern walking tour with Charles Brown in the summer of 1818 has for one of its goals to gather some sense of Burns’ world; Keats remains confused about Burns, in particular his life and poetic subjects; though Keats has sympathies with Burns as a self-reliant outsider, he also importantly views Burns as a cautionary figure; Keats’s poem, On Visiting the Tomb of Burns, which, though weak, pairs Keats’s conjoined topics of beauty and suffering; Keats also writes This mortal body of a thousand days while in the cottage of Burn’s birth—Keats calls his lines bad.
"byron"
Byron, George Gordon (Lord)
Byron, George Gordon (Lord) (1778–1834): one of the most successful and controversial poets of the era; a handsome, flamboyant celebrity who came to represent liberty, individuality, and vitality; extraordinarily famous during his life as a published poet (and conflated with the heroes he creates), but, on a pan-European scale, legendary after his death; Keats unimpressed by Bryon’s style of poetry, perhaps tainted by some jealousy of Byron’s success; Byron initially finds Keats’s poetry juvenile and imaginatively indulgent, though based on an impression of his early work.
"chatterton_t"
Chatterton, Thomas
Chatterton, Thomas (1752–1770); boy wonder poet of wide, ambitious talents; most notable for his invention of some fifteenth-century poems, written by a fake poet, Thomas Rowley; commits suicide, aged 17; popular with other Romantic writers as the idealized youthful, martyred, suffering poet; Keats’s dedicates Endymion to him; one of Keats’s earliest known poem is his 1815 Oh Chatterton! How very sad thy fate, which mourns the sad outcome for the young genius who now sings among the stars; Keats comes to believe that Chatterton’s verse possesses a pure English idiom, as opposed to Milton’s extraordinary but beautiful corruptions of the language.
"chaucer_g"
Chaucer, Geoffrey
Chaucer, Geoffrey (?1343–1400): successful poet, member of the Royal Service, customs comptroller, diplomatic service officer/courtier, astronomer, translator; famous for his Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women, and The Book of the Duchess; often favored as the father of English Literature; Keats is fully familiar with Chaucer (he has no problem quoting Chaucer fairly casually); with some nostalgia, Keats associates Chaucer with a high, noble point in English literary history; Keats writes one of his poems (This pleasant tale is like a copse) into a copy of a friend’s copy of Chaucer’s works, where Keats also makes textual markings in Troilus and Criseyde, indicating a close study of Chaucer’s observations and characterization—in a letter to his lover Fanny Brawne, Keats identifies with Troilus enough to express his fears to Fanny’s about her faithfulness (Feb 1820).
"christie_j"
Christie, Jonathan
Christie, Jonathan (?-1876): barrister; London agent for William Blackwood, of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine; acting for his friend John Gibson Lockhart, who writes for Blackwood’s, Christie (as Lockhart’s second) in February 1821 kills the John Scott, editor of The London Magazine and defender of Hunt and Keats, in a duel over the integrity of Blackwood’s, which Scott has been slamming; tried for wilful murder and acquitted
"clairmont_c"
Clairmont, Claire (Mary Jane)
Clairmont, Claire (Mary Jane) (1798–1879): illegitimate, freethinking daughter of William Godwin’s second wife; stepsister to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; mother to an illegitimate daughter (Allegra) with Lord Byron, who she pursued both before and after the birth of Allegra (who dies aged five); part of Percy Shelley’s entourage between 1814–1822; importantly, Claire introduces Shelley to Byron.
"clark_j"
Clark, James
Clark, James (1788–1870): surgeon, trained at University of Edinburgh; treated Keats’s tuberculosis in Rome with care but in keeping with ill-informed contemporary practice (e.g., bloodletting, dieting, exercising). It might also be noted that, in 1821, Clark was in the early stage of his medical career, having gained his MD in 1817.
"clarke_c"
Clarke, Charles Cowden
Clarke, Charles Cowden (1787–1877): teacher, publisher (including music), bookseller, informed musical and literary interests; later an art and theatre reviewer, extensive lectures on Shakespeare, and very minor poet; son of Keats’s headmaster at Enfield; widely connected to literary circles of the day; strong and important (if not crucial) early influence on Keats’s literary tastes, as well as, early on, very close to Keats; very significantly, he introduces Keats to Leigh Hunt in 1816, thus greatly expanding Keats’s London social network; he mainly drops out of Keats’s circle in 1817; strong defender of Keats’s posthumous reputation; Keats writes a verse letter to Clarke in October 1816, thanking him for tutoring his literary passions; marries Vincent Novello’s daughter, Mary.
"coleridge_s"
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772–1834): poet, critic, journalist, theologian, philosopher, lecturer, extraordinary conversationalist, and living legend by the time of Keats’s chance encounter with him in April 1819; a genius, compromised by addiction issues and an overly ambitious spread of intellectual interests; forever paired with William Wordsworth; Keats is fully acquainted with his poetry as well as some of his ideas and literary criticism.
"cox_j"
Cox, Jane
Cox, Jane (?-?): a cousin of Keats’s of the Reynolds’ family, born in India; a woman whose shape, Keats writes, haunts him for a couple of days in September 1818; Keats still seems intrigued by her into October, when he describes her rich eastern look, how, when she enters a room, she makes an impression the same as the Beauty of a Leopardess, that she is a fine thing with magnetic powers, and how other women become jealous of her; Keats nominates her as Charmian (letter, 14 Oct 1818); interestingly, and consistent with his notion of the camelion poet that can enter and sympathetically assume the subjects he imaginatively contemplates, Keats writes, I forget myself entirely because I live in her.
"croker_j"
Croker, John Wilson
Croker, John Wilson (1780–1857): member of Parliament (Tory), political expert, and fascinated by French Revolution documents; co-founder of and contributor to the Quarterly Review; writes a nasty review of Keats’s Endymion (published September 1818), nominating Keats as an unintelligible copyist of Leigh Hunt.
"dante"
Dante
Dante (?1265–1321): Italian poet, highly influential, most famous for his poetic trilogy, The Divine Comedy; Keats read Henry Francis Cary’s 1805 translation, and certainly its first section, Inferno, into which he makes many markings; Keats begins to master Italian in order to read Dante more fully; Keats takes the three volumes of Cary’s translation taken on his Scottish walking tour; Dante’s influence is perhaps most apparent in The Fall of Hyperion.
"davenports_t"
The Davenports
The Davenports: Likely met via Brown or Dilke; the family live at 2 Church Row, Hampstead. Keats on occasion dines and goes to some parties there; Keats and Brown at least once reciprocate. Mrs. Davenport kindly helps to take care of Tom, November 1818. Mr. Burrage Davenport (or, at times, incorrectly, “Burridge” or “Benjamin”, 1778-1863) is a well-to-do merchant banker in London. A gift copy of Keats’s last collection (1920) given to the Davenports contains Keats’s angry comment about the book’s advertisement written by the publisher, that wrongly claims that his Hyperion poem in the collection is unfinished because Keats was upset about reviews.
"dilke_c"
Dilke, Charles Wentworth
Dilke, Charles Wentworth (1789–1864): Navy civil servant, legal training, literary and journal editor, scholarly interests in Renaissance drama; co-owner (with Charles Brown) of Wentworth place (now Keats House) in Hampstead, where Keats lives on a few occasions; Keats meets via Reynolds; Keats becomes very friendly with Dilke and Dilke’s family, which he often visits; however, they seem not to approve of Keats’s relationship with Fanny Brawne; the Dilke family is supportive of Keats’s other family members and of Keats’s posthumous reputation.
"elgin_l"
Elgin, Lord (Thomas Bruce)
Elgin, Lord (Thomas Bruce) (1766–1841): Scottish nobleman, diplomat; his name is given over to marble sculptures from the Parthenon (c.500 B. C. E.) that Elgin organizes to preserve in England; after problems housing the Elgin Marbles, he eventually sells them to the nation, where they are displayed in the British Museum in 1816; Keats sees them in early March 1817; they immediately impact his artistic sensibilities and the way that, without knowing details about what is represented in the sculptures, they remain powerful in their trans-historical beauty; Keats writes two of his better early poems connected to his experience: On Seeing the Elgin Marbles and To Haydon with a Sonnet Written on Seeing the Elgin Marbles.
"elmes_j"
Elmes, James
Elmes, James (1782-1862): distinguished architect, surveyor, engineer, writer and lecturer on the arts and architecture, magazine editor, biographer; founder of Annals of the Fine Arts, 1816-1820, during which he is close to Keats’s very close friend, Benjamin Robert Haydon; the Annals is the first to publish two of Keats’s best poems, his odes on a Grecian Urn and a Nightingale.
"fletcher_j"
Fletcher, John
Fletcher, John (1579–1625): successful and versatile London dramatist; contemporary of Shakespeare; in January 1818, Keats writes a poem about an evening at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, where he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
"godwin_w"
Godwin, William
Godwin, William (1756–1836): minister (though later atheist), social philosopher, essayist, novelist, biographer; husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, father of Mary Shelley, father-in-law of Percy Shelley; inspirational for many Romantic-era writers, representing anarchist, radical, and individualist views, yet strong beliefs in reason, political justice, and human rights.
"hammond_t"
Hammond, Thomas
Hammond, Thomas (1766–1817): surgeon in Edmonton, family physician to Keats’s maternal family, the Jennings’; after being pulled from school (aged 14), Keats apprentices with Hammond 1811–1815; family money (generated by selling stocks) is used to pay Hammond’s supervisory fees; Keats later remembers that he had some defiant moments with Hammond (see letter, 21 Sept 1819), though the period with Hammond also has periods of relative security; perhaps the relationship is somewhat compromised by Keats’s growing interest in poetry and Hammond’s failing health.
"haslam_w"
Haslam, William
Haslam, William (1795–1851): solicitor; generous, kind, and truly devoted friend of Keats when he is in need, as well as Keats’s siblings (especially to Keats’s brother, Tom, when he is sick); Keats likely meets him via brother George; Haslam is the one to suggest Severn accompany Keats to Italy, a trip he helps finance.
"haydon_br"
Haydon, Benjamin Robert
Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786–1846): historical painter, diarist, lecturer; ambitious, volatile, combative; his artistic achievement compromised by pride, inflexible principles, and ego—and a very slow pace; passionate and devoted friend of Keats after meeting him via Leigh Hunt; true believer in Keats’s genius (and his own); Keats initially equally devoted to Haydon, but increasingly put off by his contentious personality; he thought a great deal about great art (which Keats, importantly, would have heard much about), but overestimated the greatness of his own; commits suicide after lengthy struggles with debt and professional failure; largely responsible for England retaining the Elgin Marbles.
"hazlitt_w"
Hazlitt, William
Hazlitt, William (1778–1830): painter, philosopher, significant critic (literary, theatre, art), journalist, brilliant essayist, lecturer; blunt advocate of human rights and liberty, passionately opinionated, often quarrelsome, intellectually driven; meets Keats late 1816; through his lectures and writing, significantly influences Keats’s maturing tastes and ideas, especially about Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Elizabethan literature, literary worth, poetic genius, poetic originality, the principle of disinterestedness and gusto, and the sympathetic powers of imagination; becomes a friend and a formidable defender of Keats and his poetry, especially against the hypocrisy of partisan reviewing; acquaintance with many of the era’s leading literary figures.
"hessey_j"
Hessey, James
Hessey, James (1785–1870): progressive publisher, bookseller; half of Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; strongly believes in Keats’s poetic potential, and with John Taylor basically sponsors Keats’s publishing career.
"hill_t"
Hill, Thomas
Hill, Thomas (1760–1840): book-collector, dry-salter; friend of Leigh Hunt; joint owner/editor of The Monthly Mirror (defunct by 1811); centre of a minor literary circle; Keats once dines with him.
"hogg_t"
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson (1792–1862): barrister, writer, biographer; very close friend to Percy Shelley, and his first biographer (1858); Keats dines with, 11 February 1818, along with Percy and Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, and Claire (Mary Jane) Clairmont.
"holmes_e"
Holmes, Edward
Holmes, Edward (1797-1859): musician, music critic, and writer of books about music; his biographies on Mozart and Purcell of some note; though a bit younger, one of Keats’s school fellows; his recollections of schoolboy Keats are valuable; met with Keats on occasion in company; stayed within the circle of Keats’s friends throughout his life; likely the anonymous writer (Y) of a defence of Keats after Keats’s death, in The Morning Chronicle, 27 July 1821.
"homer"
Homer
Homer (?7th, ?8th, or ?9th century, B. C. E.): name ascribed to the ancient Greek poet, proposed writer of the Iliad and Odyssey, often viewed as Western Culture’s most influential epic poems; Keats’s most famous engagement with Homer comes to us via what is sometimes considered Keats’s earliest accomplished poem, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer ; Keats writes a second poem, To Homer, in 1818; which identifies with Homer for his insights in blindness; in assessing Homer, Keats writes he is very fine (letters 13 March 1818), and that he longs to feast upon old Homer (27 April 1818); according to one of Keats’s close friends, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Keats is especially taken by the figure of Achilles.
"hunt_j"
Hunt, John
Hunt, John (1775–1848): Printer and publisher; elder brother of Leigh Hunt and co-founder of The Examiner.
"hunt_l"
Hunt, Leigh
Hunt, Leigh (1784–1859): poet, literary critic, editor, journalist, essayist, periodical publisher; charming, somewhat affected personality, energetic, poor with money; editor of the independent and free-thinking Examiner newspaper as well as other periodical publications; jailed two years for libeling the Prince Regent; first to publish Keats; Keats initially enthralled with Hunt, and Hunt fully struck by Keats’s personality and poetic potential; crucially, Hunt introduces Keats into literary London; Keats spends plenty of time with Hunt, and they know each other very well; Keats, though, comes to privately resent Hunt’s poetic pretensions and egotisms, yet Hunt’s kindness toward Keats continued; Keats is forever identified with Hunt as a member of maligned “Cockney School of Poetry.”
"hunt_r"
Hunt, Robert
Hunt, Robert (fl. 1809): writer, older brother of Leigh Hunt, and contributor to the Examiner.
"hutchinson_s"
Hutchinson, Sarah
Hutchinson, Sarah (1775–1835): William Wordsworth’s sister-in-law, younger sister of Mary; once agonizingly pursued by Samuel Taylor Coleridge while he was in an unhappy marriage with another Sara (Fricker); Sara lives with the Wordsworths for a number of years; Keats meets her with the Wordsworths; Keats describes her as enchanting,,though he sees Wordsworth as living in protective Shell up north with his wife and sister (letters 21 March 1818); a little later Sara will offer some comments about Keats’s Endymion—that while it is beautiful, it is uninteresting.
"jefferys_t"
The Jefferys
The Jefferys: Keats and his younger two brothers, Tom and George, socialize (somewhat flirtatiously) with the two Jeffery sisters, Marian (variously, Marianne and Mary-Ann) and Sarah Francis (Fanny); in 1818, they are twenty and eighteen, respectively. [There have been earlier misspellings of the last name as Jeffrey.] They meet them in Teignmouth, Devon. Their mother, Margaret, a widow, is particularly unselfish in caring for Tom when he is ill. Keats writes a few fairly open, somewhat humorous but thoughtful letters to Marian mid-1819, mentioning possible future plans, so there is fairly clear degree of familiarity. In 1830, under her married name—Mrs. I. S. Prowse—Marian publishes a collection of poetry (Poems) that pays some allusive homage to Keats; it has a substantial list of subscribers.
"jennings_a"
Jennings, Alice
Jennings, Alice (1736–1814): Keats’s maternal grandmother; tolerant and affectionate; generously takes take of Keats’s and his siblings after Keats’s father passes away and Keats’s mother’s unsteady behaviour; Keats holds her highly.
"jennings_f"
Jennings, Frances
Jennings, Frances (1775–1810): Keats’s mother; small, attractive, capable, perhaps impulsive; in 1794 marries Thomas Keats, who works at the Jennings’ family business, the Swan and Hoop inn and stables as head ostler; after Keats’s father Thomas dies in 1804, she experiences some uneven moments, including a very hasty marriage a few months after Keats’s father passes, as well as gap in her whereabouts before she returns to her children; like Keats and his two younger brothers, she dies of consumption (TB) while young Keats passionately attends to her at his grandmother’s home.
"jennings_j"
Jennings, John
Jennings, John (1730–1805): Keats’s maternal grandfather; marries Alice Jennings in 1774; owns the Swan and Hoop inn and stables, from which he does well and expands the business; retires 1802, leaving Keats’s father, Thomas, to run the business; leaves significant money to Keats and his siblings, though not all of it discovered until after Keats’s death.
"jennings_r"
Jennings, Robert
Jennings, Robert (?1784-): publisher, printer, bookseller, with some associations with Leigh Hunt; Keats perhaps buys his 7-volume edition of Shakespeare from Jennings.
"jones_i"
Jones, Isabella
Jones, Isabella (unknown birth/death): attractive, mysterious, cultured woman, with whom Keats has some passing involvement in May 1817 that suggests some level of romantic intimacy; she may have suggested the Eve of St. Agnes and Eve of St. Mark as topics for Keats to write about; generous in some minor gifts to Keats and his brother, Tom; Keats may have written a few minor love poems that sound his attraction to and feelings for Isabella (“Unfelt, unheard, unseen,” “Hither, hither love,” “Hush, hush, tread softly”); she has some friends in Keats’s circle; Keats and Isabella agree to keep their passing relationship quiet.
"jonson_b"
Jonson, Ben
Jonson, Ben (1572–1637): actor, poet, but especially successful and highly influential Jacobean playwright of comedy; contemporary of Shakespeare (Shakespeare may have acted in one Jonson’s early plays); a volatile, quarrelsome, intense, and self-regarding temperament; perhaps best known for Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair (his poem, Song to Celia, has also become famous); because Jonson receives a pension from the royal family in 1616, he is some ways the first poet laureate; Keats owned a copy of The Dramatic Works of Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher (the 4-volume 1811 edition); in January 1818, Keats writes a poem about an evening at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, where he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
"kean_e"
Kean, Edmund
Kean, Edmund (?1787/9-1833): controversial, celebrity actor, mainly in Shakespearean tragedies; perhaps most notable as Richard III; an uneven personality, plagued by vanity and insecurity, at times compromised by alcohol addiction; much praised by Keats’s friend, the critic William Hazlitt; Keats sees Kean perform on a few occasions and is struck by Kean’s forceful embodiment of actual words, which makes Keats reflect upon intensive yet controlled qualities he strives for in his own poetry.
"keats_f"
Keats, Fanny
Keats, Fanny (1803–89): Keats’s younger sister; some suggestion of resemblance to brother Tom; after 1814 and until 1824, she was the ward of Richard Abbey, the family trustee, who at times thwarted contact between Fanny and Keats; Keats is very, protective of her from an early age; some of his final thoughts are of Fanny; she marries a Spanish diplomat and writer in 1826.
"keats_g"
Keats, George
Keats, George (1797–1841): older of Keats two younger brothers; attended same school (in Enfield) as Keats; introduces Keats to some lasting friends; outgoing, fairly ambitious, great belief in Keats’s poetic aspirations; very close to Keats; lives with his brothers at certain points; emigrates to America, June 1818, only to experience business failure; returns to England in 1820 to refinance himself from the family estate, which leads Keats to have some uncertainty about George’s motives; financial and personal success on second trip to America (settling in Kentucky); Keats writes some very important journal letters to George and his wife, Georgiana; dies of consumption.
"keats_g2"
Keats, Georgiana (née Wylie)
Keats, Georgiana (née Wylie) (1798–1879): wife of Keats’s brother, George (they marry 28 March 1818); Keats very fond of her, and admired her modesty and intelligence; Keats writes completely openly to her in some important journal letters co-addressed to George, especially after the couple immigrates to America in June 1818.
"keats_t_jun"
Keats, Tom
Keats, Tom (1799–1818): Keats’s youngest brother; like Keats, educated at Clarke’s school; tall and thin, considered gentle with good humour; longstanding heath issues; as an adult, lived with Keats on a few occasions; temporarily works for Abbey; much loved by Keats, with great mutual understanding of each other; Keats nurses Tom to his death from tuberculosis.
"keats_t_sen"
Keats, Thomas
Keats, Thomas (?1773–1804): Keats’s father [sometimes spelled Keates]; works the Swan and Hoop inn and livery stables after meeting Keats’s mother there; her parents (John and Alice Jennings) own the Swan and Hoop; not long after the marriage and after he had been head ostler, he begins to manage the business; known to be sensible, energetic, and respectful; dies in late-night riding accident—the cause unclear.
"kingston_j"
Kingston, John
Kingston, John (?-?): comptroller at the Stamp Office in London, and technically William Wordsworth’s superior, since Wordsworth was stamp comptroller for Westmoreland; a very awkward and unintentionally humorous presence at Benjamin Robert Haydon’s so-called immortal dinner (of Sunday, 28 Dec 1817), which Keats attends, along with Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, and others; Haydon is anxious to show his very large canvas, an ambitious historical painting entitled Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem: Keats, Lamb, and Wordsworth are painted into the scene as spectators.
"lamb_c"
Lamb, Charles
Lamb, Charles (1775–1834): first-rate essayist, second-rate poet; witty, acute, eloquent; an acquaintance of Keats; close to some of Keats’s friends, including Leigh Hunt and Benjamin Robert Haydon; perhaps best known for his Tales From Shakespeare (1807), written with his sister, Mary Ann, whom he takes care of despite a life-long mental illness; long, close friendship with William and Dorothy Wordsworth; Keats meets Lamb at Haydon’s so-called immortal dinner, 28 December 1817, and likely sees him in other circumstances; Lamb in a July 1820 review strongly commends Keats’s 1820 volume. Very much a London man.
"lockhart_j"
Lockhart, John Gibson
Lockhart, John Gibson (1794–1854): legally trained, but noteworthy as editor, reviewer, writer, literary critic, minor translator; biographer, novelist; after 1820, son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, of whom he writes a biography; contributor to the Whig Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, in which he (with a measured conflation of wit and venom) anonymously (“Z”) pillories Leigh Hunt, founder of what he calls “the Cockney school of poetry,” and then Keats, as Hunt’s underling; later editor of Quarterly Review.
"lowther_l"
Lowther, Lord
Lowther, Lord (1787–1872): (William Lowther; Earl of Lonsdale) politician; Keats very disappointed that William Wordsworth is an active supporter of Lord Lowther, who, as the area’s largest landowner, controls the Tory side of parliamentary representation for Westmorland: sad—sad—sad— writes Keats 26 June 1818 about this circumstance, even though at this time he is attempting to see Wordsworth during a walking expedition through Westmorland, heading north to Scotland.
"mackintosh_j"
Mackintosh, James
Mackintosh, James (1765–1832): knighted 1804; lawyer, doctor, writer (history, philosophy, journalism), politician (Whig), professor, judge; admires Keats, and in July 1818 is upset by attacks on Keats’s Endymion (he apparently writes to Keats’s publisher to express his admiration and asks about Keats’s high designs); Macintosh’s Miscellaneous Works (3 vols.) are published in 1846 (edited by his son).
"mathew_g"
Mathew, George Felton
Mathew, George Felton (1795-?): early London friend of Keats, met via his brother, George, mid-1815; some over-estimated poetic aspirations; Keats enjoys some social events with Mathew and his female cousins; Mathew publishes an upbeat poem to Keats in October 1816; Keats writes an epistle to Mathew that appears in his first collection, the 1817 Poems; conservative Mathew evolves some resentment over Keats’s poetic gifts (and politics), and he reviews Keats’s first collection; as their friendships peters (by late 1816), Keats moves into more a more serious and progressive cultural circle via Leigh Hunt.
