Keats, John Timeline

Year	Historical	Literary	Author
1795	Food riots Rise of Napoleon Thomas Carlyle born	More's Cheap Repository Tracts Adam Smith writes Essays on Philosophical Subjects	John Keats born, the eldest of Thomas and Frances Keats’ four children
1796	Failure of French attempt to invade Ireland. Peace negotiations with France break down. Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine and invades Italy Peace negotiations with France break down	Wollstonecraft's Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Denmark and Norway M.G. Lewis writes The Monk
1797	Failure of French attempt to invade through Wales. Mutinies in navy Naval mutinies at Spithead and Nore Birth of Schubert	Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin born in London; her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, dies ten days later
1798	French forces land in Ireland. Government extends control of newspapers. Nelson defeats French in Egypt at Battle of the Nile Battle of the Nile; Nelson destroys French fleet	Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads Wollstonecraft's The Wrongs of Woman published Malthus: An Essay on the Principle of Population
1799	Combination Act bans some political societies Introduction of income tax Britain at war with France	Godwin's St Leon
1800	Act of Union of Ireland with Britain (takes effect 1801) Food riots in many places in Britain Volta generates electricity	Maria Edgeworth: Castle Rackrent Walter Scott: The Eve of St John
1801	High food prices and economic and social unrest First Factory Act First cencus of England and Wales Thomas Jefferson elected President of the USA Union of Great Britain and Ireland
1802	Peace of Amiens ends war with France Health and Morals of Apprentices Act passes Parliament		Edward, Keats’ baby brother, dies
1803	War with France begins again Richard Trevithick builds first working railway steam engine	Godwin's Life of Chaucer	Starts school at Enfield Academy. Much influenced by the Headmaster, John Clarke and becomes a friend of Clarke’s son, Cowden
1804	Napoleon preparing invasion of England Napoleon crowned Emperor War with Spain	Ann and Jane Taylor's Original Poems for Infant Minds	Death of Keats’ father (April 15). Mother remarries within two months
1805	Nelson's victory at Trafalgar Battle of Austerlitz	Walter Scott: The Lay of the Last Minstrel Robert Southey: Poems	Keats’ mother leaves the family
1806	Napoleon defeats Prussians and establishes trade blockade of Britain End of the Holy Roman Empire
1807	Slave trade abolished in all British possessions	Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare Bowdler: The Family Shakespeare Hazlitt: Essays Leigh Hunt: Essays
1808	Start of Peninsular War Beethoven: Fifth and Sixth Symphonies	Cowper: Poems	Keats' mother returns returns to the family
1809	Proposals for Parliamentary reform are defeated in the House of Commons Quarterly Review founded First use of gas-lighting in central London Battle of Corunna Arthur Wellesley defeats the French at Talavera and is created Duke of Wellington Tennyson is born	Birth of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet
1810	George III suffering from mental illness Napoleon annexes the Netherlands Chopin and Schumann are born	Coleridge lectures on Shakespeare	Mother dies of tuberculosis. Keats becomes eldest male in family (aged 14)
1811	Luddite machine-breakers active in the Midland counties of England. Prince of Wales becomes Regent following the insanity of his father George III Luddites begin destroying factory machinery Shelley is expelled from Oxford		Keats leaves school Starts apprenticeship to surgeon Thomas Hammond in Edmonton
1812	War with America begins (until 1814) Further Luddite unrest Prime Minister Spencer Percival assassinated Napoleon begins invasion of Russia Wellington defeats French at Salamanca Battle of Borodino Napoleon enters Moscow but begins a retreat one month later	Birth of Robert Browning, poet The Brothers Grimm publish their Tales Shelley publishes Declaration of Rights	Continues friendship with the Clarkes at Enfield Begins to ‘devour’ Ovid, Milton, Virgil and especially Edmund Spenser - The Faerie Queene is a work which awakens Keats’ genius.
1813	Toleration Act for Unitarians Leigh Hunt imprisoned for libelling Prince Regent Wellington enters France Napoleon defeated at Battle of Leipzig Prussian army begins invasion of France
1814	Robert Stephenson builds steam locomotive Napoleon abdicates and is banished to Elba End of war with America Congress of Vienna Allies enter Paris British burn Washington in USA	Scott's Waverley	First known efforts to write verse: Imitation of Spenser, To Lord Byron
1815	Napoleon returns from Elba and is defeated at Waterloo Corn Law passed Leigh Hunt released from prison on Feb. 3 Napoleon returns to France and enters Paris Napoleon finally defeated by Wellington at the battle of Waterloo Napoleon banished to St Helena John Nash begins the Brighton Pavilion	Scott's Guy Mannering	Moves to London and registers at Guy’s Hospital for surgeon/apothecary course Writes a sonnet on Leigh Hunt’s release from prison Writes To Hope as well as Ode to Apollo
1816	Riots in East Anglia and the manufacturing districts of the north of England Economic depression William Cobbett's Political Register Shelley marries Mary Godwin	Scott's The Antiquary	Keats meets Leigh Hunt who encourages his writing and becomes a life-long influence Writes I stood tip-toe and Sleep and Poetry Decides to leave medical career to concentrate on poetry Writes On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer O Solitude is his first published poem (appears in The Examiner)
1817	Prince Regent's coach attacked: further repressive measures by Government. Further social unrest Manchester 'Blanketeers' march to London	Scott's Rob Roy Hazlitt's Characters of Shakespeare's Plays Southey's Wat Tyler	First volume of Poems published on March 3 Sees Elgin Marbles Begins writing Endymion Meets Wordsworth
1818	Proposals for Parliamentary reform are twice defeated in the House of Commons Percy and Mary Shelley depart from England for the final time	Peacock's Nightmare Abbey Scott's Heart of Midlothian	Keats' Endymion Endymion published in April to hostile reviews Writes Isabella: or The Pot of Basil Goes on six week walking tour of England and Scotland with Charles Algernon Brown; becomes ill Returns to London to find brother Tom ill with tuberculosis Begins Hyperion when nursing his brother Tom dies aged 19
1819	Peterloo massacres in Manchester and passing of Six Acts placing restrictions on the press and public assemblies Poor Relief Act passed Factory Act passed Queen Victoria born Birth of Albert (later Prince Consort)	Scott's Ivanhoe; The Bride of Lammermoor Leigh Hunt: Hero and Leander J.H. Reynolds: Benjamin the Waggoner; Peter Bell (both parodies of Wordsworth)	Moves to Hampstead Meets Fanny Brawne. They fall in love and become engaged Writes many of his best-known poems, including: The Eve of St Agnes, The Eve of St Mark and the odes To Psyche, To a Nightingale, On a Grecian Urn, To Autumn, To Indolence Shows the first symptoms of tuberculosis
1820	Death of George III and accession of George IV Royal Astronomical Society founded	Lamb's Essays of Elia Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer	Keats' Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes and other poems
1821	Another reform bill defeated in Commons Greek War of Independence	Scott's Kenilworth Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater	Death of John Keats

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Keats, John Contents

Keats, John Timeline

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