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Hampstead Heath and John Keats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of central London from Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath is a seven hundred acre open area of heath and woodland stretching along a ridge in north London. It is only four miles from central London, which from certain places on the Heath can be seen stretched out far below. When Dick Whittington came to London this would have been his first view of the city.

Lime Avenue, Hampstead Heath

The nineteenth century poet John Keats lived on the edge of Hampstead Heath in a house then called Wentworth Place. He would often walk here, and the landscape influences much of his poetry. Critics at the time were snooty about Hampstead Heath as a setting for poetry. It didn't seem quite proper, not the same as the natural glories of the Lake District apparently. But in reality the Lake District was not the "natural" place it seemed to be. See our page on the area for more details. Man's relationship with nature was changing. In the sixteenth century nature had been something to hide from. By the eighteenth century Coleridge would write about the whole world as being part of a Pleasure Dome for the king Kubla Khan. Man's influence over nature was all pervasive. By the nineteenth century when the youthful John Keats was taking the torch from the older generation of Wordsworth and Coleridge, Hampstead Heath was a kind of universal demonstration of nature in the modern world. Man and nature were as closely related as the Heath and the great city below it. Instead of walking across great fells and wide valleys, most people were now town dwellers, and would take a walk with the dog across Hampstead Heath. They could be back home in time for a mid morning snack. But this experience of nature was no less valid than any other experience. A seeming diminution of experience only allowed new vistas to open up. In Keats poem Endymion it is from small quiet corners of nature, from a bower, that the journey takes flight. The small scale of life is related to the vastness that lies beyond:

"... even as the trees

That whisper round a temple become soon

Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon"

The quality of the little temple is in surrounding trees that frame the scene, and in the moon above it. At points in Endymion the nature god Pan is called upon. He is elusive, cannot be confined to any one place, and so cannot be found. Pan does not stay in any little temple. But this elusiveness is a direct result of being found everywhere, beside a plum tree in the garden in Keats House, or out on Hampstead Heath. Hampstead Heath becomes " a symbol of immensity, a firmament reflected in a sea."

Keats once wrote the following about the work of a spider: "The points of leaves and twigs on which the Spider begins her work are few and she fills the Air with a beautiful circulating: man should be content with a few points to tip with the fine Webb of his Soul and weave a tapestry empyrean." (Letter 19th of February 1818)

 

Keats is a modern poet, and he found his inspiration in the thoroughly modern setting of Hampstead Heath.

Hampstead Heath has a regular programme of events,which include jazz concerts, fun fairs, children's summer entertainments, and nature spotting walks.

Contact: for information on events held at Hampstead Heath:

telephone: 020 7482 7073

 

Parkland near Kenwood House

Kenwood House can also be seen on Hampstead Heath. The house was originally built between 1764 and 1769 by Robert Adam for Lord Mansfield. The gardens at Kenwood were landscaped in the English park style under the direction of Humphrey Repton. Repton's landscape, which was planned to look natural, adds another twist to the story that Hampstead Heath has to tell about man and nature. Once again the feeling is of man and nature coming together. Stand in the grounds of Kenwood House and look around, at this artfully natural landscape. My feeling was one of standing in Coleridge's Pleasure Dome.

The brewing magnate Edward Cecil Guinness bought Kenwood House in 1925. On his death in 1927 he left part of his extensive collection of paintings to the nation, and they are now on display at Kenwood House. The collection includes paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner, Reynolds and Gainsborough.

Entry to the house and gardens is free.

Opening Times: Kenwood House is open daily 11.30am -4pm. The park stays open later. Kenwood House is closed 24th -26th December and 1st January.

Address: Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath, London NW3 7JR

 

Directions: The nearest tube stations for Kenwood House and Hampstead Heath are at Hampstead and Highgate. There are car parks near Gospel Oak station, on East Heath Road near the junction with Downshire Hill, and on North End Way near the junction with Spaniards Road. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on Hampstead Heath.

Access: ground floor to the house is accessible to wheelchair users. Grounds have loose gravel paths. Some of the slopes can be steep.

Contact: for Kenwood House

telephone: 020 7973 3478