"
But although throughout the long poem there are lovely passages,
and one or two most beautiful lyrics, the critics of the day saw
only the faults of which Endymion is full, and the poem was
received with a storm of abuse.
Soon after Keats published this poem, he, with a friend, set out
on a walking tour to the Lake Country and to Scotland. This was
Keats's first sight of real mountains, and he gloried in the
grand scenery, but said "human nature is finer." When Keats set
out there was not a sign of the invalid about him. He walked
twenty or thirty miles a day and cheerfully bore the discomforts
of travel. But the tour proved too much for his strength. He
caught a bad cold and sore throat, and was ordered home by the
doctor. He went by boat, arriving brown, shabby, and almost
shoeless, among his London friends.
Keats never quite recovered his good health, and other griefs and
troubles crowded in upon him. It was after his return from this
tour that his dearly loved brother, Tom, died.
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