John Keats

John Keats (1795-1821) was an English Romantic poet whose career spanned just a few years before his death from tuberculosis at age 25. Born in London, he trained as a surgeon but abandoned medicine for poetry. His major works include the odes "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode to a Nightingale," and "To Autumn," as well as the epic "Hyperion" and the narrative poem "The Eve of St. Agnes." Keats's poetry is celebrated for its rich sensory language, exploration of beauty and mortality, and philosophical depth. Initially met with harsh criticism, his reputation grew posthumously, and he is now regarded as a central figure of the second generation of Romantic poets, influencing generations of writers with his emphasis on negative capability and aesthetic truth.