"milman_h"
Milman, H. H.
Milman, H. H. (1791–1868): [Henry Hart] poet, hymn writer, historian, dramatist, professor, editor, translator ecclesiastic (Dean of St. Paul’s); prolific contributor to the Quarterly Review; Keats sees Milman’s verse drama Fazio (previously billed, unbeknownst to Milman, as The Italian Wife) on opening night at Covent Garden, 5 February 1818—the play, Keats says, hung rather heavily me.
"milton_j"
Milton, John
Milton, John (1608–1674): pamphleteer and polemical writer, lyric and epic poet, particularly noteworthy for Paradise Lost; staunch republican sympathies; Keats studies Milton very deeply, as noted by his detailed marginalia in his copy of Paradise Lost; though he decides that while Milton’s accomplishment is a “wonder,” and that his imaginative scope is almost unapproachably grand, aspects of his style may be to artful (or just not natural enough) for him to pursue, though Keats’s unfinished Hyperion projects are ways for Keats to come to terms with Milton’s poetic powers.
"monkhouse_t"
Monkhouse, Thomas
Monkhouse, Thomas (1783–1825): well-to-do London merchant; close cousin of Mary Wordsworth (née Hutchinson), wife of William Wordsworth; in late 1817, Benjamin Robert Haydon arranges for Keats to meet Wordsworth via Monkhouse at Monkhouse’s residence; Keats will have a few subsequent meetings with Wordsworth; a few later, Monkhouse runs into Keats and invites him to meet with Wordsworth again in June 1820, but health problems warn him off.
"montagu_b"
Montagu, Basil
Montagu, Basil (1770–1851): barrister, member of Chancery bar, writer on topics related to copyright, bankruptcy, the death penalty, human rights, prevention of cruelty to animals, Lord Bacon; good friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth (to whom he is introduced by William Godwin; during a difficult period Montagu’s life, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy care for Montagu’s son); Montagu represents Keats’s acquaintance Percy Shelley in a custody case; on 16 February 1817, Montagu is present at a dinner with Shelley and his wife Mary, Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt, and Godwin, where they read Keats’s On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, of which Hunt has a copy—they apparently deem it extraordinary.
"moore_t"
Moore, Thomas
Moore, Thomas (1779–1852): poet, editor, satirist, biographer, historian, composer; good friend of Lord Byron; contributor to and then editor of The Edinburgh Review; during Keats lifetime, perhaps most famous for his poem Lalla Rookh (1817) and gatherings of Irish Melodies; Keats: I like that Moore (3 May 1818) and does not admire Moore (18 Feb 1819); Percy Shelley summons Moore (among other poets) as a mourner of Keats in his elegy on Keats, Adonais (1821).
"newton_i"
Newton, Isaac
Newton, Isaac (1642-1727): singularly significant English physicist and mathematician who gave mathematical descriptions and explanations of light, gravity, and planetary motion. Some Romantic thinkers debated the practice of reducing the understanding of nature to scientific explanation.
"novellos_t"
The Novellos
The Novellos: Via Leigh Hunt’s circle, Keats has some social contact with this highly musical and large family, headed by the mother, Mary, and father, Vincent (1781-1861), though Keats also finds the overly witty behaviour of their company fairly tiresome. Vincent is central to the musical society of the day: organist, pianist, music teacher, composer, choir master, conductor, a founding member of the Philharmonic Society, and, importantly, musical publisher; besides Hunt, Novello circle Charles Ollier, Charles and Mary Lamb, Henry Robinson, Charles Ollier, and many others. A few of his daughters will become established singers. In 1828, one of Novello’s daughters, Mary Victoria, will marry Keats’s earliest mentor, Charles Cowden Clarke.
"ollier_c"
Ollier, Charles
Ollier, Charles (Ollier brothers, Charles [1788–1859] and James [1795–1851]): publishers, stationers, booksellers; on commission, publishers of Keats’s first collection, Poems, by John Keats, 1817; Charles has some interest in writing poetry; as publishers, James covers more of the business end; publisher of others in Keats’s circle, including Leigh Hunt, Percy Shelley, Charles Lamb; after his first collection, Keats drops the Olliers (for Taylor & Hessey), in part because he does not want to pay for publication, and the Olliers complain that the volume did not sell—Keats felt they did not promote the collection enough; in truth, Poems is a bit of a mess, even at the level of layout; the Olliers are within Hunt’s circle, and Keats does occasional socializing with them.
"ollier_j"
Ollier, James
Ollier, James (Ollier brothers, Charles [1788–1859] and James [1795–1851]): publishers, stationers, booksellers; on commission, publishers of Keats’s first collection, Poems, by John Keats, 1817; publisher of others in Keats’s circle, including Leigh Hunt, Percy Shelley, Charles Lamb; as publishers, James mainly covers the business end; after his first collection, Keats drops the Olliers (for Taylor & Hessey), in part because he does not want to pay for publication, and the Olliers complain that the volume did not sell—Keats felt they did not promote it enough; in truth, Poems is a bit of a mess, even at the level of layout.
"peacock_t"
Peacock, Thomas Love
Peacock, Thomas Love (1785–1866): essayist, poet, novelist; mainly self-educated; opinionated, observant; rises to a senior position in the East India Company; most famous for his satirical novels, Headlong Hall (1816), Melincourt (1817), and Nightmare Abbey (1818), which, propelled by conversation, intelligently mock political and philosophical subjects and positions; Peacock’s most noteworthy poetry is Rhododaphne (1818); close friends with Percy Shelley; Keats meets Peacock via Leigh Hunt, early 1818.
"quincey_t"
Quincey, Thomas de
Quincey, Thomas de (1785–1859): editor, essayist, journalist, translator; friends with William Wordsworth, William Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt; most famous for The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar (1821/1822).
"randall_j"
Randall, Jack
Randall, Jack (1794–1828): popular bare-knuckle boxer (16-0-1), known as the Nonpareil and the prime Irish Lad, and the first professional boxer to retire undefeated; Keats sees Randall battle Ned Turner in Sussex, 5 December 1818 (Randall knocks Turner out in the 34th round); the prize fight is just a few days after the death of Keats’s younger brother, Tom (Keats’s friends likely think the outing might be a good distraction).
"reynolds_j"
Reynolds, John Hamilton
Reynolds, John Hamilton (1794–1852): clerk, poet, reviewer, novelist, playwright, lawyer; witty, outgoing; meets Keats via Leigh Hunt, becomes a very close and supportive friend of Keats, and seems to get the direction and level of Keats’s poetic aspirations; Keats writes some significant letters to Reynolds about poetry and his role as a poet; connects Keats with other important friends; Keats also writes a casual verse epistle to Reynolds in March 1818, containing some meandering ideas about art, the imagination, and intensity—key subjects for Keats; Reynolds provides critical feedback to Keats during Keats’s poetic development; Keats friendly with Reynolds’ sister, Jane and Mariane; eventually bankrupt by 1838; on his tombstone: The Friend of Keats.
"rice_j"
Rice, James
Rice, James (1792–1832): lawyer, well read; known in the Keats circle as wise, unconditionally kind, noble, witty, sensible, and gentlemanly; poor health; Keats stays with him for about a month on the Isle of Wight; Keats meets via Reynolds; one of the financial supporters in getting Keats to Italy; becomes Fanny Keats’s lawyer.
"richards_c"
Richards, Charles
Richards, Charles
"richards_t"
Richards, Thomas
Richards, Thomas (?-?): government worker (ordnance office), sometimes theatre reviewer; a casual friend to Keats and some in Keats’s circle; Keats apparently gets so drunk at a gathering at Richards’ on 14 December 1816 that he is useless the next day (a whoreson night, he calls it—the weather or his state?); he also dines with Richards occasionally through the next few years, up until early 1820; on 17 January 1820, Keats compares Richards to two of his other friends, with the suggestion that Richards is hard to fathom; Charles Richards, Thomas’ brother, is the printer of Keats’s 1817 collection, Poems, though result suggests some inexperience on the part of Charles; the connection with the Richards brothers comes from the circumstance of both of them attending the same school as Keats at Enfield.
"scott_j"
Scott, John
Scott, John (1784–1821): editor of various magazines, including The London Magazine and earlier The Champion; publishes many important writers of the era; often contributor to his magazines; strong liberal sympathies with some idealist tendencies; public supporter of the reputation of Keats and his circle; Tom Keats gives copy book of Keats’s poetry to Scott in Paris, 1817; in February 1821 is wounded and then dies in a duel over literary matters peripherally related to a defence of Keats, after Scott’s constant attacks on the integrity of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, with mutual abuse returned from Blackwood’s.
"scott_w"
Scott, Walter
Scott, Walter (1771–1832): Scottish poet and novelist; also editor, literary critic, biographer, historian, though originally trained as a lawyer; perhaps the most popular and influential writer of Keats’s era; especially famous for The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), The Lady of the Lake (1810—all ballad epics), and the Waverly novels; extraordinary early success is levelled by financial stress beginning in 1813 and increasing by 1825-26, when Scott is forced to confront bankruptcy; prolific output continues, but mainly to pay off creditors; Keats assesses Scott as two of the three literary kings in our Time: the poet Scott, the novelist Scott, and Lord Byron (letters, ?29 Dec 1818).
"severn_j"
Severn, Joseph
Severn, Joseph (1793–1897): versatile and devoted painter, but mainly a subject painter; attended Royal Academy; initially a friend of Keats, believer in Keats’s genius and in promoting it; introduces some art to Keats; paints famous miniature of Keats (exhibited May 1818); as a last-moment decision, he accompanies Keats to Rome and closely nurses Keats through his final, agonizing months (and details it), which is a defining feature of Severn’s reputation—this earns Severn clear intimacy with Keats; some suggestion that Severn was keen to accompany Keats to Italy because of an illegitimate child; has some early success as a painter in Rome; later British Consul in Rome; buried beside Keats in Rome in matching graves; profited by (and culturally nurtured) his association with Keats.
"shakespeare_w"
Shakespeare, William
Shakespeare, William (1564–1616): playwright, poet, theatre owner; Shakespeare’s reputation very high in the Romantic era as a creative, poetic genius, an unparalleled seer-into nature and human nature; Keats deliberately studies Shakespeare until he feels he understands Shakespeare to his depths; Keats attempts to emulate aspects of Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic powers, and in particular the poet’s imaginative absorption into the subject.
"shelley_m"
Shelley, Mary
Shelley, Mary (1797–1851): novelist (most famously of Frankenstein, 1818), editor, biographer; intellectual, generally private; daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; marries Percy Shelley; Keats meets on a few occasions.
"shelley_p"
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792–1822): poet; unrelenting radical and reformist enthusiasms, anti-authoritarian, dedicated pursuit of idealised, visionary truths and social justice; eccentric, intellectually precocious, generous, sometimes erratic; marries Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (author of Frankenstein, editor of Shelley’s poetry after his death), William Godwin’s daughter; both Percy and Mary acquainted with Keats via Leigh Hunt, and they do some socializing with Keats; Percy is more enthused by Keats than Keats with him; Shelley invites Keats to Italy to stay with him when Keats is ill—Keats declines; implicit competition and pairing with Keats; writes brilliant elegy to Keats, Adonais; drowns in a sailing accident, aged 29, with Keats’s final collection stuffed into his pocket; buried not too far from Keats in Rome.
"smith_h"
Smith, Horace (Horatio)
Smith, Horace (Horatio) (1779–1849): stockbroker, quite successful as a journal and newspaper contributor, but a very minor poet, writer of historical novels and parody; known to Percy Shelley as generous.
"southey_r"
Southey, Robert
Southey, Robert (1774–1843): poet, critic, historian; prolific, popular, but generally considered unimaginative and unintense as a poet; Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death; strong early connections to Wordsworth and Coleridge, as well as to the Quarterly Review; because, over time, his early radical sympathies are perceived to be compromised, by some he is lampooned for his turn to conservatism (notably by Lord Byron and Thomas Love Peacock; also disliked by William Hazlitt); Keats did not admire him.
"spenser_e"
Spenser, Edmund
Spenser, Edmund (?1552–1599): key poet of the English high middle ages, most famously of the masterful and allusive The Faerie Queen, a long epic romance embedded with allegorical intent that brushes up against politics, morality, and religion; innovative stylist (the Spenserian stanza, in particular); highly influential in guiding Keats’s very early poetical aspirations, though Spencer is never fully left behind in Keats’s poetic progress, ranging from the level of diction to Keats’s attraction to romance.
"spurgin_j"
Spurgin, John
Spurgin, John (1797-1866): medical student, then physician, sometimes writer on medical matters, as well as occasional inventor; long-serving Chairman of the Swedenborg Society of London. Keats may have met Spurgin via the Mathews’ social events or through St. Thomas’s Hospital, where Spurgin trained 1813-1815. In a long, detailed December 1815 letter, he attempts to attune Keats to Swedenborgian teachings; earlier, the two must have exchanged some books as well as ideas about religion and belief; it is clear Spurgin hopes to convert skeptical Keats. He fades from Keats’s circle.
"taylor_j"
Taylor, John
Taylor, John (1781–1864): scholarly, progressive publisher and bookseller; editor, minor writer, pyramidologist; half of Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; Keats meets through Reynolds; extremely generous with Keats; very loyal to and supportive of Keats and his poetry; helpful biographical knowledge about Keats; along with Hessey, he more or less sponsors Keats’s later publishing; Keats in his will wants, somehow, Taylor to be repaid for his friendship and generosity.
"turner_n"
Turner, Ned
Turner, Ned (1792–1826): bare-knuckle prize fighter and the first Welsh champion, known as the pugilistic Prince of Wales; he spent a few months in jail for killing a man in the ring in 1816; Keats sees him defeated by Jack Randal, 5 December 1818.
"virgil"
Virgil
Virgil (70-19 BCE): classical Roman poet, most famous for The Aeneid; Keats, as a teen-aged student, and under the general guidance of his headmaster’s son at Enfield (Charles Cowden Clarke), takes up the challenge to translate The Aeneid, and confident and smart enough to suggest flaws in the poem’s narrative structure; Keats no doubts gets some first sense of epic grandeur (and passion for poetry’s scope and power) by undertaking the translation; Keats is utterly conversant with Virgil, as demonstrated in various quotes from him thrown into his letters, as well as occasional allusions.
"voltaire"
Voltaire
Voltaire (1694–1778): French dramatist, poet, philosopher, novelist, historian; best known for his satirical novel Candide and his free-thinking, humanistically-styled sense of virtues, tempered by skepticism; Keats is familiar with Voltaire, reinforced, perhaps, by his friend, the critic William Hazlitt; Keats casually quotes from and refers to Voltaire in passing on a few occasions, and we know he is reading Voltaire’s Le Siècle de Louis XIV in early 1819.
"webbe_c"
Webbe, Cornelius
Webbe, Cornelius (1789–1850?) [also Webb]: fairly prolific poet of the second rank, with some popularity and critical approval; later an essayist, again of minor note; great admirer of Keats; Webbe writes a glowing, over-poeticized sonnet (To John Keats, on his First Poems) that celebrates Keats’s earliest collection and its connection with Spencer, who he deems Keats’s sire; Webbe is forever connected with Keats as poets of the Cockney school under the tutelage of Leigh Hunt; Keats knows Webbe via Hunt and Hampstead gatherings; Keats gives a copy of his 1817 Poems to Webbe; Webbe is perhaps most famous for, in a poem, placing Keats and Hunt alongside Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, and Wordsworth, as if Hunt and Keats are their poetic equals: Z (John Gibson Lockhart) abuses Webbe’s words (capitalizing HUNT, and KEATS) to begin a devastating assault on Hunt, published in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, October 1817 (Webbe will also be nominated as Corny Webb, just as Keats is little Johnny); Keats in a letter of 3 November 1817 says he has never read any thing so virulent, and he anticipates a forthcoming attack on himself.
"wells_c"
Wells, Charles
Wells, Charles (1800–1879): solicitor; spirited friend of Keats; sometimes dramatist and poet; friend, too, of Keats’s youngest brother, Tom, who schooled with Wells; Keats writes an early poem to Wells; Keats gives an inscribed copy of his first collection the 1817 Poems, by John Keats, to Wells; Keats later very upset with Wells when, in 1818, he looks at the fake letters that Wells, as a joke, had sent to Tom back in 1816; has some reputation with the Pre-Raphaelites.
"west_b"
West, Benjamin
West, Benjamin (1738–1820): prominent American painter, primarily of historical topics (though many portraits); perhaps the first American painter to carefully study Italian art in Italy; influential in England, France, as well as in the United States (leaving a legacy of painters); one of the founders of London’s Royal Academy; at points he benefits from the patronage of George III and William Beckford; crucially, Keats sees one of West’s more famous canvases, Death on a Pale Horse, in December 1817, which, in a letter of 21 (?27) December 1817, directly triggers some of Keats’s most important pronouncements: how truly excellent art must possess intensity, and with it, the power to evaporate all “disagreeables” in having close relationship with Beauty & Truth (Keats emphasizes that West’s painting does not possess such intensity)—this line of thinking leads Keats, in the same letter, to a seminal articulation in his poetic development: Negative Capability.
"westbrook_h"
Westbrook, Harriet
Westbrook, Harriet (1795–1816): smart, pleasant, lively, graceful; the first wife of Keats’s acquaintance and fellow poet Percy Shelley, who is also a member of the Leigh Hunt circle; in 1811, Shelley (19) and Harriet (16) marry in Scotland (they remarry in London, March 1814); they spend little time together; she gives birth to a daughter (Eliza Ianthe) in June 1813, and a son (Charles Bysshe), in November 1814; Shelley subsequently elopes with Mary Godwin (16), daughter of William Godwin, in July 1814 and a month later he writes a letter inviting Harriet to Switzerland to live as friends; Harriet commits suicide late November, drowning herself, aged 21, in a state of advanced pregnancy; Shelley is not likely the father; Shelley blames Harriet’s detestable family for the tragedy; Shelley is denied custody of his two children; Keats is aware of all of this, having some contact with Shelley and Mary during the public legal proceedings, which made the newspapers.
"woodhouse_r"
Woodhouse, Richard
Woodhouse, Richard (1788–1834): educated at Eton; scholar, writer, conveyancer, legal advisor to Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; organizes Keats’s copyright transfer to them before Keats is off to Italy; singularly important collector of Keatsiana; practical and detail oriented; extraordinarily generous with Keats, and a close friend to the end; absolutely sure of Keats’s poetic genius; Keats writes his famous “poetical Character” and “camelion poet” letter to Woodhouse, 27 October 1818; central in organizing Keats’s trip to Italy; dies of tuberculosis.
"wordsworth_m"
Wordsworth, Mary
Wordsworth, Mary (1770–1859): (née Hutchinson); wife of poet William Wordsworth (married 4 October 1802); like William’s sister Dorothy, Mary at times acts as Wordsworth’s amanuensis; Keats meets Mary when she is with William in London in early 1815; Keats (like others) have the sense that Dorothy and Mary (who both live with William) are overly protective of and reverent to William; in a letter 21 March 1818, Keats writes that William has returned to his Shell—with his beautiful wife and enchanting sister.
"wordsworth_w"
Wordsworth, William
Wordsworth, William (1780–1850): the most significant contemporary poet for Keats; Keats is deeply ambivalent about Wordsworth, based mainly on the older poet’s growing pretensions and conservative political affiliation; Keats meets Wordsworth (initially via Haydon) a few times late 1817 into early 1818; in contra-distinguishing himself from Wordsworth, Keats famously condemns the “wordsworthian or egotistic sublime” in poetry (letter, 27 October 1818); Keats is nevertheless fully in awe of Wordsworth’s poetic depths, which in some of his mature poetry he attempts to emulate—in his own terms, he feels Reverence toward the older poet; Wordsworth is Poet Laureate after 1843 until his death; forever paired with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"wylies_t"
Wylies, the
Wylies, the (May 1818): George Keats (Keats’s brother) marries Georgiana Augusta Wylie (?1797-1879). Georgiana’s parents (her father was a military man) have two sons, Henry and Charles. Via George, Keats comes to know the family and to frequently socialize with them; he is particularly fond of Mrs. Wylie. George and Georgiana emigrate to Kentucky for cheap property and opportunity; they are eventually very successful in business and in creating offspring—eight in total. Some of Keats’s most important letters are written to George and Georgiana after they move to Kentucky; Keats’s tone in these letters marks his familiarity and openness with Georgiana, as well as interest in her family of origin.
@data-p2
The second (target) person in the relationship.
"abbey_r"
Abbey, Richard
Abbey, Richard (1765–1837): a fairly prosperous and ambitious London tea dealer/broker and holder of some public offices; trustee of the Keats family legacy after the deaths of Keats’s mother and maternal grandparents (Abbey is appointed by Keats’s grandmother, Alice Jennings, in 1810; the other appointee, John Nowland Sandell, a well-to-do businessman, dies in 1816); Abbey is mistrusted by Keats and his sister, Fanny, who lives with the Abbey family for a spell; he strongly disapproves of Keats’s poetic aspirations (and politics); significantly, Keats is never fully aware of his finances in the form of inherited family money; brothers Tom and George at times work for Abbey.
"bailey_b"
Bailey, Benjamin
Bailey, Benjamin (1791–1853): scholar with philosophical and literary interests, ordained church clergyman (curacy); meets Keats in spring 1817; shares interests in Wordsworth, Milton, Plato, Dante, and Hazlitt with Keats; Keats writes a few very important and theoretically explorative letters to Bailey, and Keats found him of noble disposition (he publicly defends Keats); Keats stays with Bailey at Oxford University (Magdalen Hall) in September 1818 into early October; visits Stratford with Keats; later in life, Bailey wrote minor poetry and sermons; eventually becomes an archdeacon.
"beaumont_f"
Beaumont, Francis
Beaumont, Francis (1584–1616): Jacobean dramatist, poet; most famous as a collaborator with John Fletcher; Keats owned a copy of 4-volume 1811 edition of The Dramatic Works of Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher; Keats writes a poem about an evening spent at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, in which he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern, written January 1818.
"bentham_j"
Bentham, Jeremy
Bentham, Jeremy (1747-1832): Utilitarian philosopher, driven by pragmatic thinking and moral approach to understanding and describing human nature and human rights; interested in topics like penal reform, education, and hospitals.
"bewick_w"
Bewick, William
Bewick, William (1795–1866): an art student of Keats’s very good friend, the historical painter Benjamin Robert Haydon; Bewick socializes with Keats via Haydon and others in Keats’s circle: in a letter of 11 February 1818, Bewick calls them very intellectual dinners, and he mentions the presence of Keats the poet, Hazlitt the critic, Haydon, Hunt the publisher, &c., &; Keats runs into Bewick at exhibitions; Bewick goes on to become a portrait and historical painter of average though professional qualities.
"boccaccio"
Boccaccio
Boccaccio (1313–1375): Italian Renaissance humanist, writer, scholar, poet; most famous for his innovatively realistic poem, Decameron; Keats’s and his friend John Hamilton Reynolds entertain assembling a volume of poems based on Boccaccio’s Decameron; Keats’s somewhat interesting though indifferent poem Isabella (written 1818, published in the 1820 collection) is inspired by Boccaccio.
"brawne_f"
Brawne, Fanny
