Poet
John Keats
English poet · 1795–1821
Bright StarTo Autumn
John Keats wrote nearly all of his great poetry in a single astonishing year, 1819, before dying of tuberculosis in Rome at just 25. Trained as a surgeon's apprentice, he abandoned medicine for poetry and produced odes that many consider the most beautiful in English.
His letters — full of ideas like "negative capability," the artist's power to dwell in uncertainty — are read almost as much as his poems.
His gravestone, at his own request, names no name: "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water."
19 poems by John Keats
Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.
Ode On A Grecian Urn
John Keats · 1820
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
50 lines · ode
To Autumn
John Keats · 1820
ISeason of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
36 lines · ode
- Bright StarBright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—…14 lines
- A Thing of Beauty (Endymion)A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:…23 lines
- Bards of Passion and of Mirth, written on the Blank Page before Beaumont and Fletcher's Tragi-Comedy 'The Fair Maid of the Inn'BARDS of Passion and of Mirth,…40 lines
- Give Me Women, Wine, and SnuffGIVE me women, wine, and snuff…6 lines
- Happy Is England! I Could Be ContentHappy is England! I could be content…14 lines
- In Drear-Nighted DecemberIn drear-nighted December,…24 lines
- Ode On A Grecian UrnThou still unravish'd bride of quietness,…50 lines
- Ode To AutumnSeason of mists and mellow fruitfulness,…33 lines
- On First Looking Into Chapman's HomerMuch have I travell'd in the realms of gold,…14 lines
- StanzasIN a drear-nighted December,…24 lines
- To A Friend Who Sent Me Some RosesAs late I rambled in the happy fields,…14 lines
- To AutumnI…36 lines
- To HomerStanding aloof in giant ignorance,…14 lines
- To HopeWhen by my solitary hearth I sit,…48 lines
- To My Brother GeorgeMany the wonders I this day have seen:…14 lines
- To My BrothersSmall, busy flames play through the fresh-laid coals,…14 lines
- Written On A Summer EveningThe church bells toll a melancholy round,…14 lines
- Ode to a NightingaleMy heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains…80 lines
- When I Have Fears That I May Cease to BeBefore my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,…13 lines