It is an interesting fact that during the 19th Century, Keat’s letters, of which there are many, were considered unworthy of attention with critics preferring to focus solely on his poetry, for which he’d become most well-known. However, during the next century, his letters gained in importance and eventually regarded just as highly as his poems. The great T. S. Eliot once said of Keat’s letters that they were “certainly the most notable and most important ever written by any English poet.”

The letter was originally written in the Hampstead area of London and this is where it is set to stay. The City of London Corporation is the buyer behind the large auction price and they are also the managers of Keat’s old home which is now a museum dedicated to his works. The letter will go on permanent display there for all to see. Keats is believed to have written 30 love letters in total and this one was the last to still be in private hands.

There is a sadness behind the letter for when it was written Keats was seriously ill with the contagious disease tuberculosis which would finally take his life the next year. The lovers could therefore not be physically intimate and this is written about in the lines:

“I shall Kiss your name and mine where your Lips have been – Lips! Why should a poor prisoner as I am talk about such things.”

“Thank God, though I hold them the dearest pleasures in the universe, I have a consolation independent of them in the certainty of your affectation.”

John Keats is one of England’s most revered poets and it is only fitting that one of his last love letters should find a home where it now does at Keat’s House. His wonderful work is an inspiration to many throughout the world and his life is one that has been read about and even dramatized in a recent film. ‘Bright Star’ (2009), starring Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw tells the story of the young poet and his love for Fanny Brawne.