Brawne, Fanny (1800–65): born in London’s West End; likely meets Keats autumn 1818 via the Dilkes (she’s eighteen); with widowed, kindly mother and siblings, lives next door to Keats at Wentworth Place, spring 1819 (they take care of Keats, Aug. 1820); lively, social, smart (proficient in German and French), musical, keen perceptions, strong opinions, fashionable, middle-class, but disliked by some of Keats’s friends, who see her as flirtatious and vain (early Keats biographers tend to view her as unfit for Keats); perhaps unofficially betrothed to Keats in late 1818, but more likely a mutual declaration of love; Keats writes striking love letters to her, but when Keats becomes ill they devolve into overly longing and jealous rants as Keats becomes increasing ill and distraught that he might never again be with her (publication of Keats’s love letters in 1878 causes some literary commotion); she remarries in 1833 and has a daughter and two sons; dies in London; Fanny’s widowed mother, Frances, is very kind toward Keats.
"brougham_h"
Brougham, Henry
Brougham, Henry (1778–1868): lawyer, founder and contributor of Edinburgh Review; member of Parliament on the Whig side, a leader in the House of Commons, known for liberal reforms (on abolition, education, criminal issues, voting reform), famous for his causes and speeches; later Lord Chancellor of Great Britain; as a politician, Brougham contests Westmorland, while Keats is very disappointed that William Wordsworth is a supporter of Lord Lowther, who controls the Tory side for Westmorland: sad—sad—sad— writes Keats 26 June 1818.
"brown_c"
Brown, Charles Armitage
Brown, Charles Armitage (1787–1842): businessman, fur merchant, decent amateur artist, writer of a comic opera and some translations as well as a study of Shakespeare’s poems; some literary lectures; lived independently on inheritance money; one of Keats’s very closest friends (Keats is twenty-one when they meet), and knew Keats as well as anyone; extraordinarily supportive of and generous with Keats; lives with Keats on a few occasions; also travels with Keats, most famously on their long walking tour in the summer of 1818; kept a considerable collection of transcripts of Keats’s work; co-author with Keats of a somewhat indifferent play (never produced), Otho the Great; co-owner of Wentworth Place (two semi-detached houses), now Keats House; attempted a memoir of Keats.
"burns_r"
Burns, Robert
Burns, Robert (1759–1796): Scottish poet and songwriter, celebrated for his use of Scots vernacular; exciseman in later life; ambitious, freethinking; likely dies of bacterial endocarditis, perhaps compromised by alcohol; a legend by Keats’s time, venerated by the Romantics; Keats’s northern walking tour with Charles Brown in the summer of 1818 has for one of its goals to gather some sense of Burns’ world; Keats remains confused about Burns, in particular his life and poetic subjects; though Keats has sympathies with Burns as a self-reliant outsider, he also importantly views Burns as a cautionary figure; Keats’s poem, On Visiting the Tomb of Burns, which, though weak, pairs Keats’s conjoined topics of beauty and suffering; Keats also writes This mortal body of a thousand days while in the cottage of Burn’s birth—Keats calls his lines bad.
"byron"
Byron, George Gordon (Lord)
Byron, George Gordon (Lord) (1778–1834): one of the most successful and controversial poets of the era; a handsome, flamboyant celebrity who came to represent liberty, individuality, and vitality; extraordinarily famous during his life as a published poet (and conflated with the heroes he creates), but, on a pan-European scale, legendary after his death; Keats unimpressed by Bryon’s style of poetry, perhaps tainted by some jealousy of Byron’s success; Byron initially finds Keats’s poetry juvenile and imaginatively indulgent, though based on an impression of his early work.
"chatterton_t"
Chatterton, Thomas
Chatterton, Thomas (1752–1770); boy wonder poet of wide, ambitious talents; most notable for his invention of some fifteenth-century poems, written by a fake poet, Thomas Rowley; commits suicide, aged 17; popular with other Romantic writers as the idealized youthful, martyred, suffering poet; Keats’s dedicates Endymion to him; one of Keats’s earliest known poem is his 1815 Oh Chatterton! How very sad thy fate, which mourns the sad outcome for the young genius who now sings among the stars; Keats comes to believe that Chatterton’s verse possesses a pure English idiom, as opposed to Milton’s extraordinary but beautiful corruptions of the language.
"chaucer_g"
Chaucer, Geoffrey
Chaucer, Geoffrey (?1343–1400): successful poet, member of the Royal Service, customs comptroller, diplomatic service officer/courtier, astronomer, translator; famous for his Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women, and The Book of the Duchess; often favored as the father of English Literature; Keats is fully familiar with Chaucer (he has no problem quoting Chaucer fairly casually); with some nostalgia, Keats associates Chaucer with a high, noble point in English literary history; Keats writes one of his poems (This pleasant tale is like a copse) into a copy of a friend’s copy of Chaucer’s works, where Keats also makes textual markings in Troilus and Criseyde, indicating a close study of Chaucer’s observations and characterization—in a letter to his lover Fanny Brawne, Keats identifies with Troilus enough to express his fears to Fanny’s about her faithfulness (Feb 1820).
"christie_j"
Christie, Jonathan
Christie, Jonathan (?-1876): barrister; London agent for William Blackwood, of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine; acting for his friend John Gibson Lockhart, who writes for Blackwood’s, Christie (as Lockhart’s second) in February 1821 kills the John Scott, editor of The London Magazine and defender of Hunt and Keats, in a duel over the integrity of Blackwood’s, which Scott has been slamming; tried for wilful murder and acquitted
"clairmont_c"
Clairmont, Claire (Mary Jane)
Clairmont, Claire (Mary Jane) (1798–1879): illegitimate, freethinking daughter of William Godwin’s second wife; stepsister to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; mother to an illegitimate daughter (Allegra) with Lord Byron, who she pursued both before and after the birth of Allegra (who dies aged five); part of Percy Shelley’s entourage between 1814–1822; importantly, Claire introduces Shelley to Byron.
"clark_j"
Clark, James
Clark, James (1788–1870): surgeon, trained at University of Edinburgh; treated Keats’s tuberculosis in Rome with care but in keeping with ill-informed contemporary practice (e.g., bloodletting, dieting, exercising). It might also be noted that, in 1821, Clark was in the early stage of his medical career, having gained his MD in 1817.
"clarke_c"
Clarke, Charles Cowden
Clarke, Charles Cowden (1787–1877): teacher, publisher (including music), bookseller, informed musical and literary interests; later an art and theatre reviewer, extensive lectures on Shakespeare, and very minor poet; son of Keats’s headmaster at Enfield; widely connected to literary circles of the day; strong and important (if not crucial) early influence on Keats’s literary tastes, as well as, early on, very close to Keats; very significantly, he introduces Keats to Leigh Hunt in 1816, thus greatly expanding Keats’s London social network; he mainly drops out of Keats’s circle in 1817; strong defender of Keats’s posthumous reputation; Keats writes a verse letter to Clarke in October 1816, thanking him for tutoring his literary passions; marries Vincent Novello’s daughter, Mary.
"coleridge_s"
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772–1834): poet, critic, journalist, theologian, philosopher, lecturer, extraordinary conversationalist, and living legend by the time of Keats’s chance encounter with him in April 1819; a genius, compromised by addiction issues and an overly ambitious spread of intellectual interests; forever paired with William Wordsworth; Keats is fully acquainted with his poetry as well as some of his ideas and literary criticism.
"cox_j"
Cox, Jane
Cox, Jane (?-?): a cousin of Keats’s of the Reynolds’ family, born in India; a woman whose shape, Keats writes, haunts him for a couple of days in September 1818; Keats still seems intrigued by her into October, when he describes her rich eastern look, how, when she enters a room, she makes an impression the same as the Beauty of a Leopardess, that she is a fine thing with magnetic powers, and how other women become jealous of her; Keats nominates her as Charmian (letter, 14 Oct 1818); interestingly, and consistent with his notion of the camelion poet that can enter and sympathetically assume the subjects he imaginatively contemplates, Keats writes, I forget myself entirely because I live in her.
"croker_j"
Croker, John Wilson
Croker, John Wilson (1780–1857): member of Parliament (Tory), political expert, and fascinated by French Revolution documents; co-founder of and contributor to the Quarterly Review; writes a nasty review of Keats’s Endymion (published September 1818), nominating Keats as an unintelligible copyist of Leigh Hunt.
"dante"
Dante
Dante (?1265–1321): Italian poet, highly influential, most famous for his poetic trilogy, The Divine Comedy; Keats read Henry Francis Cary’s 1805 translation, and certainly its first section, Inferno, into which he makes many markings; Keats begins to master Italian in order to read Dante more fully; Keats takes the three volumes of Cary’s translation taken on his Scottish walking tour; Dante’s influence is perhaps most apparent in The Fall of Hyperion.
"davenports_t"
The Davenports
The Davenports: Likely met via Brown or Dilke; the family live at 2 Church Row, Hampstead. Keats on occasion dines and goes to some parties there; Keats and Brown at least once reciprocate. Mrs. Davenport kindly helps to take care of Tom, November 1818. Mr. Burrage Davenport (or, at times, incorrectly, “Burridge” or “Benjamin”, 1778-1863) is a well-to-do merchant banker in London. A gift copy of Keats’s last collection (1920) given to the Davenports contains Keats’s angry comment about the book’s advertisement written by the publisher, that wrongly claims that his Hyperion poem in the collection is unfinished because Keats was upset about reviews.
"dilke_c"
Dilke, Charles Wentworth
Dilke, Charles Wentworth (1789–1864): Navy civil servant, legal training, literary and journal editor, scholarly interests in Renaissance drama; co-owner (with Charles Brown) of Wentworth place (now Keats House) in Hampstead, where Keats lives on a few occasions; Keats meets via Reynolds; Keats becomes very friendly with Dilke and Dilke’s family, which he often visits; however, they seem not to approve of Keats’s relationship with Fanny Brawne; the Dilke family is supportive of Keats’s other family members and of Keats’s posthumous reputation.
"elgin_l"
Elgin, Lord (Thomas Bruce)
Elgin, Lord (Thomas Bruce) (1766–1841): Scottish nobleman, diplomat; his name is given over to marble sculptures from the Parthenon (c.500 B. C. E.) that Elgin organizes to preserve in England; after problems housing the Elgin Marbles, he eventually sells them to the nation, where they are displayed in the British Museum in 1816; Keats sees them in early March 1817; they immediately impact his artistic sensibilities and the way that, without knowing details about what is represented in the sculptures, they remain powerful in their trans-historical beauty; Keats writes two of his better early poems connected to his experience: On Seeing the Elgin Marbles and To Haydon with a Sonnet Written on Seeing the Elgin Marbles.
"elmes_j"
Elmes, James
Elmes, James (1782-1862): distinguished architect, surveyor, engineer, writer and lecturer on the arts and architecture, magazine editor, biographer; founder of Annals of the Fine Arts, 1816-1820, during which he is close to Keats’s very close friend, Benjamin Robert Haydon; the Annals is the first to publish two of Keats’s best poems, his odes on a Grecian Urn and a Nightingale.
"fletcher_j"
Fletcher, John
Fletcher, John (1579–1625): successful and versatile London dramatist; contemporary of Shakespeare; in January 1818, Keats writes a poem about an evening at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, where he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
"godwin_w"
Godwin, William
Godwin, William (1756–1836): minister (though later atheist), social philosopher, essayist, novelist, biographer; husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, father of Mary Shelley, father-in-law of Percy Shelley; inspirational for many Romantic-era writers, representing anarchist, radical, and individualist views, yet strong beliefs in reason, political justice, and human rights.
"hammond_t"
Hammond, Thomas
Hammond, Thomas (1766–1817): surgeon in Edmonton, family physician to Keats’s maternal family, the Jennings’; after being pulled from school (aged 14), Keats apprentices with Hammond 1811–1815; family money (generated by selling stocks) is used to pay Hammond’s supervisory fees; Keats later remembers that he had some defiant moments with Hammond (see letter, 21 Sept 1819), though the period with Hammond also has periods of relative security; perhaps the relationship is somewhat compromised by Keats’s growing interest in poetry and Hammond’s failing health.
"haslam_w"
Haslam, William
Haslam, William (1795–1851): solicitor; generous, kind, and truly devoted friend of Keats when he is in need, as well as Keats’s siblings (especially to Keats’s brother, Tom, when he is sick); Keats likely meets him via brother George; Haslam is the one to suggest Severn accompany Keats to Italy, a trip he helps finance.
"haydon_br"
Haydon, Benjamin Robert
Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786–1846): historical painter, diarist, lecturer; ambitious, volatile, combative; his artistic achievement compromised by pride, inflexible principles, and ego—and a very slow pace; passionate and devoted friend of Keats after meeting him via Leigh Hunt; true believer in Keats’s genius (and his own); Keats initially equally devoted to Haydon, but increasingly put off by his contentious personality; he thought a great deal about great art (which Keats, importantly, would have heard much about), but overestimated the greatness of his own; commits suicide after lengthy struggles with debt and professional failure; largely responsible for England retaining the Elgin Marbles.
"hazlitt_w"
Hazlitt, William
Hazlitt, William (1778–1830): painter, philosopher, significant critic (literary, theatre, art), journalist, brilliant essayist, lecturer; blunt advocate of human rights and liberty, passionately opinionated, often quarrelsome, intellectually driven; meets Keats late 1816; through his lectures and writing, significantly influences Keats’s maturing tastes and ideas, especially about Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Elizabethan literature, literary worth, poetic genius, poetic originality, the principle of disinterestedness and gusto, and the sympathetic powers of imagination; becomes a friend and a formidable defender of Keats and his poetry, especially against the hypocrisy of partisan reviewing; acquaintance with many of the era’s leading literary figures.
"hessey_j"
Hessey, James
Hessey, James (1785–1870): progressive publisher, bookseller; half of Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; strongly believes in Keats’s poetic potential, and with John Taylor basically sponsors Keats’s publishing career.
"hill_t"
Hill, Thomas
Hill, Thomas (1760–1840): book-collector, dry-salter; friend of Leigh Hunt; joint owner/editor of The Monthly Mirror (defunct by 1811); centre of a minor literary circle; Keats once dines with him.
"hogg_t"
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson (1792–1862): barrister, writer, biographer; very close friend to Percy Shelley, and his first biographer (1858); Keats dines with, 11 February 1818, along with Percy and Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, and Claire (Mary Jane) Clairmont.
"holmes_e"
Holmes, Edward
Holmes, Edward (1797-1859): musician, music critic, and writer of books about music; his biographies on Mozart and Purcell of some note; though a bit younger, one of Keats’s school fellows; his recollections of schoolboy Keats are valuable; met with Keats on occasion in company; stayed within the circle of Keats’s friends throughout his life; likely the anonymous writer (Y) of a defence of Keats after Keats’s death, in The Morning Chronicle, 27 July 1821.
"homer"
Homer
Homer (?7th, ?8th, or ?9th century, B. C. E.): name ascribed to the ancient Greek poet, proposed writer of the Iliad and Odyssey, often viewed as Western Culture’s most influential epic poems; Keats’s most famous engagement with Homer comes to us via what is sometimes considered Keats’s earliest accomplished poem, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer ; Keats writes a second poem, To Homer, in 1818; which identifies with Homer for his insights in blindness; in assessing Homer, Keats writes he is very fine (letters 13 March 1818), and that he longs to feast upon old Homer (27 April 1818); according to one of Keats’s close friends, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Keats is especially taken by the figure of Achilles.
"hunt_j"
Hunt, John
Hunt, John (1775–1848): Printer and publisher; elder brother of Leigh Hunt and co-founder of The Examiner.
"hunt_l"
Hunt, Leigh
Hunt, Leigh (1784–1859): poet, literary critic, editor, journalist, essayist, periodical publisher; charming, somewhat affected personality, energetic, poor with money; editor of the independent and free-thinking Examiner newspaper as well as other periodical publications; jailed two years for libeling the Prince Regent; first to publish Keats; Keats initially enthralled with Hunt, and Hunt fully struck by Keats’s personality and poetic potential; crucially, Hunt introduces Keats into literary London; Keats spends plenty of time with Hunt, and they know each other very well; Keats, though, comes to privately resent Hunt’s poetic pretensions and egotisms, yet Hunt’s kindness toward Keats continued; Keats is forever identified with Hunt as a member of maligned “Cockney School of Poetry.”
"hunt_r"
Hunt, Robert
Hunt, Robert (fl. 1809): writer, older brother of Leigh Hunt, and contributor to the Examiner.
"hutchinson_s"
Hutchinson, Sarah
Hutchinson, Sarah (1775–1835): William Wordsworth’s sister-in-law, younger sister of Mary; once agonizingly pursued by Samuel Taylor Coleridge while he was in an unhappy marriage with another Sara (Fricker); Sara lives with the Wordsworths for a number of years; Keats meets her with the Wordsworths; Keats describes her as enchanting,,though he sees Wordsworth as living in protective Shell up north with his wife and sister (letters 21 March 1818); a little later Sara will offer some comments about Keats’s Endymion—that while it is beautiful, it is uninteresting.
"jefferys_t"
The Jefferys
The Jefferys: Keats and his younger two brothers, Tom and George, socialize (somewhat flirtatiously) with the two Jeffery sisters, Marian (variously, Marianne and Mary-Ann) and Sarah Francis (Fanny); in 1818, they are twenty and eighteen, respectively. [There have been earlier misspellings of the last name as Jeffrey.] They meet them in Teignmouth, Devon. Their mother, Margaret, a widow, is particularly unselfish in caring for Tom when he is ill. Keats writes a few fairly open, somewhat humorous but thoughtful letters to Marian mid-1819, mentioning possible future plans, so there is fairly clear degree of familiarity. In 1830, under her married name—Mrs. I. S. Prowse—Marian publishes a collection of poetry (Poems) that pays some allusive homage to Keats; it has a substantial list of subscribers.
"jennings_a"
Jennings, Alice
Jennings, Alice (1736–1814): Keats’s maternal grandmother; tolerant and affectionate; generously takes take of Keats’s and his siblings after Keats’s father passes away and Keats’s mother’s unsteady behaviour; Keats holds her highly.
"jennings_f"
Jennings, Frances
Jennings, Frances (1775–1810): Keats’s mother; small, attractive, capable, perhaps impulsive; in 1794 marries Thomas Keats, who works at the Jennings’ family business, the Swan and Hoop inn and stables as head ostler; after Keats’s father Thomas dies in 1804, she experiences some uneven moments, including a very hasty marriage a few months after Keats’s father passes, as well as gap in her whereabouts before she returns to her children; like Keats and his two younger brothers, she dies of consumption (TB) while young Keats passionately attends to her at his grandmother’s home.
"jennings_j"
Jennings, John
Jennings, John (1730–1805): Keats’s maternal grandfather; marries Alice Jennings in 1774; owns the Swan and Hoop inn and stables, from which he does well and expands the business; retires 1802, leaving Keats’s father, Thomas, to run the business; leaves significant money to Keats and his siblings, though not all of it discovered until after Keats’s death.
"jennings_r"
Jennings, Robert
Jennings, Robert (?1784-): publisher, printer, bookseller, with some associations with Leigh Hunt; Keats perhaps buys his 7-volume edition of Shakespeare from Jennings.
"jones_i"
Jones, Isabella
Jones, Isabella (unknown birth/death): attractive, mysterious, cultured woman, with whom Keats has some passing involvement in May 1817 that suggests some level of romantic intimacy; she may have suggested the Eve of St. Agnes and Eve of St. Mark as topics for Keats to write about; generous in some minor gifts to Keats and his brother, Tom; Keats may have written a few minor love poems that sound his attraction to and feelings for Isabella (“Unfelt, unheard, unseen,” “Hither, hither love,” “Hush, hush, tread softly”); she has some friends in Keats’s circle; Keats and Isabella agree to keep their passing relationship quiet.
"jonson_b"
Jonson, Ben
Jonson, Ben (1572–1637): actor, poet, but especially successful and highly influential Jacobean playwright of comedy; contemporary of Shakespeare (Shakespeare may have acted in one Jonson’s early plays); a volatile, quarrelsome, intense, and self-regarding temperament; perhaps best known for Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair (his poem, Song to Celia, has also become famous); because Jonson receives a pension from the royal family in 1616, he is some ways the first poet laureate; Keats owned a copy of The Dramatic Works of Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher (the 4-volume 1811 edition); in January 1818, Keats writes a poem about an evening at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, where he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
"kean_e"
Kean, Edmund
Kean, Edmund (?1787/9-1833): controversial, celebrity actor, mainly in Shakespearean tragedies; perhaps most notable as Richard III; an uneven personality, plagued by vanity and insecurity, at times compromised by alcohol addiction; much praised by Keats’s friend, the critic William Hazlitt; Keats sees Kean perform on a few occasions and is struck by Kean’s forceful embodiment of actual words, which makes Keats reflect upon intensive yet controlled qualities he strives for in his own poetry.
"keats_f"
Keats, Fanny
Keats, Fanny (1803–89): Keats’s younger sister; some suggestion of resemblance to brother Tom; after 1814 and until 1824, she was the ward of Richard Abbey, the family trustee, who at times thwarted contact between Fanny and Keats; Keats is very, protective of her from an early age; some of his final thoughts are of Fanny; she marries a Spanish diplomat and writer in 1826.
"keats_g"
Keats, George
Keats, George (1797–1841): older of Keats two younger brothers; attended same school (in Enfield) as Keats; introduces Keats to some lasting friends; outgoing, fairly ambitious, great belief in Keats’s poetic aspirations; very close to Keats; lives with his brothers at certain points; emigrates to America, June 1818, only to experience business failure; returns to England in 1820 to refinance himself from the family estate, which leads Keats to have some uncertainty about George’s motives; financial and personal success on second trip to America (settling in Kentucky); Keats writes some very important journal letters to George and his wife, Georgiana; dies of consumption.
"keats_g2"
Keats, Georgiana (née Wylie)
Keats, Georgiana (née Wylie) (1798–1879): wife of Keats’s brother, George (they marry 28 March 1818); Keats very fond of her, and admired her modesty and intelligence; Keats writes completely openly to her in some important journal letters co-addressed to George, especially after the couple immigrates to America in June 1818.
"keats_t_jun"
Keats, Tom
Keats, Tom (1799–1818): Keats’s youngest brother; like Keats, educated at Clarke’s school; tall and thin, considered gentle with good humour; longstanding heath issues; as an adult, lived with Keats on a few occasions; temporarily works for Abbey; much loved by Keats, with great mutual understanding of each other; Keats nurses Tom to his death from tuberculosis.
"keats_t_sen"
Keats, Thomas
Keats, Thomas (?1773–1804): Keats’s father [sometimes spelled Keates]; works the Swan and Hoop inn and livery stables after meeting Keats’s mother there; her parents (John and Alice Jennings) own the Swan and Hoop; not long after the marriage and after he had been head ostler, he begins to manage the business; known to be sensible, energetic, and respectful; dies in late-night riding accident—the cause unclear.
"kingston_j"
Kingston, John
Kingston, John (?-?): comptroller at the Stamp Office in London, and technically William Wordsworth’s superior, since Wordsworth was stamp comptroller for Westmoreland; a very awkward and unintentionally humorous presence at Benjamin Robert Haydon’s so-called immortal dinner (of Sunday, 28 Dec 1817), which Keats attends, along with Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, and others; Haydon is anxious to show his very large canvas, an ambitious historical painting entitled Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem: Keats, Lamb, and Wordsworth are painted into the scene as spectators.
