Who Killed John Keats?

It is a question asked on John-Keats.com. Lord Byron claimed it was bad reviews of Keats’ work. Others claimed it was a Mr. Tim Berculosis, in retaliation for not retrieving a vaccine. It is questions such as this, according to Ed Friedlander, that creates the romantic image of this Romantic poet. He explains:

There is actually much of the modern rock-and-roll star in Keats. His lyrics make sense, he tried hard to preserve his health, and he found beauty in the simplest things rather than in drugs (which were available in his era) or wild behavior. But in giving in totally to the experiences and sensations of the moment, without reasoning everything out, Keats could have been any of a host of present-day radical rockers.

O for a Life of Sensations rather than of Thoughts!
It is a "Vision in the form of Youth"
a shadow of reality to come and
this consideration has further convinced me...
that we shall enjoy ourselves here after
having what we called happiness on Earth
repeated in a finer tone and so repeated.
And yet such a fate can only befall those who delight in Sensation
rather than hunger as you do after Truth.
In a letter from Keats to Benjamin Bailey, Nov. 22, 1817

Friedlander adds, “If you are curious to learn more about Keats, you'll find he was tough, resilient, and likeable.”

However, Friedlander is not the only one to notice this rock star hiding beneath the veneer of 19th century garb. In “Brokeback Keats,” the original draft of the Ode to Fanny, a poem about Keats’ fiancé Fanny Brawne (Bright Star, a sonnet about her is now being made into a film) is found by Freddy Mercury of “Bohemian Rhapsody” fame. The last few minutes of the 11-minute work is the band Queen performing “Fat-Bottomed Girls.”

John Keats has even made into the blogosphere, the world of online journals and public displays of emotion, fandom and sometimes-pseudo-journalism. Quentin Crisp, in his blog “Directory of Lost Causes,” discusses his writing and influences on such in a post from July 2006, “Invisible and Dumb.”

He mentioned David Bowie, another rock star from the 1970s and 80s.

Although he doesn’t directly mention Keats, he does post photos of lifemasks Bowie made. In the comments, a reader draws the comparison between Bowie’s masks and Keats’.

It’s a simple comparison, but that Keats was drawn into a conversation about someone that initially seems so different illustrates how Keats has invaded the culture, even today.

For months, I have been reading essays and books completely unrelated to John Keats, only to stumble across a line or two that propels me back to him. He’s become that writer for me, which I couldn’t avoid if I wanted to. It’s a shame that www.keats.blogspot.com has two short posts from someone who joined then immediately switched back to Livejournal (another online journal website), leaving the possibility of a blog for Keats just a bit further away.