John Keats

The most widely respected source for the history of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, records as early as Chaucer in the fourteenth century a meaning for the word "star" used (as the OED puts it) "with reference to the pagan belief that the souls of illustrious persons after death appear as new stars in the heavens." This metaphor seemingly takes a long time to devolve to the contemporary usage which seemingly alludes to this classical tradition: the OED dates the earliest recorded usage of "star" to mean "a person of brilliant reputation or talents…one who is distinguished in some branch of art, industry, science, etc." To the 1820s (offering examples from 1824 and 1829). It is worth noting these derive just immediately after the astonishingly young death of poet John Keats in February of 1821. Keats, a working-class boy from London who began training as a...
[ View Full Essay]