Book Review

Abstract

John Keats, with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, was one of the prominent poets of what came to be known as the 19th century’s romantic movement. After a relatively short life, producing poetry that was critically disliked at the time, he died aged 25 of what we now know was tuberculosis. Keats’ death was possibly characterized by the then limitations of medical opinion, judgement and knowledge—the consumption, or tuberculosis, he suffered from was diagnosed late after several months of being treated for ‘stress and an ailment of the stomach’. Equally, the then treatment—bleeding and starvation—would have contributed to the progressive weakening of Keats constitution and his ultimate and untimely death. The doctor attending to Keats declined to give Keats laudanum (an archaic term for opium/morphine) for the relief of his pain and anguish to the extent that Keats demanded how long his ‘posthumous existence’ would go on. For many, this ‘Keatsian experience’ has come to symbolize the prolonged end of life suffering that need not be endured in contemporary care settings.