The great year
John Keats's drawing of the Sosibios Vase |
Although Keats was increasingly troubled by sore throats, September 1818 marked the beginning of what has come to be called the Great Year; he wrote, consecutively, "The Eve of St Agnes", "The Eve of St Mark", "Ode to Psyche", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci","Ode to a Nightingale" and also "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Ode on Melancholy", "Ode on Indolence", "Lamia", "The Fall of Hyperion", and "To Autumn". This outpouring of major poetry is unmatched in English.