40+ Keats Quotes From The Romantic Poet

John Keats is considered as one of the greatest poets of the romantic age.

Born in London in 1795, this young poet along with Shelley and Lord Byron were the brightest of the romantic poets of the later age. His writing style is depicted with his special way of writing about sensuousness and love for nature.

A majority of his poems was appreciated by the public posthumously as the writer passed away at a very tender age of 25. After reading 'On First Look Into Chapman's Homer' he became extremely fascinated with Greek literature and as a result, wrote a lot of poems on the Greek theme.

Some of his best poems include the likes of 'To Autumn', 'Hyperion', 'Ode To A Nightingale' and others.

In 1820 it was discovered that he had contracted tuberculosis and was advised to travel to Rome for warmer weather but he passed away in February 1821.

In such a small life he has amassed a huge fan following which extends to even today. And rightfully so, he will be remembered as one of the greatest poets of all times.

If you find our work interesting do check out Alfred Lord Tennyson quotes and Alexander Pope quotes.

Quotes On Hellenism

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Hellenism is the devotion to ancient Greek thought, customs or styles. Keats was a huge admirer of Greek history and some of his poems showcase that. Below you will find some of the best Keats quotes.

1. "Upon a time, before the faery broods

Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods,

Before King Oberon's bright diadem,

Sceptre, and mantle, clasp'd with dewy gem."

- 'Lamia', 1820.

2. "Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,

And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;

Round many western islands have I been

Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.

Oft of one wide expanse had I been told

That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne."

- 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer', 1816.

3. "Apollo then,

With sudden scrutiny and gloomless eyes,                          

Thus answer’d, while his white melodious throat

Throbb’d with the syllables.—“Mnemosyne!

“Thy name is on my tongue, I know not how;

“Why should I tell thee what thou so well seest?"

- 'Hyperion' – Book III, 1820.

4. "What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both,

In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?"

- 'Ode On A Grecian Urn', 1819.

5. "O latest born and loveliest vision far

Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!

Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star,

Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;

Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,

Nor altar heap'd with flowers;

Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan

Upon the midnight hours."

- 'Ode to Psyche', 1819.

6. "Frighted away the Dryads and the Fauns

From rushes green, and brakes, and cowslip'd lawns,

The ever-smitten Hermes empty left

His golden throne, bent warm on amorous theft:

From high Olympus had he stolen light,

On this side of Jove's clouds, to escape the sight."

- 'Lamia', 1820.

Quotes On Sensuousness

Here in this category, you will find the best of John Keats quotes on sensuousness i.e. the sights and sounds suggested in a poem.

7. "O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,

Tasting of Flora and the country green."

- 'Ode To A Nightingale', 1819.

8. "While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies."

- 'To Autumn', 1820.

9. "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes play on."

- 'Ode On A Grecian Urn', 1819.

10. "Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,

Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,

And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes."

- 'Ode on Melancholy',1820.

11. "Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,

And on her silver cross soft amethyst,

And on her hair a glory, like a saint."

- 'The Eve of St. Agnes', 1820.

Quotes On The Supernatural Element

Keats was a master in writing poems on the supernatural elements and we have comprised some of the best here along with Keats poems quotes and famous poetry quotes.

12. 'I met a lady in the meads,

Full beautiful—a faery’s child,

Her hair was long, her foot was light,

And her eyes were wild."

- 'La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad', 1819.

13. " 'Tis the witching time of night",

Orbed is the moon and bright,

And the stars they glisten, glisten,

Seeming with bright eyes to listen —

For what listen they?

For a song and for a charm."

- 'Tis the Witching Time of Night', 1818.

14. "While legion'd faeries pac'd the coverlet,

And pale enchantment held her sleepy-ey'd.

Never on such a night have lovers met,

Since Merlin paid his Demon all the monstrous debt."

- 'The Eve of St. Agnes', 1820.

15. "It was a vision.

In the drowsy gloom,

The dull of midnight, at her couch’s foot

Lorenzo stood, and wept: the forest tomb

Had marr’d his glossy hair which once could shoot

Lustre into the sun, and put cold doom Upon his lips."