"lamb_c"
Lamb, Charles
Lamb, Charles (1775–1834): first-rate essayist, second-rate poet; witty, acute, eloquent; an acquaintance of Keats; close to some of Keats’s friends, including Leigh Hunt and Benjamin Robert Haydon; perhaps best known for his Tales From Shakespeare (1807), written with his sister, Mary Ann, whom he takes care of despite a life-long mental illness; long, close friendship with William and Dorothy Wordsworth; Keats meets Lamb at Haydon’s so-called immortal dinner, 28 December 1817, and likely sees him in other circumstances; Lamb in a July 1820 review strongly commends Keats’s 1820 volume. Very much a London man.
"lockhart_j"
Lockhart, John Gibson
Lockhart, John Gibson (1794–1854): legally trained, but noteworthy as editor, reviewer, writer, literary critic, minor translator; biographer, novelist; after 1820, son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, of whom he writes a biography; contributor to the Whig Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, in which he (with a measured conflation of wit and venom) anonymously (“Z”) pillories Leigh Hunt, founder of what he calls “the Cockney school of poetry,” and then Keats, as Hunt’s underling; later editor of Quarterly Review.
"lowther_l"
Lowther, Lord
Lowther, Lord (1787–1872): (William Lowther; Earl of Lonsdale) politician; Keats very disappointed that William Wordsworth is an active supporter of Lord Lowther, who, as the area’s largest landowner, controls the Tory side of parliamentary representation for Westmorland: sad—sad—sad— writes Keats 26 June 1818 about this circumstance, even though at this time he is attempting to see Wordsworth during a walking expedition through Westmorland, heading north to Scotland.
"mackintosh_j"
Mackintosh, James
Mackintosh, James (1765–1832): knighted 1804; lawyer, doctor, writer (history, philosophy, journalism), politician (Whig), professor, judge; admires Keats, and in July 1818 is upset by attacks on Keats’s Endymion (he apparently writes to Keats’s publisher to express his admiration and asks about Keats’s high designs); Macintosh’s Miscellaneous Works (3 vols.) are published in 1846 (edited by his son).
"mathew_g"
Mathew, George Felton
Mathew, George Felton (1795-?): early London friend of Keats, met via his brother, George, mid-1815; some over-estimated poetic aspirations; Keats enjoys some social events with Mathew and his female cousins; Mathew publishes an upbeat poem to Keats in October 1816; Keats writes an epistle to Mathew that appears in his first collection, the 1817 Poems; conservative Mathew evolves some resentment over Keats’s poetic gifts (and politics), and he reviews Keats’s first collection; as their friendships peters (by late 1816), Keats moves into more a more serious and progressive cultural circle via Leigh Hunt.
"milman_h"
Milman, H. H.
Milman, H. H. (1791–1868): [Henry Hart] poet, hymn writer, historian, dramatist, professor, editor, translator ecclesiastic (Dean of St. Paul’s); prolific contributor to the Quarterly Review; Keats sees Milman’s verse drama Fazio (previously billed, unbeknownst to Milman, as The Italian Wife) on opening night at Covent Garden, 5 February 1818—the play, Keats says, hung rather heavily me.
"milton_j"
Milton, John
Milton, John (1608–1674): pamphleteer and polemical writer, lyric and epic poet, particularly noteworthy for Paradise Lost; staunch republican sympathies; Keats studies Milton very deeply, as noted by his detailed marginalia in his copy of Paradise Lost; though he decides that while Milton’s accomplishment is a “wonder,” and that his imaginative scope is almost unapproachably grand, aspects of his style may be to artful (or just not natural enough) for him to pursue, though Keats’s unfinished Hyperion projects are ways for Keats to come to terms with Milton’s poetic powers.
"monkhouse_t"
Monkhouse, Thomas
Monkhouse, Thomas (1783–1825): well-to-do London merchant; close cousin of Mary Wordsworth (née Hutchinson), wife of William Wordsworth; in late 1817, Benjamin Robert Haydon arranges for Keats to meet Wordsworth via Monkhouse at Monkhouse’s residence; Keats will have a few subsequent meetings with Wordsworth; a few later, Monkhouse runs into Keats and invites him to meet with Wordsworth again in June 1820, but health problems warn him off.
"montagu_b"
Montagu, Basil
Montagu, Basil (1770–1851): barrister, member of Chancery bar, writer on topics related to copyright, bankruptcy, the death penalty, human rights, prevention of cruelty to animals, Lord Bacon; good friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth (to whom he is introduced by William Godwin; during a difficult period Montagu’s life, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy care for Montagu’s son); Montagu represents Keats’s acquaintance Percy Shelley in a custody case; on 16 February 1817, Montagu is present at a dinner with Shelley and his wife Mary, Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt, and Godwin, where they read Keats’s On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, of which Hunt has a copy—they apparently deem it extraordinary.
"moore_t"
Moore, Thomas
Moore, Thomas (1779–1852): poet, editor, satirist, biographer, historian, composer; good friend of Lord Byron; contributor to and then editor of The Edinburgh Review; during Keats lifetime, perhaps most famous for his poem Lalla Rookh (1817) and gatherings of Irish Melodies; Keats: I like that Moore (3 May 1818) and does not admire Moore (18 Feb 1819); Percy Shelley summons Moore (among other poets) as a mourner of Keats in his elegy on Keats, Adonais (1821).
"newton_i"
Newton, Isaac
Newton, Isaac (1642-1727): singularly significant English physicist and mathematician who gave mathematical descriptions and explanations of light, gravity, and planetary motion. Some Romantic thinkers debated the practice of reducing the understanding of nature to scientific explanation.
"novellos_t"
The Novellos
The Novellos: Via Leigh Hunt’s circle, Keats has some social contact with this highly musical and large family, headed by the mother, Mary, and father, Vincent (1781-1861), though Keats also finds the overly witty behaviour of their company fairly tiresome. Vincent is central to the musical society of the day: organist, pianist, music teacher, composer, choir master, conductor, a founding member of the Philharmonic Society, and, importantly, musical publisher; besides Hunt, Novello circle Charles Ollier, Charles and Mary Lamb, Henry Robinson, Charles Ollier, and many others. A few of his daughters will become established singers. In 1828, one of Novello’s daughters, Mary Victoria, will marry Keats’s earliest mentor, Charles Cowden Clarke.
"ollier_c"
Ollier, Charles
Ollier, Charles (Ollier brothers, Charles [1788–1859] and James [1795–1851]): publishers, stationers, booksellers; on commission, publishers of Keats’s first collection, Poems, by John Keats, 1817; Charles has some interest in writing poetry; as publishers, James covers more of the business end; publisher of others in Keats’s circle, including Leigh Hunt, Percy Shelley, Charles Lamb; after his first collection, Keats drops the Olliers (for Taylor & Hessey), in part because he does not want to pay for publication, and the Olliers complain that the volume did not sell—Keats felt they did not promote the collection enough; in truth, Poems is a bit of a mess, even at the level of layout; the Olliers are within Hunt’s circle, and Keats does occasional socializing with them.
"ollier_j"
Ollier, James
Ollier, James (Ollier brothers, Charles [1788–1859] and James [1795–1851]): publishers, stationers, booksellers; on commission, publishers of Keats’s first collection, Poems, by John Keats, 1817; publisher of others in Keats’s circle, including Leigh Hunt, Percy Shelley, Charles Lamb; as publishers, James mainly covers the business end; after his first collection, Keats drops the Olliers (for Taylor & Hessey), in part because he does not want to pay for publication, and the Olliers complain that the volume did not sell—Keats felt they did not promote it enough; in truth, Poems is a bit of a mess, even at the level of layout.
"peacock_t"
Peacock, Thomas Love
Peacock, Thomas Love (1785–1866): essayist, poet, novelist; mainly self-educated; opinionated, observant; rises to a senior position in the East India Company; most famous for his satirical novels, Headlong Hall (1816), Melincourt (1817), and Nightmare Abbey (1818), which, propelled by conversation, intelligently mock political and philosophical subjects and positions; Peacock’s most noteworthy poetry is Rhododaphne (1818); close friends with Percy Shelley; Keats meets Peacock via Leigh Hunt, early 1818.
"quincey_t"
Quincey, Thomas de
Quincey, Thomas de (1785–1859): editor, essayist, journalist, translator; friends with William Wordsworth, William Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt; most famous for The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar (1821/1822).
"randall_j"
Randall, Jack
Randall, Jack (1794–1828): popular bare-knuckle boxer (16-0-1), known as the Nonpareil and the prime Irish Lad, and the first professional boxer to retire undefeated; Keats sees Randall battle Ned Turner in Sussex, 5 December 1818 (Randall knocks Turner out in the 34th round); the prize fight is just a few days after the death of Keats’s younger brother, Tom (Keats’s friends likely think the outing might be a good distraction).
"reynolds_j"
Reynolds, John Hamilton
Reynolds, John Hamilton (1794–1852): clerk, poet, reviewer, novelist, playwright, lawyer; witty, outgoing; meets Keats via Leigh Hunt, becomes a very close and supportive friend of Keats, and seems to get the direction and level of Keats’s poetic aspirations; Keats writes some significant letters to Reynolds about poetry and his role as a poet; connects Keats with other important friends; Keats also writes a casual verse epistle to Reynolds in March 1818, containing some meandering ideas about art, the imagination, and intensity—key subjects for Keats; Reynolds provides critical feedback to Keats during Keats’s poetic development; Keats friendly with Reynolds’ sister, Jane and Mariane; eventually bankrupt by 1838; on his tombstone: The Friend of Keats.
"rice_j"
Rice, James
Rice, James (1792–1832): lawyer, well read; known in the Keats circle as wise, unconditionally kind, noble, witty, sensible, and gentlemanly; poor health; Keats stays with him for about a month on the Isle of Wight; Keats meets via Reynolds; one of the financial supporters in getting Keats to Italy; becomes Fanny Keats’s lawyer.
"richards_c"
Richards, Charles
Richards, Charles
"richards_t"
Richards, Thomas
Richards, Thomas (?-?): government worker (ordnance office), sometimes theatre reviewer; a casual friend to Keats and some in Keats’s circle; Keats apparently gets so drunk at a gathering at Richards’ on 14 December 1816 that he is useless the next day (a whoreson night, he calls it—the weather or his state?); he also dines with Richards occasionally through the next few years, up until early 1820; on 17 January 1820, Keats compares Richards to two of his other friends, with the suggestion that Richards is hard to fathom; Charles Richards, Thomas’ brother, is the printer of Keats’s 1817 collection, Poems, though result suggests some inexperience on the part of Charles; the connection with the Richards brothers comes from the circumstance of both of them attending the same school as Keats at Enfield.
"scott_j"
Scott, John
Scott, John (1784–1821): editor of various magazines, including The London Magazine and earlier The Champion; publishes many important writers of the era; often contributor to his magazines; strong liberal sympathies with some idealist tendencies; public supporter of the reputation of Keats and his circle; Tom Keats gives copy book of Keats’s poetry to Scott in Paris, 1817; in February 1821 is wounded and then dies in a duel over literary matters peripherally related to a defence of Keats, after Scott’s constant attacks on the integrity of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, with mutual abuse returned from Blackwood’s.
"scott_w"
Scott, Walter
Scott, Walter (1771–1832): Scottish poet and novelist; also editor, literary critic, biographer, historian, though originally trained as a lawyer; perhaps the most popular and influential writer of Keats’s era; especially famous for The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), The Lady of the Lake (1810—all ballad epics), and the Waverly novels; extraordinary early success is levelled by financial stress beginning in 1813 and increasing by 1825-26, when Scott is forced to confront bankruptcy; prolific output continues, but mainly to pay off creditors; Keats assesses Scott as two of the three literary kings in our Time: the poet Scott, the novelist Scott, and Lord Byron (letters, ?29 Dec 1818).
"severn_j"
Severn, Joseph
Severn, Joseph (1793–1897): versatile and devoted painter, but mainly a subject painter; attended Royal Academy; initially a friend of Keats, believer in Keats’s genius and in promoting it; introduces some art to Keats; paints famous miniature of Keats (exhibited May 1818); as a last-moment decision, he accompanies Keats to Rome and closely nurses Keats through his final, agonizing months (and details it), which is a defining feature of Severn’s reputation—this earns Severn clear intimacy with Keats; some suggestion that Severn was keen to accompany Keats to Italy because of an illegitimate child; has some early success as a painter in Rome; later British Consul in Rome; buried beside Keats in Rome in matching graves; profited by (and culturally nurtured) his association with Keats.
"shakespeare_w"
Shakespeare, William
Shakespeare, William (1564–1616): playwright, poet, theatre owner; Shakespeare’s reputation very high in the Romantic era as a creative, poetic genius, an unparalleled seer-into nature and human nature; Keats deliberately studies Shakespeare until he feels he understands Shakespeare to his depths; Keats attempts to emulate aspects of Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic powers, and in particular the poet’s imaginative absorption into the subject.
"shelley_m"
Shelley, Mary
Shelley, Mary (1797–1851): novelist (most famously of Frankenstein, 1818), editor, biographer; intellectual, generally private; daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; marries Percy Shelley; Keats meets on a few occasions.
"shelley_p"
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792–1822): poet; unrelenting radical and reformist enthusiasms, anti-authoritarian, dedicated pursuit of idealised, visionary truths and social justice; eccentric, intellectually precocious, generous, sometimes erratic; marries Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (author of Frankenstein, editor of Shelley’s poetry after his death), William Godwin’s daughter; both Percy and Mary acquainted with Keats via Leigh Hunt, and they do some socializing with Keats; Percy is more enthused by Keats than Keats with him; Shelley invites Keats to Italy to stay with him when Keats is ill—Keats declines; implicit competition and pairing with Keats; writes brilliant elegy to Keats, Adonais; drowns in a sailing accident, aged 29, with Keats’s final collection stuffed into his pocket; buried not too far from Keats in Rome.
"smith_h"
Smith, Horace (Horatio)
Smith, Horace (Horatio) (1779–1849): stockbroker, quite successful as a journal and newspaper contributor, but a very minor poet, writer of historical novels and parody; known to Percy Shelley as generous.
"southey_r"
Southey, Robert
Southey, Robert (1774–1843): poet, critic, historian; prolific, popular, but generally considered unimaginative and unintense as a poet; Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death; strong early connections to Wordsworth and Coleridge, as well as to the Quarterly Review; because, over time, his early radical sympathies are perceived to be compromised, by some he is lampooned for his turn to conservatism (notably by Lord Byron and Thomas Love Peacock; also disliked by William Hazlitt); Keats did not admire him.
"spenser_e"
Spenser, Edmund
Spenser, Edmund (?1552–1599): key poet of the English high middle ages, most famously of the masterful and allusive The Faerie Queen, a long epic romance embedded with allegorical intent that brushes up against politics, morality, and religion; innovative stylist (the Spenserian stanza, in particular); highly influential in guiding Keats’s very early poetical aspirations, though Spencer is never fully left behind in Keats’s poetic progress, ranging from the level of diction to Keats’s attraction to romance.
"spurgin_j"
Spurgin, John
Spurgin, John (1797-1866): medical student, then physician, sometimes writer on medical matters, as well as occasional inventor; long-serving Chairman of the Swedenborg Society of London. Keats may have met Spurgin via the Mathews’ social events or through St. Thomas’s Hospital, where Spurgin trained 1813-1815. In a long, detailed December 1815 letter, he attempts to attune Keats to Swedenborgian teachings; earlier, the two must have exchanged some books as well as ideas about religion and belief; it is clear Spurgin hopes to convert skeptical Keats. He fades from Keats’s circle.
"taylor_j"
Taylor, John
Taylor, John (1781–1864): scholarly, progressive publisher and bookseller; editor, minor writer, pyramidologist; half of Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; Keats meets through Reynolds; extremely generous with Keats; very loyal to and supportive of Keats and his poetry; helpful biographical knowledge about Keats; along with Hessey, he more or less sponsors Keats’s later publishing; Keats in his will wants, somehow, Taylor to be repaid for his friendship and generosity.
"turner_n"
Turner, Ned
Turner, Ned (1792–1826): bare-knuckle prize fighter and the first Welsh champion, known as the pugilistic Prince of Wales; he spent a few months in jail for killing a man in the ring in 1816; Keats sees him defeated by Jack Randal, 5 December 1818.
"virgil"
Virgil
Virgil (70-19 BCE): classical Roman poet, most famous for The Aeneid; Keats, as a teen-aged student, and under the general guidance of his headmaster’s son at Enfield (Charles Cowden Clarke), takes up the challenge to translate The Aeneid, and confident and smart enough to suggest flaws in the poem’s narrative structure; Keats no doubts gets some first sense of epic grandeur (and passion for poetry’s scope and power) by undertaking the translation; Keats is utterly conversant with Virgil, as demonstrated in various quotes from him thrown into his letters, as well as occasional allusions.
"voltaire"
Voltaire
Voltaire (1694–1778): French dramatist, poet, philosopher, novelist, historian; best known for his satirical novel Candide and his free-thinking, humanistically-styled sense of virtues, tempered by skepticism; Keats is familiar with Voltaire, reinforced, perhaps, by his friend, the critic William Hazlitt; Keats casually quotes from and refers to Voltaire in passing on a few occasions, and we know he is reading Voltaire’s Le Siècle de Louis XIV in early 1819.
"webbe_c"
Webbe, Cornelius
Webbe, Cornelius (1789–1850?) [also Webb]: fairly prolific poet of the second rank, with some popularity and critical approval; later an essayist, again of minor note; great admirer of Keats; Webbe writes a glowing, over-poeticized sonnet (To John Keats, on his First Poems) that celebrates Keats’s earliest collection and its connection with Spencer, who he deems Keats’s sire; Webbe is forever connected with Keats as poets of the Cockney school under the tutelage of Leigh Hunt; Keats knows Webbe via Hunt and Hampstead gatherings; Keats gives a copy of his 1817 Poems to Webbe; Webbe is perhaps most famous for, in a poem, placing Keats and Hunt alongside Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, and Wordsworth, as if Hunt and Keats are their poetic equals: Z (John Gibson Lockhart) abuses Webbe’s words (capitalizing HUNT, and KEATS) to begin a devastating assault on Hunt, published in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, October 1817 (Webbe will also be nominated as Corny Webb, just as Keats is little Johnny); Keats in a letter of 3 November 1817 says he has never read any thing so virulent, and he anticipates a forthcoming attack on himself.
"wells_c"
Wells, Charles
Wells, Charles (1800–1879): solicitor; spirited friend of Keats; sometimes dramatist and poet; friend, too, of Keats’s youngest brother, Tom, who schooled with Wells; Keats writes an early poem to Wells; Keats gives an inscribed copy of his first collection the 1817 Poems, by John Keats, to Wells; Keats later very upset with Wells when, in 1818, he looks at the fake letters that Wells, as a joke, had sent to Tom back in 1816; has some reputation with the Pre-Raphaelites.
"west_b"
West, Benjamin
West, Benjamin (1738–1820): prominent American painter, primarily of historical topics (though many portraits); perhaps the first American painter to carefully study Italian art in Italy; influential in England, France, as well as in the United States (leaving a legacy of painters); one of the founders of London’s Royal Academy; at points he benefits from the patronage of George III and William Beckford; crucially, Keats sees one of West’s more famous canvases, Death on a Pale Horse, in December 1817, which, in a letter of 21 (?27) December 1817, directly triggers some of Keats’s most important pronouncements: how truly excellent art must possess intensity, and with it, the power to evaporate all “disagreeables” in having close relationship with Beauty & Truth (Keats emphasizes that West’s painting does not possess such intensity)—this line of thinking leads Keats, in the same letter, to a seminal articulation in his poetic development: Negative Capability.
"westbrook_h"
Westbrook, Harriet
Westbrook, Harriet (1795–1816): smart, pleasant, lively, graceful; the first wife of Keats’s acquaintance and fellow poet Percy Shelley, who is also a member of the Leigh Hunt circle; in 1811, Shelley (19) and Harriet (16) marry in Scotland (they remarry in London, March 1814); they spend little time together; she gives birth to a daughter (Eliza Ianthe) in June 1813, and a son (Charles Bysshe), in November 1814; Shelley subsequently elopes with Mary Godwin (16), daughter of William Godwin, in July 1814 and a month later he writes a letter inviting Harriet to Switzerland to live as friends; Harriet commits suicide late November, drowning herself, aged 21, in a state of advanced pregnancy; Shelley is not likely the father; Shelley blames Harriet’s detestable family for the tragedy; Shelley is denied custody of his two children; Keats is aware of all of this, having some contact with Shelley and Mary during the public legal proceedings, which made the newspapers.
"woodhouse_r"
Woodhouse, Richard
Woodhouse, Richard (1788–1834): educated at Eton; scholar, writer, conveyancer, legal advisor to Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; organizes Keats’s copyright transfer to them before Keats is off to Italy; singularly important collector of Keatsiana; practical and detail oriented; extraordinarily generous with Keats, and a close friend to the end; absolutely sure of Keats’s poetic genius; Keats writes his famous “poetical Character” and “camelion poet” letter to Woodhouse, 27 October 1818; central in organizing Keats’s trip to Italy; dies of tuberculosis.
"wordsworth_m"
Wordsworth, Mary
Wordsworth, Mary (1770–1859): (née Hutchinson); wife of poet William Wordsworth (married 4 October 1802); like William’s sister Dorothy, Mary at times acts as Wordsworth’s amanuensis; Keats meets Mary when she is with William in London in early 1815; Keats (like others) have the sense that Dorothy and Mary (who both live with William) are overly protective of and reverent to William; in a letter 21 March 1818, Keats writes that William has returned to his Shell—with his beautiful wife and enchanting sister.
"wordsworth_w"
Wordsworth, William
Wordsworth, William (1780–1850): the most significant contemporary poet for Keats; Keats is deeply ambivalent about Wordsworth, based mainly on the older poet’s growing pretensions and conservative political affiliation; Keats meets Wordsworth (initially via Haydon) a few times late 1817 into early 1818; in contra-distinguishing himself from Wordsworth, Keats famously condemns the “wordsworthian or egotistic sublime” in poetry (letter, 27 October 1818); Keats is nevertheless fully in awe of Wordsworth’s poetic depths, which in some of his mature poetry he attempts to emulate—in his own terms, he feels Reverence toward the older poet; Wordsworth is Poet Laureate after 1843 until his death; forever paired with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"wylies_t"
Wylies, the
Wylies, the (May 1818): George Keats (Keats’s brother) marries Georgiana Augusta Wylie (?1797-1879). Georgiana’s parents (her father was a military man) have two sons, Henry and Charles. Via George, Keats comes to know the family and to frequently socialize with them; he is particularly fond of Mrs. Wylie. George and Georgiana emigrate to Kentucky for cheap property and opportunity; they are eventually very successful in business and in creating offspring—eight in total. Some of Keats’s most important letters are written to George and Georgiana after they move to Kentucky; Keats’s tone in these letters marks his familiarity and openness with Georgiana, as well as interest in her family of origin.
@value
Attribute required for HTML validation. Not used.
"unused"
This attribute is not used, but is necessary for HTML validation.
@data-level
The level of intimacy of the relationship.
"intimate"
An intimate relationship
"close"
A close relationship
"casual"
A casual relationship
"acquaintance"
A mere acquaintanceship
@data-start
Start date for the relationship.
The start date may be expressed as a year (1806), a year + month (1806-03), or a year-month-day (1806-03-20).

