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Behind-The-Books Blog

Yes, Shelley is still my favourite, but give Keats a chance!

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

A tip for the Romantics among you this week.  Or at least those Romantics who have often had cause to say ‘Good Heavens! I am such a Romantic and yet find my romanticism thwarted! Why are there not more public establishments which cater to my Romantic needs?’

Well look no further, for while idling away the hours in Hampstead recently I ambled upon your playground. The Keats House – that being a house close by the heath where the poet John Keats lodged with friends towards the end of his short life, and in which he wrote some of his most famous poems (including Ode to a Nightingale – is a wonderful little secret tucked away in north London.

And if you are one of those peculiar sorts who does not see the point of visiting a place simply because in some long gone time a highly esteemed writer happened to live there (‘Oh look, it’s Dostoevsky’s ficus!’ a friend sarcastically remarked to me on one such trip, her enthusiasm for our outing ebbing with each new room), then do rest assured, this is more than just an empty building.

Whilst the star of the show is of course the poet and his poems, the House does make an effort through its décor and information cards to impart something of Georgian domestic history – working from the basement up I was informed on everything from Regency-era laundry routines to young ladies’ fashion prints, and passed some rather good art along the way, including a set of Hogarth prints.

Best of all, my visit fortuitously coincided with a (free) recital of several of Keats’s sonnets in the gardens – a regular bonus for visitors, I understand. Now, I’m not normally the sort to have poetry read aloud to me, because if the middle-man I have condescended to listen to transpires to be below-par, they are in danger of rapidly exciting my impatience. But on a lazy, sunny afternoon, in Keats’ garden, listening to Keats’ words; it was more than a little pleasant.

And therefore Romantics, if you are at a loose-end one lazy day in north London, do drop by and take a look.

Georgina Phipps, Editorial Administrator

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