So, how much do you really know about Keats?

[Despondence]

Ten years later? Why would Taylor sit on it for so long....after all, that was just around the time he became Clare's publisher. Did you read that in the Bates biography of Clare?

/"that fiend Despondence"

[Saturn]

Did you read that in the Bates biography of Clare?

Yes, Clare was at a very low ebb and his personal relations with Taylor were also very trying at this time so Bate suggests this was something of a peace-offering between the two men.

[Despondence]

Thanks Stephen, that's interesting (I must get me a copy of Bate, methinks).

Here are --two-- (hehe) new ones from me. Probably not very difficult ones, but let's not overshoot....I just think it's fun to be reminded of various little trivia that other people pull out of the hat.

1. Which french renaissance poet did Keats translate, and which poem is it? (bonus points for the intended name of an unfinished sonnet on the same)

2. Of which poem, and to whom, did Keats write:

"I will give you a few reasons why I shall persist in not publishing ***** --it is too smokeable--I can get it smoak'd at the Carpenters shaving chimney much more cheaply--There is too much inexperiance of life, and simplicity of knowledge in it--which might do very well after one's death--but not while one is alive."

[Saturn]

1. Ronsard - the poem is simply called Translated from Ronsard. You've got me on the unfinished sonnet name

2. The Eve of St. Agnes?.

[Despondence]

1. Ronsard - the poem is simply called Translated from Ronsard. You've got me on the unfinished sonnet name

Righto, Ronsard, and the poem that begins "Nature withheld Cassandra in the skies."

2. The Eve of St. Agnes?.

Nope, but thank you for playing

[Malia]

2. Of which poem, and to whom, did Keats write:

"I will give you a few reasons why I shall persist in not publishing ***** --it is too smokeable--I can get it smoak'd at the Carpenters shaving chimney much more cheaply--There is too much inexperiance of life, and simplicity of knowledge in it--which might do very well after one's death--but not while one is alive."

This is an utter guess on my part, but is the poem Isabella and the Pot of Basil and was he writing to Richard Woodhouse? It sounds like the kind of "rhodomontade" he'd write to Woodhouse I guess Isabella because Keats, I believe, considered it one of his weaker poems.

[Despondence]

That's absolutely right, he was speaking of the Pot of Basil in a letter to Woodhouse - I forget exactly which letter it was, and I don't have the books with me at the moment (argh - shouldn't be doing this from work!). Incidentally, it is in the same letter to Woodhouse that he mentions Ronsard and the unfinished sonnet that I indicated in 1 above.

Either my questions are much too easy, or you guys are way too clever...

[Malia]

Oh my goodness! And that was a PURE guess on my part. Yea
OK, now I'll go search my brain for a good question. . .

Hmm. . .and I would suppose, since Saturn answered the first half of your two-part question correctly, he'd be able to leave a new trivia question, too.

[Saturn]

Damnit - I typed out Isabella then deleted it - the lesson here kids is always follow your instincts

Okay here's my question:

Keats famously died in Rome, but which Italian city did Shelley write from, requesting that Keats visit him?

[Malia]

I will guess Pisa.

[Malia]

OK, here's a real "trivia" trivia question:

What did Keats often do at school when he was overwhelmed by fits of grief over his mother's death?

[Saturn]

I will guess Pisa.

Correct

[Saturn]

OK, here's a real "trivia" trivia question:

What did Keats often do at school when he was overwhelmed by fits of grief over his mother's death?

Okay let me think - was it start a fight?

Keats was famously pugnacious in his youth

[Malia]

Nope. It wasn't starting a fight--though he did a lot of that especially after his mother abandoned the family (and before she died).

Here's a hint: He generally did this during study hours.

[Saturn]

Now I'm going to have to look this one up - I can't even guess - I'll get back to you on this one