To George and Tom Keats, 23, 24 January 1818

My dear Brothers;

I was thinking what hindered me from writing so long, for I have many things to say to you and know not where to begin.

I think a little change has taken place in my intellectual lately—I cannot bear to be uninterested or unemployed, I, who for so long a time, have been addicted to passiveness—Nothing is finer for the purposes of great productions, than a very gradual ripening of the intellectual powers—As an instance of this—observe—I sat down yesterday to read King Lear once again the thing appeared to demand the prologue of a Sonnet, I wrote it ( I know you would like to see it).