Winners of Keatsian challenge on Young Poets Network published
The Poetry Society is delighted to announce the winners of ‘The Weariness, the Fever and the Fret’: Writing Illness, Health and John Keats, a writing challenge on The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network as part of its Keats200 celebrations.
The challenge was set by Amy Mackelden earlier this year. Inspired by John Keats’s training as a surgeon and his writing about illness, young people worldwide aged 25 and younger were challenged to write poems that explored health, illness, self-care and Keats’ own writing.
The competition received nearly 400 entries from 22 countries worldwide, including Greece, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Australia and the USA. The Poetry Society congratulates everyone who entered this challenge, and thank them for sharing their work. Young poets opened up about a huge range of experiences with these topics, from hospital waiting rooms and caring for loved ones, to living through a pandemic. The winning poems explore grief, disabilities and illnesses, medicine and recovery from a variety of perspectives.