Keats in teignmouth: The imaginary landscape

John Keats's sojourn in Teignmouth, Devon, during the early months of 1818 has been widely acknowledged by critics but little studied. Keats visited the town because his brother Tom had gone there on medical advice. Drawing on letters and short poems from the period, the article argues that Keats constructs an idyllic view of the Devon landscape and one that is at odds with his actual experiences in that county. There are various reasons why this may be - including the possibility that his personal and professional pressures may have encouraged him to conceptualize a rural idyll that at least offered the hypothetical possibility of an escape from the darker landscapes that were shadowing his life.