In May 1816, Leigh Hunt agreed to publish the sonnet O Solitude in his magazine, The Examiner, a leading liberal magazine of the day. It was the first appearance in print of Keats's poetry, and Charles Cowden Clarke described it as his friend's red letter day, the first proof that Keats's ambitions were valid.ohn Keats. John Keats (/ˈkiːts/ ; 31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his work having been in publication for only four years before his death.