Born on 31 October 1895 John Keats was the eldest of four brothers of his two parents, Thomas and Frances Jennings Keats, in the town of Moorgate, England. His family was finally stable early in his life thanks to his father's work as manager and then owner of his father-in-law's stable. With this income they were able to buy a house and send John and his brothers to a small liberal academy near their home (Contemporary Authors Online). While at school, he met and befriended a boy named Charles Clarke, son of the headmaster. Given that John Keats is now considered one of the greatest poets of all time in the English language, most would find it rather absurd to discover that the young Keats was in fact not involved in any kind of professional English course that would have improved his skills to be useful in his future profession. Rather, “Clarke remembered an extroverted young man, who made friends easily and fought passionately on their behalf.” He was not simply “everyone's favorite, like a pet boxer, for his terrier courage; but his nobility of soul, his utter unawareness of base motive, his acquiescence, his generosity, excited so general a feeling in his favor, that I never heard a word of disapproval from any one, superior or equal, who had known him. " “He was not a shy, studious child”; one of his schoolmates, Edward Holmes, later said that “Keats was not attached to books in childhood. His passion was for fighting. He would fight anyone." (Keats and friendship). A tragedy struck his family in 1804 and not only shocked him, but changed his whole life. When, on a journey home, his father fell from his horse and was injured the next day family in......middle sheet......ctor) Gittings." Contemporary authors online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literary Resource Center. Network. April 16, 2014.Sandback, Shimon. "Keats, altered by the present." Comparative Literature 35.1 (Winter 1983): 43-54. Rpt. in nineteenth-century literary criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. vol. 225. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Network. April 16, 2014. Sharp, Ronald A. “Keats and Friendship.” Kenyon Review 21.1 (Winter 1999): 124-137.Rpt. in nineteenth-century literary criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. vol. 225. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center. Network. April 16, 2014.Sweda, E. (Director). (2010). Ode on a Greek Urn: HupopteuowProductions.Sweetser, Wesley D. “Ode on a Greek Urn: Overview.” Reference guide to English literature. Ed. DL Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Network. April 15. 2014.