Keats` love letters auctioned for USD 153K

Keats` letter to Fanny has gone under the hammer for USD 153,000.

London: A love letter that poet John Keats wrote to Fanny Brawne has gone under the hammer for USD 153,000.

Keats penned the note to his neighbour in 1820 where he described himself a "poor prisoner" because he was already suffering ill health. Keats, who died a year later from tuberculosis aged just 25, is considered one of the greatest poets along with Byron and P B Shelly. He was buried with his letters from Brawne, who lived next door to him in Hampstead, London. The love letter was bought at auction by bosses at Britain`s City of London Corporation with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund and will be displayed at Keats House, where the poet lived between 1818 until the year the letter was written. Michael Welbank, chairman of the Keats House management committee at the City of London Corporation, says, "We are absolutely delighted that our bid was successful. Keats is a hugely important part of (Britain`s)cultural landscape, and it is thrilling to know that we will now be able to display the letter where it was written." British filmmaker Jane Campion made a film chronicling Keats romance with Brawne in her movie `Bright Star`, named after the poem that Keats wrote for his beloved. PTI