 In a letter to his brother dated 19 March 1819 , Keats discussed indolence as a subject . He may have written the ode as early as March , but the themes and stanza forms suggest May or June 1819 ; when it is known he was working on " Ode on a Grecian Urn " , " Ode on Melancholy " , " Ode to a Nightingale " and " Ode to Psyche " . During this period , Keats 's friend Charles <unk> Brown transcribed copies of the spring odes and submitted them to publisher Richard Woodhouse . Keats wrote to his friend Sarah Jeffrey : " [ T ] he thing I have most enjoyed this year has been writing an ode to Indolence . " Despite this enjoyment , however , he was not entirely satisfied with " Ode on Indolence " , and it remained unpublished until 1848 . 
