Complete Poems and Selected Letters
My rating:
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing
add to my books

Complete Poems and Selected Letters

by
4.46 of 5 stars 4.46  ·  rating details  ·  368 ratings  ·  26 reviews
'I think I shall be among the English Poets after my death,' John Keats soberly prophesied in 1818 as he started writing the blankverse epic Hyperion. Today he endures as the archetypal Romantic genius who explored the limits of the imagination and celebrated the pleasures of the senses but suffered a tragic early death. Edmund Wilson counted him as 'one of the half do...more
Paperback, 640 pages
Published July 22nd 2009 by Modern Library (first published October 28th 1975)
more details... edit details
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William BlakeThe Complete Poems by John KeatsSonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett BrowningLyrical Ballads by William WordsworthThe Romantic Poets by Geoffrey Moore
The Romantic Poets
50th out of 53 books — 11 voters
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom StoppardAlice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis CarrollMrs. Dalloway by Virginia WoolfFrankenstein by Mary ShelleyThe Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Books I Read At University/College
154th out of 223 books — 8 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 633)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Paul
The guy had talent but reading his stuff is like being locked up in that Hansel and Gretel house made of confectionery. You get to feeling ill. In fact you need a bucket quite soon. There should be a Marathon Keats Reading Competition to see who can read the most pages of the Complete Poems without losing their lunch. I bet if Keats had been around in the 1970s he'd have been a Genesis fan - and then a Peter Gabriel fan! I can imagine him earnestly glomming onto "Selling England By The Pou...more
Carl
Carl rated it 5 of 5 stars
Rating this feels weird-- it's Keats, his entire poetic corpus, take it or leave it. I'm happy with the book, and while I have moods when I find some of Keats' work cheesy, overall I enjoy him and see no reason to mark this collection down. Highlights for me: Ode on a Grecian Urn (a very pivotal text for ekphrasis in Western Lit), To Autumn (I'm a Fall kind of a guy), On seeing the Elgin Marbles, On first looking into Chapman's Homer (I know some of these are the "big" poems that eve...more
Venus
Venus added it
Shelves: poem
He was a Poet, sure a lover too,
Who stood on Latmus’ top, what time there blew
Soft breezes from the myrtle vale below;
And brought in faintness solemn, sweet, and slow
A hymn from Dian’s temple; while upswelling,
The incense went to her own starry dwelling.
But though her face was clear as infant’s eyes,
Though she stood smiling o’er the sacrifice,
The Poet wept at her so piteous fate,
Wept that such beauty should be desolate:
So in fine wrath ...more
Janet
Janet rated it 5 of 5 stars
Keats.
John Keats.

I've been a big Shelley fan, and in a different way, Byron... but never tackled Keats before. As a non-English major, I'm having to google a lot of the references (21st Century Keats), but god is it gorgeous. Okay, I'll cop to it, I saw Bright Star yesterday--came right home and took this barely-cracked book off my shelf and stuck my nose in it for the rest of the night. My mind's jaw dropped open in admiration.
Alayna
Alayna rated it 5 of 5 stars
strikes a balance between sweet and sober - he died young, knew he would, and his poetry reflects that. still: he saw the world beautifully, and it's hard not to be affected when reading his poems.

also, his love letters are delicious.
Mari Partyka
I didn't read the entire book - only the poems mentioned in the letters. I bought this specific book for the letters which I have wanted to read for some time now.

I just found out last week a movie is being made - bonus!
Ashley
Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars
I got this book for Valentine's Day and have taken a long time to read it, and to be honest, I didn't read the whole book--some of Keat's poems are really, really, long. But what I did read was so beautiful that I think John Keats is UP THERE with Shakespeare as an artist. His life, his letters, his ideas, his talent, and his artistry are so above the average, that you can't help but wonder that one young man was capable of writing such amazing stuff. When I graduated college, I thought I had gr...more
Michelle
I have an old Odyssey Pres volume with a dozen or so bits of paper stuck between the pages marking my favorite poems.
Sarah
I would totally party with Keats. Didn't discover him until college, but quickly fell in love.
Kimley
Kimley marked it as to-read
Shelves: poetry
Saw "Bright Star" yesterday and realized I haven't read any Keats since school...
Marcos Medrano
I feel exactly the same, for better or worse.
Laurel
Laurel rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: books-i-own
In my eyes, Keats can do no wrong. I love this man. Heartbreakingly gorgeous stuff here, folks.
Stephanie
Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2010
couldn't read it all. i just wanted to read some of his poems.
Maya
Maya rated it 3 of 5 stars
John Keats' poems sometimes felt realer than real. Sometimes this bothered me, like every little thing had to be pulsing with life, but a lot of times it's really nice.
His letters are okay. As I vaguely recall his ultraawareness of his death colored everything he wrote.
A good guy and I'm glad people still remember him.
J.A.
J.A. rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: barbaric-yawp
Another valuable source of material for my novel in progress, Grandpa Art, as well as insight into The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers.
Jenn
Jenn rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: poetry
Keats amazes me every time.
I adore his work, and in this anthology, "Lines to Fanny" is a must - my new favourite poem - ta, Sir.
Linda
Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars
Imagination, emotion and honesty combined. What enthralling stories were told, with dreamlike romanticism and linguistic precision.
Red
Red added it
Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats (Modern Library Classics) by John Keats (2001)
Shae
Shae rated it 5 of 5 stars
My all time favorite poet! pics...

By and far the best of the best is the Song of Opposites.
Monica
Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: poetry
"When I have fears that I may cease to be..."
Pamela
Pamela rated it 5 of 5 stars
It doesn't get much better than Keats.
Jessica Almitra
One of my favorite poets. Aye, he left too soon.
Adriana
Adriana rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: poetry
It's Keats. No questions asked.
Maria
Maria rated it 4 of 5 stars
John Keats is the new Shakespeare.
Craig
Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars
It's Keats. What else can I say?
Allen
Allen added it
Shelves: readit-liked-it
I love his letters
Rasha
Rasha rated it 5 of 5 stars
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 21 22
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
Complete Poems and Selected Letters (Kindle Edition)
Complete Poems and Selected Letters (Hardcover)
The Letters Of John Keats: Complete Revised Edition With A Portrait Not Published In Previous Editions And Twenty Four Contemporary Views Of Places Visited By Keats
The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats (Paperback)
Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats (ebook)

Readers Also Enjoyed

11978
WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be. Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, before high-pilèd books, in charact'ry, hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain. When I behold, upon the night's starred face, huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, and think that I may never live to trace, their shadows, with the magic hand of chance, and when I feel, fair creature of an hour that I shal...more
More about John Keats...
The Complete Poems Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne Selected Poetry Letters of John Keats Keats: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)

Share This Book

Your website
Pin It
“The excellence of every Art is its intensity.” 36 people liked it
“SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.”
8 people liked it
More quotes…

Comfort Reads
Comfort Reads
1129 members
last activity 52 minutes ago
shelf: read