Keats's Conscious and Unconscious Reactions to Criticism of Endymion

Abstract

Writers on Keats, when discussing the central problem of the effects upon the poet of the contemptuous criticism directed against Endymion and against Keats personally, have presented various and often contradictory opinions. The two extreme views, namely, that Keats was killed by this criticism, or, on the other hand, that he was scarcely touched by it, are no longer regarded as tenable. The current opinion was first stated, I believe, by Sir Sidney Colvin when he wrote:the reviews of those days, especially the Edinburgh and Quarterly, had a real power of barring the acceptance and checking the sale of an author's work. What actually happened was that when a year or so later [after Endymion was condemned] Keats began to realise the harm which the reviews had done and were doing to his material prospects, these consequences in his darker hours preyed on him severely and conspired with the forces of disease and passion to his undoing.