This is the first study of Keats to do real justice to him as both poet and philosopher. In doing so it presents a unique account of the creative mind. Pollard traces the intense dialogue between thinking and poetry which runs through all of Keats' work and, in doing so, takes him far beyond the limiting confines of English Romanticism. The presiding genius thoughout these essays is Martin Heidegger whose later works on the German poets Hölderlin, Rilke and Mörike among others, has now, fo the first time, been applied to an Englsih poet. Keats is foremost among the English poets who gives utterance to the poet's experience with language and with no understanding of this, much of his poetic output remains a mystery. Pollard also deals with the place of the critic and his approach to the poetic text. This study presents a portrait of Keats as poet and philosopher by following his own critique of creativity in his poety.