Primrose Island: Keats and the Isle of Wight

This article argues that Keats's visits to the Isle of Wight in 1817 and 1819 were key to his imaginative development. Eighteenth-century and Romantic-period travel literature reveal the island's importance as a picturesque destination rivalling the English Lakes. The medical endorsement of sea-bathing added to its popularity, while the sea itself had recently become an object of aesthetic appreciation. Keats's strong attachment to the sea is event in 'On the Sea' and Endymion, which he began on the island. Keats's letters chart his changing relationship to the solitude and beauty the Isle of Wight offered him.