Scalpels and Sonnets: John Keats, Thomas Wakley, and Corruption in Early Nineteenth-Century London Medical Schools

Abstract

John Keats’s departure from medical school has long been a source of debate among scholars, with many positing that a lack of constitution drove him away from a promising surgical career. This paper examines the medical landscape within which Keats found himself by exploring two contemporaries of Keats. First, Thomas Wakley, the founder of the famous medical journal The Lancet , who aimed to make medical education more accessible while also combating the corruption surrounding London medical schools. Next, Frederick Tyrrell, a rising ophthalmologist at the centre of the nepotism and cronyism which Wakley sought to combat, who was also Keats’s medical-school flatmate. In addition to close examination of this network of prominent medical professionals, this essay also explores Keats’s own attitude towards corruption in his early work, as evidenced by some pointed political themes in his early sonnets. Through detailed study of a series of legal incidents surrounding early editions of The Lancet alongside analysis of Keats’s early sonnets, this paper ultimately posits a new reason for Keats’s departure from medical school.