Nigel gave us an illustrated account of John Keats’ visit to Chichester, Bedhampton and Stansted and the background to his writing of one of his finest poems , The Eve of St Agnes. He explained that we know about these visits from letters left behind by him and his circle of friends. He made two visits to Bedhampton which now has a modest commemorative bench with a quote from Eve of St Agnes on the back rest. Guy Murchie’s biography (1955) places John Keats in Bedhampton and the Mill House.
Nigel gave us a brief biographical summary noting Keats’ education at Enfield school which had a good library and his subsequent three- year apprenticeship with an apothecary/surgeon which led him on attend Guys Hospital as a medical student. By 1815 he had been promoted to “dresser” of wounds. However, Keats resolved to be a poet, not a doctor.
In 1816 To Solitude was published in The Examiner , followed in 1817 his first book of poems , simply entitled Poems. Keats was influenced by the poetry of Shelley, Byron and Leigh Hunt and was friends with the artists Benjamin Haydon and Joseph Severn.
The talk detailed the story behind Keats visit to Chichester, Stansted and Bedhampton in January 1810, that stemmed from two Bedhampton families, the Snooks who owned the Mill in Bedhampton, where Keats stayed and the Dilke family Charles Wentworth Dilke senior, moved to Chichester and hosted John Keats visit. He and his wife Sarah are buried the cathedral cloisters.
The talk also covered how John Keats met and fell in love with Fanny Brawne and how his ill health resulted in him travelling to Rome by ship and that by a twist of fate, he spent his last night on English soil back at the Mill House in Bedhampton.
Sadly he died in Rome and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery. His headstone bears no name but the inscription
‘This grave contains all that was Young English Poet Who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart at the Malicious Power of his Enemies Desired these Words to be engraven on his Tomb Stone: Here lies One Whose Name was Writ in Water
24 February 1821”
The many slides depicting portraits of Keats, the places and houses where Keats stayed or visited, his life and death masks and the Fanny Brawne photo (1850 on glass) now in Keats House Museum) greatly enhanced this most interesting presentation.
Lois Coulthart
Nigel Gossop
September 2024
Bibliography – Works mentioned in Nigel’s presentation:
1816 Keate, J. To Solitude
1817 Keats, J. Poems of John Keats
1819 Keats, J. Endymion
1820 Keats, J. Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes (Penguin Classics edn. 2017 is available for £10.75
Keats, J. When I have Fears that I May Cease to Be
Letters of John Keats. 1848, 1878
Letters to Fanny Brawne 1870
Biography
Murchie, Guy The Spirit of Place in Keats, 1955 (Later reprint 1978)