The short but extraordinary career of Keats.

Keats’s career as a poet comes about late in his life. He does not fully enter into poetry until he leaves his profession as a surgeon and apothecary. Even after he decides on “poetry as a vocation” his career as a poet does not last but a few years (Concise Vol. 3). His career only consists of four years of writing as an active poet yet he “captured the imaginations and sentiments of generations” (Authors Vol. 58). His career had the potential to be even greater but as one source says, “Keats’s development [life] was cut short” (Concise Vol. 3); he nonetheless collects acclaim in such little time and forms a career that becomes noted among British poets. Furthermore, his career is set apart because he continually goes through tremendous struggles that few poets go through: “Few English authors…had as much direct observation and experience of suffering as John Keats” (Concise Vol. 3). Consequently the same source above suggests that Keats has “perhaps the most remarkable career of any English poet” given the circumstances of his life (Concise Vol.3).

"John Keats." Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography. Volume 3. (1992) Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Tarrant County Coll. Lib. Databases. April 2, 2010.

"John Keats." Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 58. (2004) Biography Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Tarrant County Coll. Lib. Databases. April 2, 2010.