Review article
https://doi.org/10.31952/amha.20.2.5
JOHN KEATS AS A MEDICAL STUDENT: A PHOTOGRAPHIC ITINERARY
Jessica Casaccia
orcid.org/0000-0002-1100-5339
; School of Medicine and Surgery, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Roma, Italy
Luca Borghi
; School of Medicine and Surgery, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Roma, Italy
Abstract
John Keats (1795-1821), besides being the famous English poet, was a student of medicine at the United Hospitals in London. On the occasion of the bicentenary of his death, we would like to pay tribute to this versatile figure with a photographic itinerary of his medical life. This article, in connection with the project “Himetop – The History of Medicine Topographical Database”, retraces objects and places where the poet lived, studied, worked, and prematurely died, showing the importance of material culture. The photographic journey starts in London with the birthplace of the poet and continues through the places of his infancy and youth, the school in Enfield, the lodgings at 8 St. Thomas Street, the United Hospitals, etc. After giving up medicine to devote to poetry, the itinerary proceeds in the Hampstead and, as the ultimate destination, in Rome, where John Keats spent his last months of life due to tuberculosis. To conclude the path at the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, where he was buried, surrounded by grass and flowers. The material memories left by John Keats, as well as preserving his memory, take on a significant educational and inspirational role for everybody and, in particular, literary people and medical students.
Keywords
Keats J.; cultural heritage; material culture; biography
Hrčak ID:
289103
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2022.
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