poet; feelings
as to painting; sense of humour, punning, &c.; indifference
in religious matters; his sentiments as to the
immortality of the soul; fondness for wine and game;
summary. 124

CHAPTER IX.

Influence of Spenser discussed; flimsiness of Keats's first
volume; early sonnets; "Endymion"; Shelley's criticisms
of this poem; detailed argument of the poem; estimate
of "Endymion" as to invention and execution;
estimate of "Isabella"; of "The Eve of St. Agnes"; of
"The Eve of St. Mark"; of "Hyperion"; of "Otho the
Great"; of "Lamia"; "La Belle Dame sans Merci"
quoted and estimated; Keats's five great odes--extracts;
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"; imagination in verbal
form distinctive of Keats; discussion of the term "faultless"
applied to Keats; details of execution in the "Ode
to a Nightingale"; other odes, sonnets, and lyrics; treatment
of women in Keats's last volume; his references to
"swooning"; his sensuousness and its correlative sentiment;
superiority of Shelley to Keats; final remarks as to
the quality of Keats's poetry. 163

INDEX 211

NOTE.

In all important respects I leave this brief "Life of Keats" to speak
for itself. There is only one point which I feel it needful to dwell
upon. In the summer of 1886 I was invited to undertake a life of Keats
for the present series, and I assented. Some while afterwards it was
publicly announced that a life of Keats, which had been begun by Mr.
Sidney Colvin long before for a different series, would be published at
an early date. I read up my materials, began in March 1887 the writing
of my book, finished it on June 3rd, and handed it over to the editor.
On June 10th Mr. Colvin's volume was published. I at once read it, and
formed a high opinion of its merits, and I found in it some new details
which could not properly be ignored by any succeeding biographer of the
poet. I therefore got my MS. back, and inserted here and there such
items of fresh information as were really needful for the true
presentment of my subject-matter. In justice both to Mr. Colvin and to
myself I drew upon his pages for only a minimum, not a maximum, of the
facts which they embody; and in all matters of opinion and criticism I
left my MS. exactly as it stood. The reader will t