Letter to George and Tom Keats (Dec. 21, 1817)

(This excerpt from a long letter to his brothers, describes Keats' concept of "negative capability," and was probably written on Dec. 21 and 28, 1817. The sketch to the right is of Tom Keats.)

My dear Brothers

... [S]everal things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously--I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason--Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge. This pursued through Volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration....

Write soon to your most sincere friend & affectionate Brother
John