“Endymion”; Keats’s classical predilections; extract (from “I stood tiptoe” &c.) about Diana and Endymion; details as to the composition of “Endymion,” 1817; preface to the poem; the critique in The Quarterly Review; attack in Blackwood’s Magazine; question whether Keats broke down under hostile criticism; evidence on this subject in his own letters, and by Shelley, Lord Houghton, Haydon, Byron, Hunt, George Keats, Cowden Clarke, Severn; conclusion.[73]
CHAPTER VI.
Poems included in the “Lamia” volume, 1820; “Isabella”; “The Eve of St. Agnes”; “Hyperion”; “Lamia”; five odes; other poems—sonnet on “The Nile”; “The Eve of St. Mark,” “Otho the Great,” “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” “The Cap and Bells,” final sonnet, &c.; prose writings.[107]
CHAPTER VII.
Keats’s grave in Rome; projects of Brown and others for writing his Life; his brother George, and his sister, Mrs. Llanos; Miss Brawne; discussion as to Hunt’s friendship to Keats; other friends—Bailey, Haydon, Shelley.[118]
CHAPTER VIII.
Keats’s appearance; portraits; difficulties in estimating his character; his poetic ambition, and feeling on subjects of historical or public interest; his intensity of thought; moral tone; question as to his strength of character—Haydon’s opinion; demeanour among friends; studious resolves; suspicious tendency; his feeling toward women—poem quoted; love of flowers and music; politics; irritation against Leigh Hunt; his letters; antagonism to science; remarks on contemporary writers; axioms on poetry; self-analysis as to his perceptions as a poet; feelings as to painting; sense of humour, punning, &c.; indifference in religious matters; his sentiments as to the immortality of the soul; fondness for wine and game; summary.[124]
CHAPTER IX.
Influence of Spenser discussed; flimsiness of Keats’s first volume; early sonnets; “Endymion”; Shelley’s criticisms of this poem; detailed argument of the poem; estimate of “Endymion” as to invention and execution; estimate of “Isabella”; of “The Eve of St. Agnes”; of “The Eve of St. Mark”; of “Hyperion”; of “Otho the Great”; of “Lamia”; “La Belle Dame sans Merci” quoted and estimated; Keats’s five great odes—extracts; “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”; imagination in verbal form distinctive of Keats; discussion of the term “faultless” applied to Keats; details of execution in the “Ode to a Nightingale”; other odes, sonnets, and lyrics; treatment of women in Keats’s last volume; his references to “swooning”; his sensuousness and its correlative sentiment; superiority of Shelley to Keats; final remarks as to the quality of Keats’s poetry.[163]
INDEX[211]