John Keats's 'Poems': Readings from his First Volume

Join us to hear a selection of poetry from 'Poems', Keats's first volume, published in 1817. After his first published poem 'O Solitude' was printed in Leigh Hunt's 'Examiner' in 1816, Keats was encouraged by his family and friends to publish his first volume - 'Poems' - in March 1817.

He paid Charles and James Ollier himself to produce 250 copies. Sales were disappointing. Keats's friend Charles Cowden Clarke wrote, 'it might have emerged in Timbuktoo with far stronger chance of fame and approbation. . . The whole community, as if by compact, seemed determined to know nothing about it'. Join our Poetry Ambassadors to hear a selection of works from 'Poems', including 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer', and 'Sleep and Poetry'.