Editing John Keats (section)

===Publication and literary circles===
Although he continued his work and training at Guy's, Keats devoted more and more time to the study of literature, experimenting with verse forms, particularly the sonnet.<ref name="NDB"/> In May 1816, Leigh Hunt agreed to publish the sonnet "O Solitude" in his magazine ''[[The Examiner (1808–86)|The Examiner]]'', a leading liberal magazine of the day.<ref name="hirsch">Hirsch, Edward (2001)</ref> This was the first appearance of Keats's poetry in print; [[Charles Cowden Clarke]] called it his friend's red letter day,<ref>Colvin (2006), p. 35.</ref> first proof that Keats' ambitions were valid. Among his poems of 1816 was ''To My Brothers''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keats |first=John |year=1816 |title=Sonnett VIII. To My Brothers |url=https://www.poemist.com/john-keats/sonnet-viii-to-my-brothers |access-date=31 October 2015 |publisher=Poemist.com}}</ref> That summer, Keats went with Clarke to the seaside town of [[Margate]] to write. There he began "Calidore" and initiated an era of great letter writing. On returning to London, he took lodgings at 8 Dean Street, Southwark, and braced himself to study further for membership of the [[Royal College of Surgeons]].<ref>Motion (1998), pp. 104–105.</ref>

In October 1816 Clarke introduced Keats to the influential Leigh Hunt, a close friend of Byron and Shelley. Five months later came the publication of ''Poems'', the first volume of Keats's verse, which included "I stood tiptoe" and "Sleep and Poetry", both strongly influenced by Hunt.<ref name="hirsch" /> The book was a critical failure, arousing little interest, although Reynolds reviewed it favourably in ''The Champion''.<ref name="Poemsletters"/> Clarke commented that the book "might have emerged in Timbuctoo."<!---sic---><ref name="NDB"/> 

Keats's publishers, [[Charles Ollier|Charles and James Ollier]], felt ashamed of it. Keats immediately changed publishers to [[John Taylor (English publisher)|Taylor and Hessey]] in [[Fleet Street]].<ref>Motion proposes that the Olliers suggested Keats leave their publishing lists. See Motion (1997) p. 156.</ref> Unlike the Olliers, Keats's new publishers were enthusiastic about his work. Within a month of the publication of ''Poems'' they were planning a new Keats volume and had paid him an advance. Hessey became a steady friend to Keats and made the company's rooms available for young writers to meet. Their publishing lists came to include [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge]], [[William Hazlitt|Hazlitt]], [[John Clare|Clare]], [[Thomas Jefferson Hogg|Hogg]], [[Thomas Carlyle|Carlyle]] and [[Charles Lamb]].<ref>Motion (1997), p. 156.</ref>

Through Taylor and Hessey, Keats met their [[Eton College|Eton]]-educated lawyer, Richard Woodhouse, who advised them on literary as well as legal matters and was deeply impressed by ''Poems''. Although he noted that Keats could be "wayward, trembling, easily daunted," Woodhouse was convinced of Keats's genius, a poet to support as he became one of England's greatest writers. Soon after they met, the two became close friends, and Woodhouse started to collect Keatsiana, documenting as much as he could about the poetry. This archive survives as one of the main sources of information on Keats's work.<ref name="NDB"/> Andrew Motion represents him as [[James Boswell|Boswell]] to Keats's [[Samuel Johnson|Johnson]], ceaselessly promoting his work, fighting his corner and spurring his poetry to greater heights. In later years, Woodhouse was one of the few to accompany Keats to [[Gravesend]], [[Kent]], to embark on his final trip to Rome.<ref>Motion (1997), p. 157.</ref>

Despite the bad reviews of ''Poems'', Hunt published the essay "Three Young Poets" ([[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]], Keats, and [[John Hamilton Reynolds|Reynolds]]) and the sonnet "[[On First Looking into Chapman's Homer]]", foreseeing great things to come.<ref>Gittings (1968), p. 155.</ref> He introduced Keats to many prominent men in his circle, including the editor of ''[[The Times]]'', [[Thomas Barnes (journalist)|Thomas Barnes]]; the writer Charles Lamb; the conductor [[Vincent Novello]]; and the poet [[John Hamilton Reynolds]], who would become a close friend.<ref>Motion (1997), pp. 116–120.</ref> Keats also met regularly with [[William Hazlitt]], a powerful literary figure of the day. It was a turning point for Keats, establishing him in the public eye as a figure in what Hunt termed "a new school of poetry".<ref>Motion (1997) p. 130.</ref> 

At this time Keats wrote to his friend Bailey, "I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of the imagination. What imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth."<ref name="Neill418"/><ref>Keats's letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817</ref> This passage would eventually be transmuted into the concluding lines of "[[Ode on a Grecian Urn]]": {{"'}}Beauty is truth, truth beauty' – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know". In early December 1816, under the heady influence of his artistic friends, Keats told Abbey he had decided to give up medicine in favour of poetry, to Abbey's fury. Keats had spent a great deal on his medical training, and despite his state of financial hardship and indebtedness, made large loans to friends such as the painter [[Benjamin Haydon]]. Keats would go on to lend £700 to his brother George. By lending so much, Keats could no longer cover the interest of his own debts.<ref name="NDB"/><ref>Bate (1964) p. 632.</ref>