In Writing: the writerly relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne

In Writing: the writerly relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne, a talk by Kit Freeman on Thursday 15 January at 5 pm

This talk focuses on the literary, rather than the romantic, relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Through a detailed examination of poems, letters and other ephemera, Kit Freeman suggests that Keats and Brawne should be viewed as collaborative partners rather than the traditional poet-muse dynamic. According to Keats, the 'truest' poetic creation stems from an all-embracing receptivity which results in the seamless assumption and absorption of other identities through the imagination. Freeman also discusses Keats's concept of the 'Chameleon Poet' and asks why scholars do not study Keats as a poet whose nature was inherently collaborative, one who assumed the identities of others. Freeman redefines the term 'collaboration' and argues that poems written in the last few years of Keats's life are worth studying because they provide a more nuanced understanding of 'collaboration' due to Fanny's role as Keats's muse.

Admission is free but booking is required due to the limited number of spaces (please write to info@keats-shelley-house.org).

Entry from 4:45 pm onwards. 

The event will also be streamed via Zoom. If you'd like to attend online, please send us an email and we'll share the link with you.

Kit Freeman is a Ph.D. candidate at Southern Methodist University specializing in Romantic poetry and poetics. Her dissertation project explores the poetics of collaboration amongst poets across the 19th and 20th centuries. In 2023, she was a finalist for a Fulbright and the winner of the Sheila Birkenhead grant.

The Sheila Birkenhead Bursary is awarded to postgraduate students giving papers at conferences on Romantic Studies in the UK. Applications are open anytime, so if you think you are eligible, please apply on www.keats-shelley.org.