<li>
Item in a list.
@data-partLine
Shows that this item is a part-line
Use this to specify when a line has been broken over (for example) a stanza boundary. It enables more accurate counting of lines for line-numbering.
"firstPart"
First part of a broken line
When a line is broken across stanzas, tag the first part of it using "firstPart" so that it doesn't get counted in linecount calculations.
"middlePart"
Middle part of a broken line
When a line is broken across stanzas, tag any part of it which is not first or last using "middlePart".
"lastPart"
Last part of a broken line
When a line is broken across stanzas, tag the last part of it using "lastPart".
@class
"in1"
1-em indent
Indent this line by 1 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in2"
2-em indent
Indent this line by 2 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in3"
3-em indent
Indent this line by 3 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in4"
4-em indent
Indent this line by 4 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in5"
5-em indent
Indent this line by 5 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in6"
6-em indent
Indent this line by 6 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in7"
7-em indent
Indent this line by 7 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in8"
8-em indent
Indent this line by 8 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in9"
9-em indent
Indent this line by 9 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in10"
10-em indent
Indent this line by 10 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in11"
11-em indent
Indent this line by 11 em. Only used for poetry lines.
"in12"
12-em indent
Indent this line by 12 em. Only used for poetry lines.

<span>
General-purpose phrase-level element. Use only if there is no more specific alternative for what you want.
A span element containing a reference to a person must have a data-id attribute identifying the person. A span element must have either a style or a class attribute.
@class
Type of identifier which is being tagged.
"bookTitle"
The title of a book or monograph
"journalTitle"
The title of a journal or newspaper
"poemTitle"
The title of a poem
"articleTitle"
The title of a journal article
"chapterTitle"
The title of a book chapter
"artTitle"
The title of a painting or work of art
"name"
The name of a person
"placeName"
The name of a place
"speaker"
The speaker's name, as printed at the beginning of a speech in a dramatic dialogue.
@data-id
For the name of a person, @data-id points to the id of that person in the people.xml file.
"abbey_r"
Abbey, Richard
Abbey, Richard (1765–1837): a fairly prosperous and ambitious London tea dealer/broker and holder of some public offices; trustee of the Keats family legacy after the deaths of Keats’s mother and maternal grandparents (Abbey is appointed by Keats’s grandmother, Alice Jennings, in 1810; the other appointee, John Nowland Sandell, a well-to-do businessman, dies in 1816); Abbey is mistrusted by Keats and his sister, Fanny, who lives with the Abbey family for a spell; he strongly disapproves of Keats’s poetic aspirations (and politics); significantly, Keats is never fully aware of his finances in the form of inherited family money; brothers Tom and George at times work for Abbey.
"bailey_b"
Bailey, Benjamin
Bailey, Benjamin (1791–1853): scholar with philosophical and literary interests, ordained church clergyman (curacy); meets Keats in spring 1817; shares interests in Wordsworth, Milton, Plato, Dante, and Hazlitt with Keats; Keats writes a few very important and theoretically explorative letters to Bailey, and Keats found him of noble disposition (he publicly defends Keats); Keats stays with Bailey at Oxford University (Magdalen Hall) in September 1818 into early October; visits Stratford with Keats; later in life, Bailey wrote minor poetry and sermons; eventually becomes an archdeacon.
"beaumont_f"
Beaumont, Francis
Beaumont, Francis (1584–1616): Jacobean dramatist, poet; most famous as a collaborator with John Fletcher; Keats owned a copy of 4-volume 1811 edition of The Dramatic Works of Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher; Keats writes a poem about an evening spent at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, in which he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern, written January 1818.
"bentham_j"
Bentham, Jeremy
Bentham, Jeremy (1747-1832): Utilitarian philosopher, driven by pragmatic thinking and moral approach to understanding and describing human nature and human rights; interested in topics like penal reform, education, and hospitals.
"bewick_w"
Bewick, William
Bewick, William (1795–1866): an art student of Keats’s very good friend, the historical painter Benjamin Robert Haydon; Bewick socializes with Keats via Haydon and others in Keats’s circle: in a letter of 11 February 1818, Bewick calls them very intellectual dinners, and he mentions the presence of Keats the poet, Hazlitt the critic, Haydon, Hunt the publisher, &c., &; Keats runs into Bewick at exhibitions; Bewick goes on to become a portrait and historical painter of average though professional qualities.
"boccaccio"
Boccaccio
Boccaccio (1313–1375): Italian Renaissance humanist, writer, scholar, poet; most famous for his innovatively realistic poem, Decameron; Keats’s and his friend John Hamilton Reynolds entertain assembling a volume of poems based on Boccaccio’s Decameron; Keats’s somewhat interesting though indifferent poem Isabella (written 1818, published in the 1820 collection) is inspired by Boccaccio.
"brawne_f"
Brawne, Fanny
Brawne, Fanny (1800–65): born in London’s West End; likely meets Keats autumn 1818 via the Dilkes (she’s eighteen); with widowed, kindly mother and siblings, lives next door to Keats at Wentworth Place, spring 1819 (they take care of Keats, Aug. 1820); lively, social, smart (proficient in German and French), musical, keen perceptions, strong opinions, fashionable, middle-class, but disliked by some of Keats’s friends, who see her as flirtatious and vain (early Keats biographers tend to view her as unfit for Keats); perhaps unofficially betrothed to Keats in late 1818, but more likely a mutual declaration of love; Keats writes striking love letters to her, but when Keats becomes ill they devolve into overly longing and jealous rants as Keats becomes increasing ill and distraught that he might never again be with her (publication of Keats’s love letters in 1878 causes some literary commotion); she remarries in 1833 and has a daughter and two sons; dies in London; Fanny’s widowed mother, Frances, is very kind toward Keats.
"brougham_h"
Brougham, Henry
Brougham, Henry (1778–1868): lawyer, founder and contributor of Edinburgh Review; member of Parliament on the Whig side, a leader in the House of Commons, known for liberal reforms (on abolition, education, criminal issues, voting reform), famous for his causes and speeches; later Lord Chancellor of Great Britain; as a politician, Brougham contests Westmorland, while Keats is very disappointed that William Wordsworth is a supporter of Lord Lowther, who controls the Tory side for Westmorland: sad—sad—sad— writes Keats 26 June 1818.
"brown_c"
Brown, Charles Armitage
Brown, Charles Armitage (1787–1842): businessman, fur merchant, decent amateur artist, writer of a comic opera and some translations as well as a study of Shakespeare’s poems; some literary lectures; lived independently on inheritance money; one of Keats’s very closest friends (Keats is twenty-one when they meet), and knew Keats as well as anyone; extraordinarily supportive of and generous with Keats; lives with Keats on a few occasions; also travels with Keats, most famously on their long walking tour in the summer of 1818; kept a considerable collection of transcripts of Keats’s work; co-author with Keats of a somewhat indifferent play (never produced), Otho the Great; co-owner of Wentworth Place (two semi-detached houses), now Keats House; attempted a memoir of Keats.
"burns_r"
Burns, Robert
Burns, Robert (1759–1796): Scottish poet and songwriter, celebrated for his use of Scots vernacular; exciseman in later life; ambitious, freethinking; likely dies of bacterial endocarditis, perhaps compromised by alcohol; a legend by Keats’s time, venerated by the Romantics; Keats’s northern walking tour with Charles Brown in the summer of 1818 has for one of its goals to gather some sense of Burns’ world; Keats remains confused about Burns, in particular his life and poetic subjects; though Keats has sympathies with Burns as a self-reliant outsider, he also importantly views Burns as a cautionary figure; Keats’s poem, On Visiting the Tomb of Burns, which, though weak, pairs Keats’s conjoined topics of beauty and suffering; Keats also writes This mortal body of a thousand days while in the cottage of Burn’s birth—Keats calls his lines bad.
"byron"
Byron, George Gordon (Lord)
Byron, George Gordon (Lord) (1778–1834): one of the most successful and controversial poets of the era; a handsome, flamboyant celebrity who came to represent liberty, individuality, and vitality; extraordinarily famous during his life as a published poet (and conflated with the heroes he creates), but, on a pan-European scale, legendary after his death; Keats unimpressed by Bryon’s style of poetry, perhaps tainted by some jealousy of Byron’s success; Byron initially finds Keats’s poetry juvenile and imaginatively indulgent, though based on an impression of his early work.
"chatterton_t"
Chatterton, Thomas
Chatterton, Thomas (1752–1770); boy wonder poet of wide, ambitious talents; most notable for his invention of some fifteenth-century poems, written by a fake poet, Thomas Rowley; commits suicide, aged 17; popular with other Romantic writers as the idealized youthful, martyred, suffering poet; Keats’s dedicates Endymion to him; one of Keats’s earliest known poem is his 1815 Oh Chatterton! How very sad thy fate, which mourns the sad outcome for the young genius who now sings among the stars; Keats comes to believe that Chatterton’s verse possesses a pure English idiom, as opposed to Milton’s extraordinary but beautiful corruptions of the language.
"chaucer_g"
Chaucer, Geoffrey
Chaucer, Geoffrey (?1343–1400): successful poet, member of the Royal Service, customs comptroller, diplomatic service officer/courtier, astronomer, translator; famous for his Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women, and The Book of the Duchess; often favored as the father of English Literature; Keats is fully familiar with Chaucer (he has no problem quoting Chaucer fairly casually); with some nostalgia, Keats associates Chaucer with a high, noble point in English literary history; Keats writes one of his poems (This pleasant tale is like a copse) into a copy of a friend’s copy of Chaucer’s works, where Keats also makes textual markings in Troilus and Criseyde, indicating a close study of Chaucer’s observations and characterization—in a letter to his lover Fanny Brawne, Keats identifies with Troilus enough to express his fears to Fanny’s about her faithfulness (Feb 1820).
"christie_j"
Christie, Jonathan
Christie, Jonathan (?-1876): barrister; London agent for William Blackwood, of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine; acting for his friend John Gibson Lockhart, who writes for Blackwood’s, Christie (as Lockhart’s second) in February 1821 kills the John Scott, editor of The London Magazine and defender of Hunt and Keats, in a duel over the integrity of Blackwood’s, which Scott has been slamming; tried for wilful murder and acquitted
"clairmont_c"
Clairmont, Claire (Mary Jane)
Clairmont, Claire (Mary Jane) (1798–1879): illegitimate, freethinking daughter of William Godwin’s second wife; stepsister to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; mother to an illegitimate daughter (Allegra) with Lord Byron, who she pursued both before and after the birth of Allegra (who dies aged five); part of Percy Shelley’s entourage between 1814–1822; importantly, Claire introduces Shelley to Byron.
"clark_j"
Clark, James
Clark, James (1788–1870): surgeon, trained at University of Edinburgh; treated Keats’s tuberculosis in Rome with care but in keeping with ill-informed contemporary practice (e.g., bloodletting, dieting, exercising). It might also be noted that, in 1821, Clark was in the early stage of his medical career, having gained his MD in 1817.
"clarke_c"
Clarke, Charles Cowden
Clarke, Charles Cowden (1787–1877): teacher, publisher (including music), bookseller, informed musical and literary interests; later an art and theatre reviewer, extensive lectures on Shakespeare, and very minor poet; son of Keats’s headmaster at Enfield; widely connected to literary circles of the day; strong and important (if not crucial) early influence on Keats’s literary tastes, as well as, early on, very close to Keats; very significantly, he introduces Keats to Leigh Hunt in 1816, thus greatly expanding Keats’s London social network; he mainly drops out of Keats’s circle in 1817; strong defender of Keats’s posthumous reputation; Keats writes a verse letter to Clarke in October 1816, thanking him for tutoring his literary passions; marries Vincent Novello’s daughter, Mary.
"coleridge_s"
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772–1834): poet, critic, journalist, theologian, philosopher, lecturer, extraordinary conversationalist, and living legend by the time of Keats’s chance encounter with him in April 1819; a genius, compromised by addiction issues and an overly ambitious spread of intellectual interests; forever paired with William Wordsworth; Keats is fully acquainted with his poetry as well as some of his ideas and literary criticism.
"cox_j"
Cox, Jane
Cox, Jane (?-?): a cousin of Keats’s of the Reynolds’ family, born in India; a woman whose shape, Keats writes, haunts him for a couple of days in September 1818; Keats still seems intrigued by her into October, when he describes her rich eastern look, how, when she enters a room, she makes an impression the same as the Beauty of a Leopardess, that she is a fine thing with magnetic powers, and how other women become jealous of her; Keats nominates her as Charmian (letter, 14 Oct 1818); interestingly, and consistent with his notion of the camelion poet that can enter and sympathetically assume the subjects he imaginatively contemplates, Keats writes, I forget myself entirely because I live in her.
"croker_j"
Croker, John Wilson
Croker, John Wilson (1780–1857): member of Parliament (Tory), political expert, and fascinated by French Revolution documents; co-founder of and contributor to the Quarterly Review; writes a nasty review of Keats’s Endymion (published September 1818), nominating Keats as an unintelligible copyist of Leigh Hunt.
"dante"
Dante
Dante (?1265–1321): Italian poet, highly influential, most famous for his poetic trilogy, The Divine Comedy; Keats read Henry Francis Cary’s 1805 translation, and certainly its first section, Inferno, into which he makes many markings; Keats begins to master Italian in order to read Dante more fully; Keats takes the three volumes of Cary’s translation taken on his Scottish walking tour; Dante’s influence is perhaps most apparent in The Fall of Hyperion.
"davenports_t"
The Davenports
The Davenports: Likely met via Brown or Dilke; the family live at 2 Church Row, Hampstead. Keats on occasion dines and goes to some parties there; Keats and Brown at least once reciprocate. Mrs. Davenport kindly helps to take care of Tom, November 1818. Mr. Burrage Davenport (or, at times, incorrectly, “Burridge” or “Benjamin”, 1778-1863) is a well-to-do merchant banker in London. A gift copy of Keats’s last collection (1920) given to the Davenports contains Keats’s angry comment about the book’s advertisement written by the publisher, that wrongly claims that his Hyperion poem in the collection is unfinished because Keats was upset about reviews.
"dilke_c"
Dilke, Charles Wentworth
Dilke, Charles Wentworth (1789–1864): Navy civil servant, legal training, literary and journal editor, scholarly interests in Renaissance drama; co-owner (with Charles Brown) of Wentworth place (now Keats House) in Hampstead, where Keats lives on a few occasions; Keats meets via Reynolds; Keats becomes very friendly with Dilke and Dilke’s family, which he often visits; however, they seem not to approve of Keats’s relationship with Fanny Brawne; the Dilke family is supportive of Keats’s other family members and of Keats’s posthumous reputation.
"elgin_l"
Elgin, Lord (Thomas Bruce)
Elgin, Lord (Thomas Bruce) (1766–1841): Scottish nobleman, diplomat; his name is given over to marble sculptures from the Parthenon (c.500 B. C. E.) that Elgin organizes to preserve in England; after problems housing the Elgin Marbles, he eventually sells them to the nation, where they are displayed in the British Museum in 1816; Keats sees them in early March 1817; they immediately impact his artistic sensibilities and the way that, without knowing details about what is represented in the sculptures, they remain powerful in their trans-historical beauty; Keats writes two of his better early poems connected to his experience: On Seeing the Elgin Marbles and To Haydon with a Sonnet Written on Seeing the Elgin Marbles.
"elmes_j"
Elmes, James
Elmes, James (1782-1862): distinguished architect, surveyor, engineer, writer and lecturer on the arts and architecture, magazine editor, biographer; founder of Annals of the Fine Arts, 1816-1820, during which he is close to Keats’s very close friend, Benjamin Robert Haydon; the Annals is the first to publish two of Keats’s best poems, his odes on a Grecian Urn and a Nightingale.
"fletcher_j"
Fletcher, John
Fletcher, John (1579–1625): successful and versatile London dramatist; contemporary of Shakespeare; in January 1818, Keats writes a poem about an evening at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, where he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
"godwin_w"
Godwin, William
Godwin, William (1756–1836): minister (though later atheist), social philosopher, essayist, novelist, biographer; husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, father of Mary Shelley, father-in-law of Percy Shelley; inspirational for many Romantic-era writers, representing anarchist, radical, and individualist views, yet strong beliefs in reason, political justice, and human rights.
"hammond_t"
Hammond, Thomas
Hammond, Thomas (1766–1817): surgeon in Edmonton, family physician to Keats’s maternal family, the Jennings’; after being pulled from school (aged 14), Keats apprentices with Hammond 1811–1815; family money (generated by selling stocks) is used to pay Hammond’s supervisory fees; Keats later remembers that he had some defiant moments with Hammond (see letter, 21 Sept 1819), though the period with Hammond also has periods of relative security; perhaps the relationship is somewhat compromised by Keats’s growing interest in poetry and Hammond’s failing health.
"haslam_w"
Haslam, William
Haslam, William (1795–1851): solicitor; generous, kind, and truly devoted friend of Keats when he is in need, as well as Keats’s siblings (especially to Keats’s brother, Tom, when he is sick); Keats likely meets him via brother George; Haslam is the one to suggest Severn accompany Keats to Italy, a trip he helps finance.
"haydon_br"
Haydon, Benjamin Robert
Haydon, Benjamin Robert (1786–1846): historical painter, diarist, lecturer; ambitious, volatile, combative; his artistic achievement compromised by pride, inflexible principles, and ego—and a very slow pace; passionate and devoted friend of Keats after meeting him via Leigh Hunt; true believer in Keats’s genius (and his own); Keats initially equally devoted to Haydon, but increasingly put off by his contentious personality; he thought a great deal about great art (which Keats, importantly, would have heard much about), but overestimated the greatness of his own; commits suicide after lengthy struggles with debt and professional failure; largely responsible for England retaining the Elgin Marbles.
"hazlitt_w"
Hazlitt, William
Hazlitt, William (1778–1830): painter, philosopher, significant critic (literary, theatre, art), journalist, brilliant essayist, lecturer; blunt advocate of human rights and liberty, passionately opinionated, often quarrelsome, intellectually driven; meets Keats late 1816; through his lectures and writing, significantly influences Keats’s maturing tastes and ideas, especially about Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Elizabethan literature, literary worth, poetic genius, poetic originality, the principle of disinterestedness and gusto, and the sympathetic powers of imagination; becomes a friend and a formidable defender of Keats and his poetry, especially against the hypocrisy of partisan reviewing; acquaintance with many of the era’s leading literary figures.
"hessey_j"
Hessey, James
Hessey, James (1785–1870): progressive publisher, bookseller; half of Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; strongly believes in Keats’s poetic potential, and with John Taylor basically sponsors Keats’s publishing career.
"hill_t"
Hill, Thomas
Hill, Thomas (1760–1840): book-collector, dry-salter; friend of Leigh Hunt; joint owner/editor of The Monthly Mirror (defunct by 1811); centre of a minor literary circle; Keats once dines with him.
"hogg_t"
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson (1792–1862): barrister, writer, biographer; very close friend to Percy Shelley, and his first biographer (1858); Keats dines with, 11 February 1818, along with Percy and Mary Shelley, Thomas Love Peacock, and Claire (Mary Jane) Clairmont.
"holmes_e"
Holmes, Edward
Holmes, Edward (1797-1859): musician, music critic, and writer of books about music; his biographies on Mozart and Purcell of some note; though a bit younger, one of Keats’s school fellows; his recollections of schoolboy Keats are valuable; met with Keats on occasion in company; stayed within the circle of Keats’s friends throughout his life; likely the anonymous writer (Y) of a defence of Keats after Keats’s death, in The Morning Chronicle, 27 July 1821.
"homer"
Homer
Homer (?7th, ?8th, or ?9th century, B. C. E.): name ascribed to the ancient Greek poet, proposed writer of the Iliad and Odyssey, often viewed as Western Culture’s most influential epic poems; Keats’s most famous engagement with Homer comes to us via what is sometimes considered Keats’s earliest accomplished poem, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer ; Keats writes a second poem, To Homer, in 1818; which identifies with Homer for his insights in blindness; in assessing Homer, Keats writes he is very fine (letters 13 March 1818), and that he longs to feast upon old Homer (27 April 1818); according to one of Keats’s close friends, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Keats is especially taken by the figure of Achilles.
"hunt_j"
Hunt, John
Hunt, John (1775–1848): Printer and publisher; elder brother of Leigh Hunt and co-founder of The Examiner.
"hunt_l"
Hunt, Leigh
Hunt, Leigh (1784–1859): poet, literary critic, editor, journalist, essayist, periodical publisher; charming, somewhat affected personality, energetic, poor with money; editor of the independent and free-thinking Examiner newspaper as well as other periodical publications; jailed two years for libeling the Prince Regent; first to publish Keats; Keats initially enthralled with Hunt, and Hunt fully struck by Keats’s personality and poetic potential; crucially, Hunt introduces Keats into literary London; Keats spends plenty of time with Hunt, and they know each other very well; Keats, though, comes to privately resent Hunt’s poetic pretensions and egotisms, yet Hunt’s kindness toward Keats continued; Keats is forever identified with Hunt as a member of maligned “Cockney School of Poetry.”
"hunt_r"
Hunt, Robert
Hunt, Robert (fl. 1809): writer, older brother of Leigh Hunt, and contributor to the Examiner.
"hutchinson_s"
Hutchinson, Sarah
Hutchinson, Sarah (1775–1835): William Wordsworth’s sister-in-law, younger sister of Mary; once agonizingly pursued by Samuel Taylor Coleridge while he was in an unhappy marriage with another Sara (Fricker); Sara lives with the Wordsworths for a number of years; Keats meets her with the Wordsworths; Keats describes her as enchanting,,though he sees Wordsworth as living in protective Shell up north with his wife and sister (letters 21 March 1818); a little later Sara will offer some comments about Keats’s Endymion—that while it is beautiful, it is uninteresting.
"jefferys_t"
The Jefferys
