Literature · Science · Law · 1795–1821

John Keats — Age, Birthday & Biography

Born: 31 October 1795 · Died: 23 February 1821 · Age at death: 25

How old was John Keats when he died?

John Keats died aged 25. He was born on 31 October 1795 and died on 23 February 1821.

English Romantic poet of Ode to a Nightingale and To Autumn who died of tuberculosis in Rome at only 25

Did you know?He originally trained to be a surgeon and apothecary before deciding to abandon medicine for a life of poetry.

Quick facts

  • Date of birth31 October 1795
  • Date of death23 February 1821
  • Age at death25
  • Cause of deathTuberculosis
  • NationalityBritish
  • BirthplaceLondon, United Kingdom
  • Occupationpoet, judge-rapporteur, physician

Editor's Take:

Keats wrote poems of astonishing richness in a career of only a few years. Trained as a surgeon, he gave up medicine to devote himself to poetry. In a single remarkable year he wrote the odes that are now among the most admired poems in English. Critics mocked him during his lifetime, and he died of tuberculosis in Rome at 25. Today he is seen as one of the great Romantic poets.

Key Milestones

  1. 1816: Licence – apothecary
  2. 1818: Endymion – poem
  3. 1819: Odes – great year
  4. 1820: Lamia – collection

John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”
— John Keats, Endymion, 1818
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
— John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, 1819

Profile

John Keats: The Romantic Poet

English poet, 1795–1821

John Keats was born in London on 31 October 1795.

He trained in medicine at Guy's Hospital.

He wrote Ode to a Nightingale.

He died in Rome in 1821.

Career highlights

  1. 1816Licence: apothecary
  2. 1818Endymion: poem
  3. 1819Odes: great year
  4. 1820Lamia: collection
  5. 1821Death: in Rome

Did you know?His gravestone in Rome reads 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'.

Age at death
25
Years since death
205

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Questions people ask

Frequently asked questions

When is John Keats's birthday?
John Keats's birthday is October 31. He was born on October 31, 1795 in London, United Kingdom.
How old was John Keats when he died?
John Keats died on February 23, 1821, aged 25.
Who shares a birthday with John Keats?
Famous people who share John Keats's October 31 birthday include Katsushika Hokusai, Chiang Kai-shek, Peter Jackson, Zaha Hadid and Herman Van Rompuy.

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Reviewed by the Who Shares My Birthday editorial team.

Last reviewed: October 2026