Town & Country
In the footsteps of Keats
IN 1821, and in true Romantic form, John Keats died, with tuberculosis, at the age of 25 (‘Thou wast not born for death’, February 3). At the time, his 54 published poems had not been well received—‘the most incongruous ideas in the most uncouth language’, one critic wrote—but praise from the likes of Tennyson and the pre-Raphaelites brought him fame in the second half of the 19th century and he is still one of England’s most popular poets.
Those craving the ‘season of mist and mellow fruitfulness’ during a hot June may look forward to a walk through Winchester’s water meadows—a place where ‘the air is worth sixpence a pint’ and which inspired To Autumn—with poet Stephanie Norgate and naturalist and poet James Simpson.
Organised by the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association and the South Downs Poetry Festival, the