The Jefferys: Keats and his younger two brothers, Tom and George, socialize (somewhat flirtatiously) with the two Jeffery sisters, Marian (variously, Marianne and Mary-Ann) and Sarah Francis (Fanny); in 1818, they are twenty and eighteen, respectively. [There have been earlier misspellings of the last name as Jeffrey.] They meet them in Teignmouth, Devon. Their mother, Margaret, a widow, is particularly unselfish in caring for Tom when he is ill. Keats writes a few fairly open, somewhat humorous but thoughtful letters to Marian mid-1819, mentioning possible future plans, so there is fairly clear degree of familiarity. In 1830, under her married name—Mrs. I. S. Prowse—Marian publishes a collection of poetry (Poems) that pays some allusive homage to Keats; it has a substantial list of subscribers.
"jennings_a"
Jennings, Alice
Jennings, Alice (1736–1814): Keats’s maternal grandmother; tolerant and affectionate; generously takes take of Keats’s and his siblings after Keats’s father passes away and Keats’s mother’s unsteady behaviour; Keats holds her highly.
"jennings_f"
Jennings, Frances
Jennings, Frances (1775–1810): Keats’s mother; small, attractive, capable, perhaps impulsive; in 1794 marries Thomas Keats, who works at the Jennings’ family business, the Swan and Hoop inn and stables as head ostler; after Keats’s father Thomas dies in 1804, she experiences some uneven moments, including a very hasty marriage a few months after Keats’s father passes, as well as gap in her whereabouts before she returns to her children; like Keats and his two younger brothers, she dies of consumption (TB) while young Keats passionately attends to her at his grandmother’s home.
"jennings_j"
Jennings, John
Jennings, John (1730–1805): Keats’s maternal grandfather; marries Alice Jennings in 1774; owns the Swan and Hoop inn and stables, from which he does well and expands the business; retires 1802, leaving Keats’s father, Thomas, to run the business; leaves significant money to Keats and his siblings, though not all of it discovered until after Keats’s death.
"jennings_r"
Jennings, Robert
Jennings, Robert (?1784-): publisher, printer, bookseller, with some associations with Leigh Hunt; Keats perhaps buys his 7-volume edition of Shakespeare from Jennings.
"jones_i"
Jones, Isabella
Jones, Isabella (unknown birth/death): attractive, mysterious, cultured woman, with whom Keats has some passing involvement in May 1817 that suggests some level of romantic intimacy; she may have suggested the Eve of St. Agnes and Eve of St. Mark as topics for Keats to write about; generous in some minor gifts to Keats and his brother, Tom; Keats may have written a few minor love poems that sound his attraction to and feelings for Isabella (“Unfelt, unheard, unseen,” “Hither, hither love,” “Hush, hush, tread softly”); she has some friends in Keats’s circle; Keats and Isabella agree to keep their passing relationship quiet.
"jonson_b"
Jonson, Ben
Jonson, Ben (1572–1637): actor, poet, but especially successful and highly influential Jacobean playwright of comedy; contemporary of Shakespeare (Shakespeare may have acted in one Jonson’s early plays); a volatile, quarrelsome, intense, and self-regarding temperament; perhaps best known for Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair (his poem, Song to Celia, has also become famous); because Jonson receives a pension from the royal family in 1616, he is some ways the first poet laureate; Keats owned a copy of The Dramatic Works of Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher (the 4-volume 1811 edition); in January 1818, Keats writes a poem about an evening at the Mermaid Inn in Cheapside, where he imagines Jonson, Fletcher, Beaumont, and Shakespeare gathering: Lines on the Mermaid Tavern.
"kean_e"
Kean, Edmund
Kean, Edmund (?1787/9-1833): controversial, celebrity actor, mainly in Shakespearean tragedies; perhaps most notable as Richard III; an uneven personality, plagued by vanity and insecurity, at times compromised by alcohol addiction; much praised by Keats’s friend, the critic William Hazlitt; Keats sees Kean perform on a few occasions and is struck by Kean’s forceful embodiment of actual words, which makes Keats reflect upon intensive yet controlled qualities he strives for in his own poetry.
"keats_f"
Keats, Fanny
Keats, Fanny (1803–89): Keats’s younger sister; some suggestion of resemblance to brother Tom; after 1814 and until 1824, she was the ward of Richard Abbey, the family trustee, who at times thwarted contact between Fanny and Keats; Keats is very, protective of her from an early age; some of his final thoughts are of Fanny; she marries a Spanish diplomat and writer in 1826.
"keats_g"
Keats, George
Keats, George (1797–1841): older of Keats two younger brothers; attended same school (in Enfield) as Keats; introduces Keats to some lasting friends; outgoing, fairly ambitious, great belief in Keats’s poetic aspirations; very close to Keats; lives with his brothers at certain points; emigrates to America, June 1818, only to experience business failure; returns to England in 1820 to refinance himself from the family estate, which leads Keats to have some uncertainty about George’s motives; financial and personal success on second trip to America (settling in Kentucky); Keats writes some very important journal letters to George and his wife, Georgiana; dies of consumption.
"keats_g2"
Keats, Georgiana (née Wylie)
Keats, Georgiana (née Wylie) (1798–1879): wife of Keats’s brother, George (they marry 28 March 1818); Keats very fond of her, and admired her modesty and intelligence; Keats writes completely openly to her in some important journal letters co-addressed to George, especially after the couple immigrates to America in June 1818.
"keats_t_jun"
Keats, Tom
Keats, Tom (1799–1818): Keats’s youngest brother; like Keats, educated at Clarke’s school; tall and thin, considered gentle with good humour; longstanding heath issues; as an adult, lived with Keats on a few occasions; temporarily works for Abbey; much loved by Keats, with great mutual understanding of each other; Keats nurses Tom to his death from tuberculosis.
"keats_t_sen"
Keats, Thomas
Keats, Thomas (?1773–1804): Keats’s father [sometimes spelled Keates]; works the Swan and Hoop inn and livery stables after meeting Keats’s mother there; her parents (John and Alice Jennings) own the Swan and Hoop; not long after the marriage and after he had been head ostler, he begins to manage the business; known to be sensible, energetic, and respectful; dies in late-night riding accident—the cause unclear.
"kingston_j"
Kingston, John
Kingston, John (?-?): comptroller at the Stamp Office in London, and technically William Wordsworth’s superior, since Wordsworth was stamp comptroller for Westmoreland; a very awkward and unintentionally humorous presence at Benjamin Robert Haydon’s so-called immortal dinner (of Sunday, 28 Dec 1817), which Keats attends, along with Wordsworth, Charles Lamb, and others; Haydon is anxious to show his very large canvas, an ambitious historical painting entitled Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem: Keats, Lamb, and Wordsworth are painted into the scene as spectators.
"lamb_c"
Lamb, Charles
Lamb, Charles (1775–1834): first-rate essayist, second-rate poet; witty, acute, eloquent; an acquaintance of Keats; close to some of Keats’s friends, including Leigh Hunt and Benjamin Robert Haydon; perhaps best known for his Tales From Shakespeare (1807), written with his sister, Mary Ann, whom he takes care of despite a life-long mental illness; long, close friendship with William and Dorothy Wordsworth; Keats meets Lamb at Haydon’s so-called immortal dinner, 28 December 1817, and likely sees him in other circumstances; Lamb in a July 1820 review strongly commends Keats’s 1820 volume. Very much a London man.
"lockhart_j"
Lockhart, John Gibson
Lockhart, John Gibson (1794–1854): legally trained, but noteworthy as editor, reviewer, writer, literary critic, minor translator; biographer, novelist; after 1820, son-in-law of Sir Walter Scott, of whom he writes a biography; contributor to the Whig Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, in which he (with a measured conflation of wit and venom) anonymously (“Z”) pillories Leigh Hunt, founder of what he calls “the Cockney school of poetry,” and then Keats, as Hunt’s underling; later editor of Quarterly Review.
"lowther_l"
Lowther, Lord
Lowther, Lord (1787–1872): (William Lowther; Earl of Lonsdale) politician; Keats very disappointed that William Wordsworth is an active supporter of Lord Lowther, who, as the area’s largest landowner, controls the Tory side of parliamentary representation for Westmorland: sad—sad—sad— writes Keats 26 June 1818 about this circumstance, even though at this time he is attempting to see Wordsworth during a walking expedition through Westmorland, heading north to Scotland.
"mackintosh_j"
Mackintosh, James
Mackintosh, James (1765–1832): knighted 1804; lawyer, doctor, writer (history, philosophy, journalism), politician (Whig), professor, judge; admires Keats, and in July 1818 is upset by attacks on Keats’s Endymion (he apparently writes to Keats’s publisher to express his admiration and asks about Keats’s high designs); Macintosh’s Miscellaneous Works (3 vols.) are published in 1846 (edited by his son).
"mathew_g"
Mathew, George Felton
Mathew, George Felton (1795-?): early London friend of Keats, met via his brother, George, mid-1815; some over-estimated poetic aspirations; Keats enjoys some social events with Mathew and his female cousins; Mathew publishes an upbeat poem to Keats in October 1816; Keats writes an epistle to Mathew that appears in his first collection, the 1817 Poems; conservative Mathew evolves some resentment over Keats’s poetic gifts (and politics), and he reviews Keats’s first collection; as their friendships peters (by late 1816), Keats moves into more a more serious and progressive cultural circle via Leigh Hunt.
"milman_h"
Milman, H. H.
Milman, H. H. (1791–1868): [Henry Hart] poet, hymn writer, historian, dramatist, professor, editor, translator ecclesiastic (Dean of St. Paul’s); prolific contributor to the Quarterly Review; Keats sees Milman’s verse drama Fazio (previously billed, unbeknownst to Milman, as The Italian Wife) on opening night at Covent Garden, 5 February 1818—the play, Keats says, hung rather heavily me.
"milton_j"
Milton, John
Milton, John (1608–1674): pamphleteer and polemical writer, lyric and epic poet, particularly noteworthy for Paradise Lost; staunch republican sympathies; Keats studies Milton very deeply, as noted by his detailed marginalia in his copy of Paradise Lost; though he decides that while Milton’s accomplishment is a “wonder,” and that his imaginative scope is almost unapproachably grand, aspects of his style may be to artful (or just not natural enough) for him to pursue, though Keats’s unfinished Hyperion projects are ways for Keats to come to terms with Milton’s poetic powers.
"monkhouse_t"
Monkhouse, Thomas
Monkhouse, Thomas (1783–1825): well-to-do London merchant; close cousin of Mary Wordsworth (née Hutchinson), wife of William Wordsworth; in late 1817, Benjamin Robert Haydon arranges for Keats to meet Wordsworth via Monkhouse at Monkhouse’s residence; Keats will have a few subsequent meetings with Wordsworth; a few later, Monkhouse runs into Keats and invites him to meet with Wordsworth again in June 1820, but health problems warn him off.
"montagu_b"
Montagu, Basil
Montagu, Basil (1770–1851): barrister, member of Chancery bar, writer on topics related to copyright, bankruptcy, the death penalty, human rights, prevention of cruelty to animals, Lord Bacon; good friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth (to whom he is introduced by William Godwin; during a difficult period Montagu’s life, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy care for Montagu’s son); Montagu represents Keats’s acquaintance Percy Shelley in a custody case; on 16 February 1817, Montagu is present at a dinner with Shelley and his wife Mary, Leigh Hunt, William Hazlitt, and Godwin, where they read Keats’s On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, of which Hunt has a copy—they apparently deem it extraordinary.
"moore_t"
Moore, Thomas
Moore, Thomas (1779–1852): poet, editor, satirist, biographer, historian, composer; good friend of Lord Byron; contributor to and then editor of The Edinburgh Review; during Keats lifetime, perhaps most famous for his poem Lalla Rookh (1817) and gatherings of Irish Melodies; Keats: I like that Moore (3 May 1818) and does not admire Moore (18 Feb 1819); Percy Shelley summons Moore (among other poets) as a mourner of Keats in his elegy on Keats, Adonais (1821).
"newton_i"
Newton, Isaac
Newton, Isaac (1642-1727): singularly significant English physicist and mathematician who gave mathematical descriptions and explanations of light, gravity, and planetary motion. Some Romantic thinkers debated the practice of reducing the understanding of nature to scientific explanation.
"novellos_t"
The Novellos
The Novellos: Via Leigh Hunt’s circle, Keats has some social contact with this highly musical and large family, headed by the mother, Mary, and father, Vincent (1781-1861), though Keats also finds the overly witty behaviour of their company fairly tiresome. Vincent is central to the musical society of the day: organist, pianist, music teacher, composer, choir master, conductor, a founding member of the Philharmonic Society, and, importantly, musical publisher; besides Hunt, Novello circle Charles Ollier, Charles and Mary Lamb, Henry Robinson, Charles Ollier, and many others. A few of his daughters will become established singers. In 1828, one of Novello’s daughters, Mary Victoria, will marry Keats’s earliest mentor, Charles Cowden Clarke.
"ollier_c"
Ollier, Charles
Ollier, Charles (Ollier brothers, Charles [1788–1859] and James [1795–1851]): publishers, stationers, booksellers; on commission, publishers of Keats’s first collection, Poems, by John Keats, 1817; Charles has some interest in writing poetry; as publishers, James covers more of the business end; publisher of others in Keats’s circle, including Leigh Hunt, Percy Shelley, Charles Lamb; after his first collection, Keats drops the Olliers (for Taylor & Hessey), in part because he does not want to pay for publication, and the Olliers complain that the volume did not sell—Keats felt they did not promote the collection enough; in truth, Poems is a bit of a mess, even at the level of layout; the Olliers are within Hunt’s circle, and Keats does occasional socializing with them.
"ollier_j"
Ollier, James
Ollier, James (Ollier brothers, Charles [1788–1859] and James [1795–1851]): publishers, stationers, booksellers; on commission, publishers of Keats’s first collection, Poems, by John Keats, 1817; publisher of others in Keats’s circle, including Leigh Hunt, Percy Shelley, Charles Lamb; as publishers, James mainly covers the business end; after his first collection, Keats drops the Olliers (for Taylor & Hessey), in part because he does not want to pay for publication, and the Olliers complain that the volume did not sell—Keats felt they did not promote it enough; in truth, Poems is a bit of a mess, even at the level of layout.
"peacock_t"
Peacock, Thomas Love
Peacock, Thomas Love (1785–1866): essayist, poet, novelist; mainly self-educated; opinionated, observant; rises to a senior position in the East India Company; most famous for his satirical novels, Headlong Hall (1816), Melincourt (1817), and Nightmare Abbey (1818), which, propelled by conversation, intelligently mock political and philosophical subjects and positions; Peacock’s most noteworthy poetry is Rhododaphne (1818); close friends with Percy Shelley; Keats meets Peacock via Leigh Hunt, early 1818.
"quincey_t"
Quincey, Thomas de
Quincey, Thomas de (1785–1859): editor, essayist, journalist, translator; friends with William Wordsworth, William Southey, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt; most famous for The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater: Being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar (1821/1822).
"randall_j"
Randall, Jack
Randall, Jack (1794–1828): popular bare-knuckle boxer (16-0-1), known as the Nonpareil and the prime Irish Lad, and the first professional boxer to retire undefeated; Keats sees Randall battle Ned Turner in Sussex, 5 December 1818 (Randall knocks Turner out in the 34th round); the prize fight is just a few days after the death of Keats’s younger brother, Tom (Keats’s friends likely think the outing might be a good distraction).
"reynolds_j"
Reynolds, John Hamilton
Reynolds, John Hamilton (1794–1852): clerk, poet, reviewer, novelist, playwright, lawyer; witty, outgoing; meets Keats via Leigh Hunt, becomes a very close and supportive friend of Keats, and seems to get the direction and level of Keats’s poetic aspirations; Keats writes some significant letters to Reynolds about poetry and his role as a poet; connects Keats with other important friends; Keats also writes a casual verse epistle to Reynolds in March 1818, containing some meandering ideas about art, the imagination, and intensity—key subjects for Keats; Reynolds provides critical feedback to Keats during Keats’s poetic development; Keats friendly with Reynolds’ sister, Jane and Mariane; eventually bankrupt by 1838; on his tombstone: The Friend of Keats.
"rice_j"
Rice, James
Rice, James (1792–1832): lawyer, well read; known in the Keats circle as wise, unconditionally kind, noble, witty, sensible, and gentlemanly; poor health; Keats stays with him for about a month on the Isle of Wight; Keats meets via Reynolds; one of the financial supporters in getting Keats to Italy; becomes Fanny Keats’s lawyer.
"richards_c"
Richards, Charles
Richards, Charles
"richards_t"
Richards, Thomas
Richards, Thomas (?-?): government worker (ordnance office), sometimes theatre reviewer; a casual friend to Keats and some in Keats’s circle; Keats apparently gets so drunk at a gathering at Richards’ on 14 December 1816 that he is useless the next day (a whoreson night, he calls it—the weather or his state?); he also dines with Richards occasionally through the next few years, up until early 1820; on 17 January 1820, Keats compares Richards to two of his other friends, with the suggestion that Richards is hard to fathom; Charles Richards, Thomas’ brother, is the printer of Keats’s 1817 collection, Poems, though result suggests some inexperience on the part of Charles; the connection with the Richards brothers comes from the circumstance of both of them attending the same school as Keats at Enfield.
"scott_j"
Scott, John
Scott, John (1784–1821): editor of various magazines, including The London Magazine and earlier The Champion; publishes many important writers of the era; often contributor to his magazines; strong liberal sympathies with some idealist tendencies; public supporter of the reputation of Keats and his circle; Tom Keats gives copy book of Keats’s poetry to Scott in Paris, 1817; in February 1821 is wounded and then dies in a duel over literary matters peripherally related to a defence of Keats, after Scott’s constant attacks on the integrity of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, with mutual abuse returned from Blackwood’s.
"scott_w"
Scott, Walter
Scott, Walter (1771–1832): Scottish poet and novelist; also editor, literary critic, biographer, historian, though originally trained as a lawyer; perhaps the most popular and influential writer of Keats’s era; especially famous for The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), The Lady of the Lake (1810—all ballad epics), and the Waverly novels; extraordinary early success is levelled by financial stress beginning in 1813 and increasing by 1825-26, when Scott is forced to confront bankruptcy; prolific output continues, but mainly to pay off creditors; Keats assesses Scott as two of the three literary kings in our Time: the poet Scott, the novelist Scott, and Lord Byron (letters, ?29 Dec 1818).
"severn_j"
Severn, Joseph
Severn, Joseph (1793–1897): versatile and devoted painter, but mainly a subject painter; attended Royal Academy; initially a friend of Keats, believer in Keats’s genius and in promoting it; introduces some art to Keats; paints famous miniature of Keats (exhibited May 1818); as a last-moment decision, he accompanies Keats to Rome and closely nurses Keats through his final, agonizing months (and details it), which is a defining feature of Severn’s reputation—this earns Severn clear intimacy with Keats; some suggestion that Severn was keen to accompany Keats to Italy because of an illegitimate child; has some early success as a painter in Rome; later British Consul in Rome; buried beside Keats in Rome in matching graves; profited by (and culturally nurtured) his association with Keats.
"shakespeare_w"
Shakespeare, William
Shakespeare, William (1564–1616): playwright, poet, theatre owner; Shakespeare’s reputation very high in the Romantic era as a creative, poetic genius, an unparalleled seer-into nature and human nature; Keats deliberately studies Shakespeare until he feels he understands Shakespeare to his depths; Keats attempts to emulate aspects of Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic powers, and in particular the poet’s imaginative absorption into the subject.
"shelley_m"
Shelley, Mary
Shelley, Mary (1797–1851): novelist (most famously of Frankenstein, 1818), editor, biographer; intellectual, generally private; daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; marries Percy Shelley; Keats meets on a few occasions.
"shelley_p"
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792–1822): poet; unrelenting radical and reformist enthusiasms, anti-authoritarian, dedicated pursuit of idealised, visionary truths and social justice; eccentric, intellectually precocious, generous, sometimes erratic; marries Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (author of Frankenstein, editor of Shelley’s poetry after his death), William Godwin’s daughter; both Percy and Mary acquainted with Keats via Leigh Hunt, and they do some socializing with Keats; Percy is more enthused by Keats than Keats with him; Shelley invites Keats to Italy to stay with him when Keats is ill—Keats declines; implicit competition and pairing with Keats; writes brilliant elegy to Keats, Adonais; drowns in a sailing accident, aged 29, with Keats’s final collection stuffed into his pocket; buried not too far from Keats in Rome.
"smith_h"
Smith, Horace (Horatio)
Smith, Horace (Horatio) (1779–1849): stockbroker, quite successful as a journal and newspaper contributor, but a very minor poet, writer of historical novels and parody; known to Percy Shelley as generous.
"southey_r"
Southey, Robert
Southey, Robert (1774–1843): poet, critic, historian; prolific, popular, but generally considered unimaginative and unintense as a poet; Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death; strong early connections to Wordsworth and Coleridge, as well as to the Quarterly Review; because, over time, his early radical sympathies are perceived to be compromised, by some he is lampooned for his turn to conservatism (notably by Lord Byron and Thomas Love Peacock; also disliked by William Hazlitt); Keats did not admire him.
"spenser_e"
Spenser, Edmund
Spenser, Edmund (?1552–1599): key poet of the English high middle ages, most famously of the masterful and allusive The Faerie Queen, a long epic romance embedded with allegorical intent that brushes up against politics, morality, and religion; innovative stylist (the Spenserian stanza, in particular); highly influential in guiding Keats’s very early poetical aspirations, though Spencer is never fully left behind in Keats’s poetic progress, ranging from the level of diction to Keats’s attraction to romance.
"spurgin_j"
Spurgin, John
Spurgin, John (1797-1866): medical student, then physician, sometimes writer on medical matters, as well as occasional inventor; long-serving Chairman of the Swedenborg Society of London. Keats may have met Spurgin via the Mathews’ social events or through St. Thomas’s Hospital, where Spurgin trained 1813-1815. In a long, detailed December 1815 letter, he attempts to attune Keats to Swedenborgian teachings; earlier, the two must have exchanged some books as well as ideas about religion and belief; it is clear Spurgin hopes to convert skeptical Keats. He fades from Keats’s circle.
"taylor_j"
Taylor, John
Taylor, John (1781–1864): scholarly, progressive publisher and bookseller; editor, minor writer, pyramidologist; half of Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; Keats meets through Reynolds; extremely generous with Keats; very loyal to and supportive of Keats and his poetry; helpful biographical knowledge about Keats; along with Hessey, he more or less sponsors Keats’s later publishing; Keats in his will wants, somehow, Taylor to be repaid for his friendship and generosity.
"turner_n"
Turner, Ned
Turner, Ned (1792–1826): bare-knuckle prize fighter and the first Welsh champion, known as the pugilistic Prince of Wales; he spent a few months in jail for killing a man in the ring in 1816; Keats sees him defeated by Jack Randal, 5 December 1818.
