John+Keats

John Keats was an English [|Romantic Poet], along with famous poets such as Lord Byron and Percey Bysshe Shelley. He was born in London, October 31, 1795 and at twenty five he died in Italy from tuberculosis on February 23, 1821. Like many other great poets and authors, Keats was not recognized until some time after his death. His "Ode to a Nightingale" was written two years before his death in May 1819. Inspired by an actual nightingale, it is said that he wrote it in a day under a plum tree in the garden of his house in London. It was published two months later in //Annals of the Fine Arts// along with his other odes. The poem is a personal exploration for Keats towards his own theory [|negative capability]. Deviating from his previous more optimistic outlook on life, Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale" explores darker thoughts such as transience and mortality. The poem mimics the very ideals that make up negative capability, particularly the acceptance of uncertainty and ultimately that of mortality.