×
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.
×
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.
×
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.
×
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.
×
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.
×
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, 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.
×
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, 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, 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, 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.
×
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.”
×
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.
×
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.
×
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, 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, 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, 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.
×
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.
×
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.
×
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.
×
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, 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.
×
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, 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, 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.
×
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.
×
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, 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.
×
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, 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.
×
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.
×
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, 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, 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.