"virgil"
Virgil
Virgil (70-19 BCE): classical Roman poet, most famous for The Aeneid; Keats, as a teen-aged student, and under the general guidance of his headmaster’s son at Enfield (Charles Cowden Clarke), takes up the challenge to translate The Aeneid, and confident and smart enough to suggest flaws in the poem’s narrative structure; Keats no doubts gets some first sense of epic grandeur (and passion for poetry’s scope and power) by undertaking the translation; Keats is utterly conversant with Virgil, as demonstrated in various quotes from him thrown into his letters, as well as occasional allusions.
"voltaire"
Voltaire
Voltaire (1694–1778): French dramatist, poet, philosopher, novelist, historian; best known for his satirical novel Candide and his free-thinking, humanistically-styled sense of virtues, tempered by skepticism; Keats is familiar with Voltaire, reinforced, perhaps, by his friend, the critic William Hazlitt; Keats casually quotes from and refers to Voltaire in passing on a few occasions, and we know he is reading Voltaire’s Le Siècle de Louis XIV in early 1819.
"webbe_c"
Webbe, Cornelius
Webbe, Cornelius (1789–1850?) [also Webb]: fairly prolific poet of the second rank, with some popularity and critical approval; later an essayist, again of minor note; great admirer of Keats; Webbe writes a glowing, over-poeticized sonnet (To John Keats, on his First Poems) that celebrates Keats’s earliest collection and its connection with Spencer, who he deems Keats’s sire; Webbe is forever connected with Keats as poets of the Cockney school under the tutelage of Leigh Hunt; Keats knows Webbe via Hunt and Hampstead gatherings; Keats gives a copy of his 1817 Poems to Webbe; Webbe is perhaps most famous for, in a poem, placing Keats and Hunt alongside Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, and Wordsworth, as if Hunt and Keats are their poetic equals: Z (John Gibson Lockhart) abuses Webbe’s words (capitalizing HUNT, and KEATS) to begin a devastating assault on Hunt, published in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, October 1817 (Webbe will also be nominated as Corny Webb, just as Keats is little Johnny); Keats in a letter of 3 November 1817 says he has never read any thing so virulent, and he anticipates a forthcoming attack on himself.
"wells_c"
Wells, Charles
Wells, Charles (1800–1879): solicitor; spirited friend of Keats; sometimes dramatist and poet; friend, too, of Keats’s youngest brother, Tom, who schooled with Wells; Keats writes an early poem to Wells; Keats gives an inscribed copy of his first collection the 1817 Poems, by John Keats, to Wells; Keats later very upset with Wells when, in 1818, he looks at the fake letters that Wells, as a joke, had sent to Tom back in 1816; has some reputation with the Pre-Raphaelites.
"west_b"
West, Benjamin
West, Benjamin (1738–1820): prominent American painter, primarily of historical topics (though many portraits); perhaps the first American painter to carefully study Italian art in Italy; influential in England, France, as well as in the United States (leaving a legacy of painters); one of the founders of London’s Royal Academy; at points he benefits from the patronage of George III and William Beckford; crucially, Keats sees one of West’s more famous canvases, Death on a Pale Horse, in December 1817, which, in a letter of 21 (?27) December 1817, directly triggers some of Keats’s most important pronouncements: how truly excellent art must possess intensity, and with it, the power to evaporate all “disagreeables” in having close relationship with Beauty & Truth (Keats emphasizes that West’s painting does not possess such intensity)—this line of thinking leads Keats, in the same letter, to a seminal articulation in his poetic development: Negative Capability.
"westbrook_h"
Westbrook, Harriet
Westbrook, Harriet (1795–1816): smart, pleasant, lively, graceful; the first wife of Keats’s acquaintance and fellow poet Percy Shelley, who is also a member of the Leigh Hunt circle; in 1811, Shelley (19) and Harriet (16) marry in Scotland (they remarry in London, March 1814); they spend little time together; she gives birth to a daughter (Eliza Ianthe) in June 1813, and a son (Charles Bysshe), in November 1814; Shelley subsequently elopes with Mary Godwin (16), daughter of William Godwin, in July 1814 and a month later he writes a letter inviting Harriet to Switzerland to live as friends; Harriet commits suicide late November, drowning herself, aged 21, in a state of advanced pregnancy; Shelley is not likely the father; Shelley blames Harriet’s detestable family for the tragedy; Shelley is denied custody of his two children; Keats is aware of all of this, having some contact with Shelley and Mary during the public legal proceedings, which made the newspapers.
"woodhouse_r"
Woodhouse, Richard
Woodhouse, Richard (1788–1834): educated at Eton; scholar, writer, conveyancer, legal advisor to Keats’s publisher, Taylor & Hessey; organizes Keats’s copyright transfer to them before Keats is off to Italy; singularly important collector of Keatsiana; practical and detail oriented; extraordinarily generous with Keats, and a close friend to the end; absolutely sure of Keats’s poetic genius; Keats writes his famous “poetical Character” and “camelion poet” letter to Woodhouse, 27 October 1818; central in organizing Keats’s trip to Italy; dies of tuberculosis.
"wordsworth_m"
Wordsworth, Mary
Wordsworth, Mary (1770–1859): (née Hutchinson); wife of poet William Wordsworth (married 4 October 1802); like William’s sister Dorothy, Mary at times acts as Wordsworth’s amanuensis; Keats meets Mary when she is with William in London in early 1815; Keats (like others) have the sense that Dorothy and Mary (who both live with William) are overly protective of and reverent to William; in a letter 21 March 1818, Keats writes that William has returned to his Shell—with his beautiful wife and enchanting sister.
"wordsworth_w"
Wordsworth, William
Wordsworth, William (1780–1850): the most significant contemporary poet for Keats; Keats is deeply ambivalent about Wordsworth, based mainly on the older poet’s growing pretensions and conservative political affiliation; Keats meets Wordsworth (initially via Haydon) a few times late 1817 into early 1818; in contra-distinguishing himself from Wordsworth, Keats famously condemns the “wordsworthian or egotistic sublime” in poetry (letter, 27 October 1818); Keats is nevertheless fully in awe of Wordsworth’s poetic depths, which in some of his mature poetry he attempts to emulate—in his own terms, he feels Reverence toward the older poet; Wordsworth is Poet Laureate after 1843 until his death; forever paired with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
"wylies_t"
Wylies, the
Wylies, the (May 1818): George Keats (Keats’s brother) marries Georgiana Augusta Wylie (?1797-1879). Georgiana’s parents (her father was a military man) have two sons, Henry and Charles. Via George, Keats comes to know the family and to frequently socialize with them; he is particularly fond of Mrs. Wylie. George and Georgiana emigrate to Kentucky for cheap property and opportunity; they are eventually very successful in business and in creating offspring—eight in total. Some of Keats’s most important letters are written to George and Georgiana after they move to Kentucky; Keats’s tone in these letters marks his familiarity and openness with Georgiana, as well as interest in her family of origin.
@data-poem
For the name of a poem, @data-poem points to the id of that poem, which is its filename without the .xml extension.
"index_of_poems"
index_of_poems
Index of Keats’s complete poems
"poem_addressed_to_haydon"
poem_addressed_to_haydon
Addressed to Haydon
"poem_addressed_to_the_same"
poem_addressed_to_the_same
Addressed to the Same
poem_after_dark_vapours_have_oppressed_our
After dark vapours have oppressed our plains
"poem_ah_ken_ye_what_i_met"
poem_ah_ken_ye_what_i_met
Ah! ken ye what I met the day
"poem_ah_woe_is_me_poor_silver-wing"
poem_ah_woe_is_me_poor_silver-wing
Ah! woe is me! poor Silver-wing
"poem_all_gentle_folks_who_owe_a"
poem_all_gentle_folks_who_owe_a
All gentle folks who owe a grudge
"poem_and_what_is_love_it_is"
poem_and_what_is_love_it_is
And what is Love? — It is a doll dress’d up
"poem_apollo_to_the_graces"
poem_apollo_to_the_graces
Apollo to the Graces
"poem_as_from_the_darkening_gloom_a"
poem_as_from_the_darkening_gloom_a
As from the darkening gloom a silver dove
"poem_as_hermes_once_took_to_his"
poem_as_hermes_once_took_to_his
As Hermes once took to his feathers light
"poem_asleep_o_sleep_a_little_while"
poem_asleep_o_sleep_a_little_while
Asleep! O sleep a little while white pearl
"poem_bards_of_passion_and_of_mirth"
poem_bards_of_passion_and_of_mirth
Bards of passion and of mirth
poem_before_he_went_to_live_with_owls_and_bats
Before he went to live with owls and bats
"poem_blue_tis_the_life_of_heaven"
poem_blue_tis_the_life_of_heaven
Blue! — ’Tis the life of heaven — the domain
"poem_bright_star_would_i_were_stedfast"
poem_bright_star_would_i_were_stedfast
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art
"poem_calidore_a_fragment"
poem_calidore_a_fragment
Calidore: A Fragment
"poem_character_of_cb"
poem_character_of_cb
Character of C. B.
"poem_daisys_song"
poem_daisys_song
Daisy’s Song
"poem_dear_reynolds_as_last_night_i"
poem_dear_reynolds_as_last_night_i
Dear Reynolds, as last night I lay in bed
"poem_endymion_book_i"
poem_endymion_book_i
ENDYMION: A Poetic Romance.
"poem_endymion_book_ii"
poem_endymion_book_ii
Endymion: A Poetic Romance BOOK II
"poem_endymion_book_iii"
poem_endymion_book_iii
Endymion: A Poetic Romance BOOK III
"poem_endymion_book_iv"
poem_endymion_book_iv
Endymion: A Poetic Romance BOOK IV
"poem_extracts_from_an_opera"
poem_extracts_from_an_opera
Extracts from an Opera
"poem_fancy"
poem_fancy
Fancy
"poem_fill_for_me_a_brimming_bowl"
poem_fill_for_me_a_brimming_bowl
Fill for me a brimming bowl
"poem_follys_song"
poem_follys_song
FOLLY’S SONG
"poem_for_theres_bishops_teign"
poem_for_theres_bishops_teign
For there’s Bishop’s Teign
"poem_four_seasons_fill_the_measure_of"
poem_four_seasons_fill_the_measure_of
Four seasons fill the measure of the year
"poem_fragment_of_a_castle-builder"
poem_fragment_of_a_castle-builder
Fragment of a Castle-builder
"poem_give_me_women_wine_and_snuff"
poem_give_me_women_wine_and_snuff
Give me women, wine, and snuff
"poem_give_me_your_patience_sister_while"
poem_give_me_your_patience_sister_while
Give me your patience sister while I frame
"poem_god_of_the_golden_bow"
poem_god_of_the_golden_bow
God of the golden bow
"poem_god_of_the_meridian"
poem_god_of_the_meridian
God of the Meridian
"poem_had_i_a_mans_fair_form"
poem_had_i_a_mans_fair_form
Had I a man’s fair form, then might my sighs
"poem_hadst_thou_livd_in_days_of"
poem_hadst_thou_livd_in_days_of
Hadst thou liv’d in days of old
"poem_happy_is_england_i_could_be"
poem_happy_is_england_i_could_be
Happy is England! I could be content
"poem_hence_burgundy_claret_and_port"
poem_hence_burgundy_claret_and_port
Hence burgundy, claret, and port
"poem_hither_hither_love"
poem_hither_hither_love
Hither, hither, love
"poem_how_many_bards_gild_the_lapses"
poem_how_many_bards_gild_the_lapses
How many bards gild the lapses of time
"poem_hush_hush_tread_softly_hush_hush"
poem_hush_hush_tread_softly_hush_hush
Hush, hush, tread softly, hush, hush, my dear
"poem_hyperion_a_dream_canto_i"
poem_hyperion_a_dream_canto_i
The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream CANTO I
"poem_hyperion_a_dream_canto_ii"
poem_hyperion_a_dream_canto_ii
[The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream] CANTO II
"poem_hyperion_a_fragment_book_i"
poem_hyperion_a_fragment_book_i
Hyperion: A Fragment. BOOK I
"poem_hyperion_a_fragment_book_ii"
poem_hyperion_a_fragment_book_ii
Hyperion: A Fragment. BOOK II
"poem_hyperion_a_fragment_book_iii"
poem_hyperion_a_fragment_book_iii
Hyperion: A Fragment. BOOK III
"poem_i_am_as_brisk"
poem_i_am_as_brisk
I am as brisk
"poem_i_cry_your_mercy_pity_love"
poem_i_cry_your_mercy_pity_love
I cry your mercy — pity — love! — aye, love
"poem_i_had_a_dove_and_the"
poem_i_had_a_dove_and_the
I had a dove, and the sweet dove died
"poem_i_stood_tip-toe_upon_a_little"
poem_i_stood_tip-toe_upon_a_little
I stood tip-toe upon a little hill
"poem_if_by_dull_rhymes_our_english"
poem_if_by_dull_rhymes_our_english
If by dull rhymes our English must be chain’d
"poem_imitation_of_spenser"
poem_imitation_of_spenser
Imitation of Spenser
"poem_in_after_time_a_sage_of"
poem_in_after_time_a_sage_of
In after time a sage of mickle lore
"poem_in_drear_nighted_december"
poem_in_drear_nighted_december
In Drear Nighted December
"poem_isabella_or_the_pot_of_basil"
poem_isabella_or_the_pot_of_basil
Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil
"poem_keen_fitful_gusts_are_whispring_here"
poem_keen_fitful_gusts_are_whispring_here
Keen, fitful gusts are whisp’ring here and there
"poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_i"
poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_i
King Stephen: A Fragment of a Tragedy ACT I SCENE I
"poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_ii"
poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_ii
King Stephen: A Fragment of a Tragedy ACT I SCENE II
"poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_iii"
poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_iii
King Stephen: A Fragment of a Tragedy ACT I SCENE III
"poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_iv"
poem_king_stephen_act_i_scene_iv
King Stephen: A Fragment of a Tragedy ACT I SCENE IV
"poem_la_belle_dame_sans_merci"
poem_la_belle_dame_sans_merci
La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
"poem_lamia"
poem_lamia
Lamia
"poem_lines_on_seeing_a_lock_of"
poem_lines_on_seeing_a_lock_of
Lines on Seeing a Lock of Milton’s Hair Ode.
"poem_lines_on_the_mermaid_tavern"
poem_lines_on_the_mermaid_tavern
Lines on the Mermaid Tavern
"poem_lines_written_on_29_may_the"
poem_lines_written_on_29_may_the
Lines Written on 29 May, the Anniversary of Charles’s Restoration, on Hearing the Bells Ringing
"poem_mother_of_hermes_and_still_youthful"
poem_mother_of_hermes_and_still_youthful
Mother of Hermes! and still youthful Maia
poem_nature_withheld_cassandra_in_the_skies
Nature withheld Cassandra in the skies
"poem_not_aladdin_magian"
poem_not_aladdin_magian
Not Aladdin magian
"poem_o_blush_not_so_o_blush"
poem_o_blush_not_so_o_blush
O blush not so! O blush not so
"poem_o_come_dearest_emma_the_rose"
poem_o_come_dearest_emma_the_rose
O come, dearest Emma! the rose is full blown
"poem_o_grant_that_like_to_peter"
poem_o_grant_that_like_to_peter
O grant that like to Peter I
"poem_o_i_am_frightend_with_most"
poem_o_i_am_frightend_with_most
O, I am frighten’d with most hateful thoughts
"poem_o_solitude"
poem_o_solitude
O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell
"poem_o_thou_whose_face_hath_felt"
poem_o_thou_whose_face_hath_felt
O thou whose face hath felt the winter’s wind
"poem_ode_on_a_grecian_urn"
poem_ode_on_a_grecian_urn
Ode on a Grecian Urn
"poem_ode_on_indolence"
poem_ode_on_indolence
Ode on Indolence
"poem_ode_on_melancholy"
poem_ode_on_melancholy
Ode on Melancholy
"poem_ode_to_a_nightingale"
poem_ode_to_a_nightingale
Ode to a Nightingale
"poem_ode_to_apollo"
poem_ode_to_apollo
Ode to Apollo
"poem_ode_to_psyche"
poem_ode_to_psyche
Ode to Psyche
"poem_of_late_two_dainties_were_before"
poem_of_late_two_dainties_were_before
Of late two dainties were before me plac’d
"poem_oh_chatterton_how_very_sad_thy"
poem_oh_chatterton_how_very_sad_thy
Oh Chatterton! how very sad thy fate
"poem_oh_how_i_love_on_a"
poem_oh_how_i_love_on_a
Oh! how I love, on a fair summer’s eve
"poem_old_meg_she_was_a_gipsey"
poem_old_meg_she_was_a_gipsey
Old Meg she was a gipsey
"poem_on_a_leander_which_miss_reynolds"
poem_on_a_leander_which_miss_reynolds
On a Leander Which Miss Reynolds, My Kind Friend, Gave Me
"poem_on_fame_how_fevered_is_the"
poem_on_fame_how_fevered_is_the
On Fame (How fever’d is the man)
"poem_on_fame_like_a_wayward_girl"
poem_on_fame_like_a_wayward_girl
On Fame (Fame, like a wayward girl)
"poem_on_first_looking_into_chapmans_homer"
poem_on_first_looking_into_chapmans_homer
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
"poem_on_leaving_some_friends_at_an"
poem_on_leaving_some_friends_at_an
On Leaving Some Friends at an Early Hour
"poem_on_peace"
poem_on_peace
On Peace
"poem_on_receiving_a_curious_shell_and"
poem_on_receiving_a_curious_shell_and
On Receiving a Curious Shell, and a Copy of Verses, from the Same Ladies
"poem_on_receiving_a_laurel_crown_from"
poem_on_receiving_a_laurel_crown_from
On Receiving a Laurel Crown from Leigh Hunt
"poem_on_seeing_the_elgin_marbles"
poem_on_seeing_the_elgin_marbles
On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
"poem_on_sitting_down_to_read_king"
poem_on_sitting_down_to_read_king
On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again
"poem_on_some_skulls_in_beauley_abbey"
poem_on_some_skulls_in_beauley_abbey
On Some Skulls in Beauley Abbey, near Inverness
"poem_on_the_grasshopper_and_cricket"
poem_on_the_grasshopper_and_cricket
On the Grasshopper and Cricket
"poem_on_the_sea"
poem_on_the_sea
On the sea
"poem_on_the_story_of_rimini"
poem_on_the_story_of_rimini
On The Story of Rimini
"poem_on_visiting_the_tomb_of_burns"
poem_on_visiting_the_tomb_of_burns
On Visiting the Tomb of Burns
"poem_otho_act_i_scene_i"
poem_otho_act_i_scene_i
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act I SCENE I
"poem_otho_act_i_scene_ii"
poem_otho_act_i_scene_ii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act I SCENE II
"poem_otho_act_i_scene_iii"
poem_otho_act_i_scene_iii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act I SCENE III
"poem_otho_act_ii_scene_i"
poem_otho_act_ii_scene_i
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act II SCENE I
"poem_otho_act_ii_scene_ii"
poem_otho_act_ii_scene_ii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act II SCENE II
"poem_otho_act_iii_scene_i"
poem_otho_act_iii_scene_i
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act III SCENE I
"poem_otho_act_iii_scene_ii"
poem_otho_act_iii_scene_ii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act III SCENE II
"poem_otho_act_iv_scene_i"
poem_otho_act_iv_scene_i
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act IV SCENE I
"poem_otho_act_iv_scene_ii"
poem_otho_act_iv_scene_ii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act IV SCENE II
"poem_otho_act_v_scene_i"
poem_otho_act_v_scene_i
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act V SCENE I
"poem_otho_act_v_scene_ii"
poem_otho_act_v_scene_ii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act V SCENE II
"poem_otho_act_v_scene_iii"
poem_otho_act_v_scene_iii
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act V SCENE III
"poem_otho_act_v_scene_iv"
poem_otho_act_v_scene_iv
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act V SCENE IV
"poem_otho_act_v_scene_v"
poem_otho_act_v_scene_v
Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts: Act V SCENE V
"poem_over_the_hill_and_over_the"
poem_over_the_hill_and_over_the
Over the hill and over the dale
"poem_pensive_they_sit_and_roll_their"
poem_pensive_they_sit_and_roll_their
Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes
"poem_read_me_a_lesson_muse_and"
poem_read_me_a_lesson_muse_and
Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud
"poem_robin_hood"
poem_robin_hood
Robin Hood
"poem_shed_no_tear_o_shed_no"
poem_shed_no_tear_o_shed_no
Shed no tear — O shed no tear
"poem_sleep_and_poetry"
poem_sleep_and_poetry
Sleep and Poetry
"poem_song"
poem_song
Song
"poem_song_of_four_fairies_fire_air"
poem_song_of_four_fairies_fire_air
Song of Four Fairies: Fire, Air, Earth, and Water
"poem_sonnet_to_sleep"
poem_sonnet_to_sleep
Sonnet to Sleep
"poem_specimen_of_an_induction_to_a"
poem_specimen_of_an_induction_to_a
Specimen of an Induction to a Poem
"poem_spenser_a_jealous_honorer_of_thine"
poem_spenser_a_jealous_honorer_of_thine
Spenser, a jealous honorer of thine
"poem_spirit_here_that_reignest"
poem_spirit_here_that_reignest
Spirit here that reignest
"poem_stay_ruby_breasted_warbler_stay"
poem_stay_ruby_breasted_warbler_stay
Stay, ruby breasted warbler, stay
"poem_sweet_sweet_is_the_greeting_of"
poem_sweet_sweet_is_the_greeting_of
Sweet, sweet is the greeting of eyes
"poem_the_day_is_gone_and_all"
poem_the_day_is_gone_and_all
The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone
"poem_the_eve_of_st_agnes"
poem_the_eve_of_st_agnes
The Eve of St. Agnes
"poem_the_eve_of_st_mark"
poem_the_eve_of_st_mark
The Eve of St. Mark
"poem_the_gothic_looks_solemn"
poem_the_gothic_looks_solemn
The Gothic looks solemn
"poem_the_jealousies_a_faery_tale_written"
poem_the_jealousies_a_faery_tale_written
The Cap And Bells; Or, The Jealousies: A Faery Tale — Unfinished
"poem_there_is_a_joy_in_footing"
poem_there_is_a_joy_in_footing
There is a joy in footing slow across a silent plain
"poem_there_was_a_naughty_boy"
poem_there_was_a_naughty_boy
There was a naughty boy
"poem_think_not_of_it_sweet_one"
poem_think_not_of_it_sweet_one
Think not of it, sweet one, so
"poem_this_living_hand_now_warm_and"
poem_this_living_hand_now_warm_and
This living hand, now warm and capable
"poem_this_mortal_body_of_a_thousand"
poem_this_mortal_body_of_a_thousand
This mortal body of a thousand days
"poem_times_sea_hath_been_five_years"
poem_times_sea_hath_been_five_years
Time’s sea hath been five years at its slow ebb
"poem_tis_the_witching_time_of_night"
poem_tis_the_witching_time_of_night
’Tis the “witching time of night”
"poem_to_a_friend_who_sent_me"
poem_to_a_friend_who_sent_me
To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses
"poem_to_a_young_lady_who_sent"
poem_to_a_young_lady_who_sent
To a Young Lady Who Sent Me a Laurel Crown
"poem_to_ailsa_rock"
poem_to_ailsa_rock
To Ailsa Rock
"poem_to_autumn"
poem_to_autumn
To Autumn
"poem_to_charles_cowden_clarke"
poem_to_charles_cowden_clarke
To Charles Cowden Clarke
"poem_to_fanny"
poem_to_fanny
Ode to Fanny
"poem_to_gaw"
poem_to_gaw
To G. A. W.
"poem_to_george_felton_mathew"
poem_to_george_felton_mathew
To George Felton Mathew
"poem_to_haydon_with_a_sonnet_written"
poem_to_haydon_with_a_sonnet_written
To Haydon with a Sonnet Written on Seeing the Elgin Marbles
"poem_to_homer"
poem_to_homer
To Homer
"poem_to_hope"
poem_to_hope
To Hope
"poem_to_jr"
poem_to_jr
To J. R.
"poem_to_kosciusko"
poem_to_kosciusko
To Kosciusko
"poem_to_leigh_hunt_esq"
poem_to_leigh_hunt_esq
To Leigh Hunt, Esq.
"poem_to_lord_byron"
poem_to_lord_byron
To Lord Byron
"poem_to_mrs_reynoldss_cat"
poem_to_mrs_reynoldss_cat
To Mrs. Reynolds’s Cat
"poem_to_my_brother_george_1"
poem_to_my_brother_george_1
To My Brother George [1]
"poem_to_my_brother_george_2"
poem_to_my_brother_george_2
To My Brother George [2]
"poem_to_my_brothers"
poem_to_my_brothers
To My Brothers
"poem_to_one_who_has_been_long"
poem_to_one_who_has_been_long
To one who has been long in city pent
"poem_to_some_ladies"
poem_to_some_ladies
To Some Ladies
"poem_to_the_ladies_who_saw_me"
poem_to_the_ladies_who_saw_me
To the Ladies Who Saw Me Crown’d
"poem_to_the_nile"
poem_to_the_nile
To the Nile
"poem_two_or_three_posies"
poem_two_or_three_posies
Two or three posies
"poem_unfelt_unheard_unseen"
poem_unfelt_unheard_unseen
Unfelt, unheard, unseen
"poem_upon_my_life_sir_nevis_i"
poem_upon_my_life_sir_nevis_i
Upon my life, Sir Nevis, I am piqu’d
"poem_welcome_joy_and_welcome_sorrow"
poem_welcome_joy_and_welcome_sorrow
Welcome joy, and welcome sorrow
"poem_what_can_i_do_to_drive"
poem_what_can_i_do_to_drive
What can I do to drive away
"poem_when_i_have_fears_that_i"
poem_when_i_have_fears_that_i
When I have fears that I may cease to be
"poem_when_they_were_come_unto_the"
poem_when_they_were_come_unto_the
When they were come unto the Faery’s court
"poem_where_be_ye_going_you_devon"
poem_where_be_ye_going_you_devon
Where be ye going, you Devon maid
"poem_wheres_the_poet_show_him_show"
poem_wheres_the_poet_show_him_show
Where’s the Poet? Show him! show him
"poem_why_did_i_laugh_tonight"
poem_why_did_i_laugh_tonight
Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell
"poem_woman_when_i_behold_thee_flippant"
poem_woman_when_i_behold_thee_flippant
Woman, when I behold thee flippant, vain
poem_written_in_disgust_of_vulgar_superstition
Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition
"poem_written_on_a_blank_space_at"
poem_written_on_a_blank_space_at
Written On A Blank Space At The End Of Chaucer’s Tale Of The Flowre And The Lefe
"poem_written_on_the_day_that_mr"
poem_written_on_the_day_that_mr
Written on the Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison
"poem_you_say_you_love_but_with"
poem_you_say_you_love_but_with
You say you love; but with a voice

