I found this article about how Keats’ poem “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” resonated with young people during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author of this article writes, “It’s a poem that will resonate with the youth who are cooped up indoors, physically isolated, unable to meet and mingle, agonisingly aware of weeks slipping by, opportunities missed, disappointments mounting. This poem has made me almost painfully empathetic towards their plight.” Along with the relevance of his death due to tuberculosis, COVID-19 had an impact on everyone’s understanding of socializing and led to isolation and hopelessness, which this poem reflects.
Keats also wrote a poem called “Hyperion” about isolation when he trained at Guy’s hospital in London where he witnessed surgery without anesthesia and the psychiatric ward. He learned about medicine, as well as misery and pain. The illnesses he is influenced by, as well as his experience with isolation, reflect what we went through the past coupe years with the pandemic, losing loved ones and isolating ourselves.
https://theconversation.com/john-keats-how-his-poems-of-death-and-lost-youth-are-resonating-during-covid-19-155522
