Bronze bust of the poet John Keats installed ahead of his birthday unveiling

A new sculpture of the English Romantic poet John Keats will be unveiled next week, on the 229th anniversary of his birth, near his birthplace in Moorgate.

Although he died aged just 25, and did not enjoy the considerable success and respect he achieved after his death, Keats is now regarded as one of the finest poets in the English language.

And now, after several years of work by Keats fans, a bust of the poet will be unveiled next to the Keats at the Globe pub, which is roughly where he was born, the son of an ostler at an inn and livery stable called The Swan and Hoop.

The sculpture, by the British artist Martin Jennings, features a larger-than-life bust mounted on a stone plinth above a slate base inscribed with text from his famous poem, Ode to Indolence. The bronze bust is also a direct likeness of Keats, as unusually, he had a plaster cast made of his face when he was 21, and that plaster cast is now at the Keat House museum in Hampstead.

That plaster cast was scanned and digitally enlarged to provide the form for the finished sculpture.

Ahead of being unveiled on Keat’s birthday, the sculpture had to be installed in Moorgate, and on what can poetically and rather accurately be described as a “dark and stormy” Sunday morning, the sculptor and a team arrived to install the column and bust onto the prepared ground.

Lifting the heavy stone plinth up and positioning its three long pins over the three holes waiting for it in the slate base without damaging the slate in the strong winds, proved to be quite the challenge. At times, it was even feared that the builder’s hoardings installed around the site would end up being blown down the road.

Once finally in place, there was more concern that the weather would delay installing the bust, as the strong “glue” used to secure it would take longer to cure in the cold cold. Eventually, with two staff holding the metal bust steady for about 10 minutes in the cold wind, Keat’s head was secured onto the stone column, ready to be covered up once again ahead of the formal unveiling.

It will be unveiled on 31 October at midday – just outside Moorgate station, and will be open to the public to attend.

A nice touch is that the bust, facing out towards the main road, is aligned with the painting of his bust used by the pub, so both can be seen in profile together.

Keats’ sculpture is Sculptor Martin Jenning’s latest creation. It follows his previous London statues of former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman at St Pancras station and novelist George Orwell at BBC Broadcasting House.

The sculpture was paid for by former City of London Alderman Bob Hall, who donated it to the City Corporation. His gift follows his previous patronage of a sculpture of poet John Donne by artist Nigel Boonham outside St Paul’s Cathedral and extends the public celebration of great poets born within the Square Mile.