<strong>
Text that needs to be highlighted because it is important; will be rendered by default in bold.

<iframe>
iframe element containing an embedded video.
@width
Width of the embedded video
@height
Height of the embedded video
@src
Location URI of the embedded video
@allowfullscreen
Allow the user to full-screen the video

<script>
script element; used only in the search page.

<style>
style element; used only in the search page.

<img>
Image element. May be rendered inline or as a block, depending on where it appears in the document structure.
If your img element is not inside a figure element with a figcaption, then it requires @alt and @title attributes to provide help for visually-impaired users.
@width
Width in pixels of the image.
@height
Height in pixels of the image
@src
path to the image (usually a relative path)
@data-lg-version
path to a larger version of the image to show as a popup (usually a relative path)
@alt
description of the image for visually-impaired users. If not supplied, then figcaption will be used instead.
@title
description of the image which will pop up on mouseover. If not supplied, then figcaption will be used instead.
@class
"normal"
Present the image in normal rectangular format.
"oval"
Present the image in oval portrait-style format.

<em>
Emphasized text; will be rendered by default in italics.

<a>
@href
@title
explanation of what is being linked to. Will pop up when mousing over the link.
@target
"_blank"
Open this link in a new window or tab.

<audio>
Audio element used to provide audio recordings of poems.
@src
The src attribute points to the audio file.
@controls
The controls attribute ensures the user can control the audio.
"controls"
Always provide controls.
@preload
The preload attribute specifies whether the browser should try to preload the audio so it's ready to play.
"auto"
Preload if possible.

<figure>
A figure consists of an image and a caption.
@class
"leftFloat"
Float this figure to the left and flow the text around it.
"center"
Centre this figure and do not float text around it.
"rightFloat"
Float this figure to the right and flow the text around it.

<br>
A hard-coded linebreak. Avoid unless you absolutely need it. Use it at the end of lines in poems.

<figcaption>
Caption for an image in a figure element.

<td>
A table data cell.

<th>
A table label or heading cell.
@scope
"col"
Scope of this heading is the column below it.
"row"
Scope of this heading is the row to the right of it.

<tr>
A table row.

<caption>
A table caption.

<table>
A table.

<search>
Special Google element required in the Google search page. DO NOT USE except on the search page.

macro.keatsParaContent
Content model for paragraph-type containers such as paragraphs, list items, and so on.

macro.keatsDivContent
Content model for div container.

model.keatsPhrase
Groups elements which can appear at the phrase level.

model.keatsDivHeading
Groups elements which can function as headings at the top of a div.

model.keatsDivBody
Groups elements which can appear below the heading in a div.

att.classable
Groups elements which can have a class attribute.
@class
The class attribute provides styles through rules in the CSS stylesheet.
@style
The style attribute provides one-off style options for specific and unusual cases. Do not use this unless you know that the element you're styling is unlike any other element on the site.

att.identifiable
Groups elements which may have an id attribute.
@id

Do not use straight quotes in text. Use the q or span elements wherever possible; for apostrophes, use the smart version (’). Don't use br tags (linebreaks) inside paragraphs. There's no need to wrap a figure element in a div. Only the following attributes are allowed on img: 'src', 'data-lg-version', 'alt', 'title', 'id', 'style', 'class', 'width' and 'height'. Image file paths must be well-formed (no spaces or punctuation). Image file paths must begin with images/, neighbourhoodMaps/, or gallery/. Image file paths must begin with images/, neighbourhoodMaps/, or gallery/. Don't forget to put a space after every period. There should be no spaces in href attributes (links). Don't place links inside h3 elements. Don't place links inside other links. Periods and commas belong inside the span element for a poem title or an article title, because the poem or article title will be rendered with quotation marks. Don't include trailing periods and commas inside link text. Use an ellipsis (…) rather than three periods. Don't terminate a chronology entry with a period.