- 'Isabella, or the Pot of Basil', 1820.

16. "Look up, look up! I flutter now

On this fresh pomegranate bough.

See me! 'tis this silvery bill

Ever cures the good man's ill.

Shed no tear! oh, shed no tear!

The flower will bloom another year.

Adieu, adieu -- I fly -- adieu!

I vanish in the heaven’s blue,--

Adieu, adieu!"

- 'Fairy Song', 1838.

Quotes On Love Of Nature

Enlisted below are the finest Keats quotes about nature, some John Keats famous quotes and Keats poetry quotes.

17. "Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art— Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night."

- 'Bright Star Sonnet', 1838.

18. "Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?"

- 'Ode To A Nightingale', 1819.

19. "And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,

The moving waters at their priestlike task

Of pure ablution round earth's human shores."

- 'Bright Star Sonnet', 1838.

20. "The poetry of the earth is never dead."

- 'On The Grasshopper And The Cricket', December 1817.

21. "To one who has been long in city pent,

'Tis very sweet to look into the fair

And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer

Full in the smile of the blue firmament."

- 'To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent', 1817.

22. "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run."

- 'To Autumn', 1820.

Quotes On Pursuit Of Beauty

In this category, you will find classic love quotations, John Keats love quotes and John Keats poems on love.

23. "A flowery band to bind us to the earth,

Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth

Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,

Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways

Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,

Some shape of beauty moves away the pall

From our dark spirits."

- 'Endymion' Book 1, 1818.

24. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

- 'Ode On A Grecian Urn', 1819.

25. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever; Its loveliness increases; It will never pass into nothingness."

- 'Endymion' Book 1, 1818.

26. "Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue."

- 'To Autumn', 1820.

27. "But every morn of woodbine fresh

She made her garlanding,

And every night the dark glen Yew

She wove, and she would sing.

And with her fingers old and brown

She plaited Mats o’ Rushes,

And gave them to the Cottagers

She met among the Bushes."

- 'Meg Merrilies', 1818.

Quotes From The Letters Of John Keats

In this category, you will find the best John Keats quotes which have been taken from his various letters.

28. "Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced - Even a Proverb is no proverb to you till your Life hast illustrated it."

-Letter to George and Goerginia Keats, 14 February 1819.

29. "I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s affections, and the truth of imagination."

-Letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817.

30. "Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?"

-Letter to George Keats, 21 April 1819.

31. "I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain."

-Letter to Fanny Brawne, 3 July 1819.

32. "You are always new. The last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest".

-Letter to Fanny Brawne, March 1820.

33. "The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing -- to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts."

-Letter to George and Georgiana Keats, 24 September 1819.

34. " I think poetry should surprise by a fine excess, and not by singularity; It should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance."

-Letter to John Taylor, 27 February 1818.

35. "We read fine things but never feel them to the full until we have gone the same steps as the Author."

-Letter to John Hamilton Reynolds, 3 May 1818.

36. "What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth–whether it existed before or not–for I have the same Idea of all our Passions as of Love they are all in their sublime, creative of essential Beauty."

-Letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817.

37. "I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."

-Letter to Mr. Hessey, 9 October 1818.

38. "I tremble at domestic cares - yet for you I would meet them, though if it would leave you the happier I would rather die than do so. I have two luxuries to brood over in my walks, your Loveliness and the hour of my death."

-Letter to Fanny Brawne, 25 July 1819.

39. "The excellence of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeables evaporate, from their being in close relationship with beauty and truth."

-Letter to George and Tom Keats, 21 December 1817.

40. "I am at the diligent use of my faculties here, I do not pass a day without sprawling some blank verse or tagging some rhymes; and here I must confess, that, (since I am on that subject,) I love you the more in that I believe you have liked me for my own sake and for nothing else."

-Letter to Fanny Brawne, 8 July 1819.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Keats quotes then why not take a look at Toni Morrison quotes, or T. S. Eliot quotes?