her, Haydon, was an artist of mediocre creative talent but great
aims and amazing belief in himself. He had a fine critical faculty which
was shown in his appreciation of the Elgin marbles, in opposition to the
most respected authorities of his day. Mainly through his insistence
they were secured for the nation which thus owes him a boundless debt of
gratitude. He helped to guide and direct Keats's taste by his
enthusiastic exposition of these masterpieces of Greek sculpture.

In 1817 Keats published his first volume of poems, including 'Sleep and
Poetry' and the well-known lines 'I stood tiptoe upon a little hill'.
With much that is of the highest poetic value, many memorable lines and
touches of his unique insight into nature, the volume yet showed
considerable immaturity. It contained indeed, if we except one perfect
sonnet, rather a series of experiments than any complete and finished
work. There were abundant faults for those who liked to look for them,
though there were abundant beauties too; and the critics and the public
chose rather to concentrate their attention on the former. The volume
was therefore anything but a success; but Keats was not discouraged, for
he saw many of his own faults more clearly than did his critics, and
felt his power to outgrow them.

Immediately after this Keats went to the Isle of Wight and thence to
Margate that he might study and write undisturbed. On May 10th he wrote
to Haydon--'I never quite despair, and I read Shakespeare--indeed I
shall, I think, never read any other book much'. We have seen Keats
influenced by Spenser and by Leigh Hunt: now, though his love for
Spenser continued, Shakespeare's had become the dominant influence.
Gradually he came too under the influence of Wordsworth's philosophy of
poetry and life, and later his reading of Milton affected his style to
some extent, but Shakespeare's influence was the widest, deepest and
most lasting, though it is the hardest to define. His study of other
poets left traces upon his work in turns of phrase or turns of thought:
Shakespeare permeated his whole being, and his influence is to be
detected not in a resemblance of style, for Shakespeare can have no
imitators, but in a broadening view of life, and increased humanity.

No poet could have owed his education more completely to the English
poets than did John Keats. His knowledge of Latin was slight--he knew no
Greek, and even the classical stories which he loved and const