Unusual facts on Keats

[slippery blisses]

Hello,
I was just wondering if you knew any unusual facts on Keats because we also have to have a biography in this paper, and it wud be nice to have some unusual quirky facts on Keats just to livin that part up just a bit, and who better to ask than the Keats fanatics themselves... So if you could please help me out it wud be very well appreciated.

[Malia]

Hmm. . .random trivia about Keats. I love collecting trivia on people I'm interested in and Keats is one of them, to be sure! So, here are a few thoughts off the top of my head I don't know if you need to cite sources in your paper--all of this trivia can be found in most Keats biographies somewhere.

Early in his career as a poet, Keats tried to "dress the part" as many young artists do. He experimented with growing various moustaches and was often seen in an outfit that looked something like a naval officer's uniform.

Keats was known to be pugnacious as a boy and that attitude carried on into his adult life to a certain extent. Once, he discovered a butcher's boy torturing a kitten in an alleyway. Keats tried to get the man to stop torturing the kitten and they ended up in a fight that lasted for some time and resulted in the butcher's boy being dragged away. Now, butcher's boys were known to be big and brawny. The fact that Keats was rather slender and *very* short shows what a good fighter he was.

Keats loved Claret wine--especially from Chateau Margeaux.

Keats enjoyed playing practical jokes, as did many of his friends, especially Charles Brown.

When Keats and his friends got together to play a "concert" (i.e. they all pretended to be an instrument in the orchestra and, with their voices, "played" a song together), Keats always played the bassoon.

Keats was notoriously terrible at reading his poetry aloud. He never did his work justice (so says his friend Woodhouse).

I don't know if this qualifies as trivia. . .but you could always tell what concerned Keats most in his life--it was the person or issue that he never spoke about. So, when Keats clammed up on a subject, you know that's what he's concerned with most.

Keats hated to dance--most probably because his face was about the same height as most women's breastline and considering the high-wasted, low-collered dresses women wore back then. . .dancing for him could have been quite embarrassing.

Keats's favorite flower was the violet.

Keats's favorite actor was the famous Shakespearian actor, Edmund Kean.

I believe Keats's favorite season was Spring (that's just something I deduce from how he speaks about it in his letters)

Keats had reddish-brown, curly hair, had a low voice and spoke in a faint cockney accent (so they say).

Keats was just over 5 feet tall--pretty short, even for his day.

One of his favorite plays was King Lear and Shakespeare was his favorite playwrite. I'd say that Keats considered Shakespeare his literary father-figure.

Keats did not like having his birthday celebrated and often forgot it, himself.

Keats REALLY enjoyed punning. Probably more than your average poet

Well, I'm getting a headache trying to come up with any more trivia, , so that's it for now. Again this is all off the top of my head--I'm sure his biographies would have much more information. Cool question, though!

[dks]

Slippery blisses...you had better utilize Miss Malia's in depth information wisely...

Keats also once punched a schoolmaster because the man severely scolded his younger brother, George. I, myself, particularly love that story...his heart was as stout as his frame, but much more so...

[Malia]

Slippery blisses...you had better utilize Miss Malia's in depth information wisely...

Keats also once punched a schoolmaster because the man severely scolded his younger brother, George. I, myself, particularly love that story...his heart was as stout as his frame, but much more so...

Dks, I love that story too, but didn't the school usher actually strike *Tom*, not George? Part of the reason I like that story is because it has to to with Tom (one of my favorite "supporting characters" in Keats's life) and Keats's desire to take care of Tom--be his protector. Tom acted in a saucy manner to one of the school ushers, who repremanded Tom--probably by hitting him--and Keats rushed out and tried to start a fight with the usher who (as a contemporary of Keats commented) could "put (Keats) in his pocket". When the usher brought Keats up to Mr. Clarke to be repremanded, the teacher couldn't bring himself to punnish Keats--because he'd seen how "gallantly" Keats tried to protect his brother. I believe at this point in their history the boys had at least lost their dad and mom was either dead or estranged from the family, so Keats felt a keen responsibility and desire to take care of and defend his younger brothers.

And, yes, like dks says, slippery blisses, use whatever info I presented "wisely"--as in, what I wrote down was mostly pure trivia and I'm not sure how you'd weave it all into a good biographical introduction. Usually biographical information contains things like oh, birth and death dates, significant moments in a poet's life. . .not what his favorite flower or type of booze is! But I can understand your wanting to "spice" your paper up with some different, odd facts, slippery blisses. That's something I'd want to do in a paper.

[AhDistinctly]

Wonderful trivia, Malia! Thanks for sharing.

[dks]

I thought it was George...are we Keats bio junkies, or what?! You may be right, Miss Malia...

Yes, Slippery Blisses needs to paraphrase wisely...she knows if she doesn't, she'll make her teacher quite unhappy...

[Saturn]

I can't recall this anecdote at all but the putting Keats in his pocket bit sounds familiar