 By the spring of 1819 , Keats had left his poorly paid position as a surgeon at Guy 's Hospital , <unk> , London , to devote himself to poetry . On 12 May 1819 , he abandoned this plan after receiving a request for financial assistance from his brother , George . Unable to help , Keats was torn by guilt and despair and sought projects more lucrative than poetry . It was under these circumstances that he wrote " Ode on Indolence " . 
