John Keats
1795–1821 (age 26)
Biography
John Keats was an English Romantic poet whose brief life was marked by extraordinary creative achievement. Born in London, he trained as an apothecary before dedicating himself entirely to poetry, producing some of the most celebrated works in English literature despite his youth and limited formal education.
Keats' poetry, including masterworks such as 'Ode to a Nightingale' and 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,' explored themes of beauty, mortality, and the power of imagination with unprecedented depth and sensuality. His untimely death from tuberculosis at age twenty-five cut short a career of immense promise, yet his influence on subsequent generations of writers and poets remains profound and enduring.