Keats: Poems Published in 1820

by John Keats

Of all the great poets of the early nineteenth century-Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Byron, Shelley, Keats-John Keats was the last born and the first to die. The length of his life was not one-third that of Wordsworth, who was born twenty-five years before him and outlived him by twenty-nine. Yet before his tragic death at twenty-six Keats had produced a body of poetry of such extraordinary power and promise that the world has sometimes been tempted, in its regret for what he might have done had he lived, to lose sight of the superlative merit of what he actually accomplished. Notice: This Book is published by Historical Books Limited (www.publicdomain.org.uk) as a Public Domain Book, if you have any inquiries, requests or need any help you can just send an email to publications@publicdomain.org.uk This book is found as a public domain and free book based on various online catalogs, if you think there are any problems regard copyright issues please contact us immediately via DMCA@publicdomain.org.uk

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature, Ebooks, Fiction, Collections, British Literature

117 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 12, 2012

About the author

Rich melodic works in classical imagery of English poet John Keats include " The Eve of Saint Agnes ," " Ode on a Grecian Urn ," and " To Autumn ," all in 1819.

Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley include "Adonais," an elegy of 1821 to John Keats.

Work of the principal of the Romantic movement of England received constant critical attacks from the periodicals of the day during his short life. He nevertheless posthumously immensely influenced poets, such as Alfred Tennyson. Elaborate word choice and sensual imagery characterize poetry, including a series of odes, masterpieces of Keats among the most popular poems in English literature. Most celebrated letters of Keats expound on his aesthetic theory of "negative capability."

Wikipedia page of the author

Reviews

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

By truer lights than mine, he's a genius. Just not my jam.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume of Keats poetry includes some of his best-known work: Ode to a Nightingale, Ode to a Grecian Urn, Hperion, and others. In addition to the two odes just mentioned, I really liked Isabella, Robin Hood. To a Friend, and To Autumn. I like the rhythm and meter of Keats' poetry in particular.

[Carl Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novelists need to know poetry.

[Timár_Krisztina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Azt azért nem gondoltam volna, hogy egyszer még egy gyönyörű sci-fi miatt fogom újra elővenni Keatset. Persze, hogy a „Hyperion” kellett nekem, no meg a „Lamia”, de hát aztán már a többit se hagyhattam parlagon heverni. Jólesett néha esténként belenézni. Csak szépen lassan, egyenként érdemes fogyasztani ezeket a kisebb-nagyobb édességeket, úgy jön ki igazán az ízük. Simmonst olvasva időnként (fenéket, állandóan) az járt a fejemben, ugyan melyik magyar költőnek van hasonlóképpen változatos és zseniális költészete, hogy hasonló arányú sci-fit vagy fantasyt is lehetne alapozni rá, és Weöres Sándoron kívül más nem jutott eszembe – igaz, hogy az pont elég.

Részletes értékelés a blogon:

https://gyujtogeto-alkoto.blog.hu/202...

[T. Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites: Ode to a Grecian Urn - warning - This book contains words that will melt your heart and make you remember much of life's most beautiful moments.

[Madison Gaffney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is a poetry book under 200 pages cheating?

[Antonomasia]

I'm really not very fond of Keats. How dreadful is that? I think someone once said, or told me - I can't remember who - "If you don't like Keats, you don't like poetry". This time, I'm more than old enough to disagree.

There are some lines which are quite, quite magical. But too often he seems full of that which makes poetry mockable. I imagine him as an artsy version of Blackadder's Pitt the Younger ... so utterly earnest and naive... or the virginal schoolboy in the lyrics to The Divine Comedy's 'Songs of Love'. Though that song was wittier than Keats ever is, who seems to get most of his subjects and style from musty old books; technically he was a marvel, but humour is such an absence in his verse. He's said to be known for "sensual language" yet the odd line aside it's all rather dead-from-the-waist-down. No wonder for years I thought I wouldn't like the Romantic poets; Keats is all very good for underlining and annotating and essaying, but for fun? (I just looked at the beginning of Don Juan and Keats barely feels like part of the same movement as Byron.) 'The Eve of St. Agnes' is probably my favourite here but - stupid pedant that I am - my sense of place and history is offended by the all-over-Europe character names (I'm afraid that always irked me in Shakespeare too). And the lack of comedy and sexuality in scenes which need it terribly. Even 'To Autumn' which should be something I'd love, always feels too detached, not actually there in the season. I'm probably in a minority of one here.

So strange, as generally I love Romanticism

[Wong Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The contraries of life are played out in this 1820 collection in a way that reflects Keats's stated ambition at the end of his earlier 1817 book: to better capture the "agonies, the strife / Of human hearts" in his poetry. Writing in the aftermath of his brother Tom's early death, and the departure of his other brother George to America, the work here is more melancholic, introspective, and philosophical.

Read this during that strange gap between winter and spring, an ill-defined period of false starts, warmer days melding back into the cold, novel hours of sunlight teasing with their life and levity before gloomy days-on-end make a comeback - and nobody knows for how long. Anthropologists might call this period a "liminal space". This 1820 collection reflects that very sense of striving, reaching, but not quite touching; finding, learning, but not quite understanding. Lovers encounter one another but never seem to connect and engage; joy and sorrow are apparently joined by mutual necessity; abundance is stretched to the point of destruction and decay; lines between waking and dreaming, reality and the imagination, are blurred - and are things any less beautiful because they are imagined? But as the anthropologists will point out, such ambiguity in liminal spaces can be productive.

The odes are masterpieces. Keats does away with the rhyming couplets that bring a decisive end to most Shakespearean sonnets and instead chooses to keep things in play. The meanings of his odes are elusive and resist easy conclusions. And as such they are kept alive, kept active - just as the closing line of "To Autumn" - "and gather'd swallows twittered in the sky" - is later revised by Keats to become "gathering swallows twitter in the skies".

Autumn - a season of harvest, "fine...air...chaste weather", and "dian skies" that Keats pays homage to in a letter - will end at some point. But perhaps the "soft-dying day" and images of autumn's close irresistibly lead us to imagine the winter and the spring beyond it. When Fenne Lily asks "Tell me why good things die", Keats' reply would probably be that these things die so that there can be new life, new beginnings - out of endings, and out of liminal spaces, life stirs; and the rain will make the flowers grow.

[Jesse Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the 1909 edition with a very helpful biographical introduction by M. Robertson. There’s an intriguing portrait of the young man at age 22, for example, out on the Isle of Wight, where he read Shakespeare and really came under the spell of the Bard. “Shakespeare permeated his whole being, and his influence is to be detected not in a resemblance of style, for Shakespeare can have no imitators, but in a broadening view of life, and increased humanity.” The reader has to understand or else be open to “increased humanity” herself or himself to enjoy Keats. To feel for loathsome Lamia and silly Lycius in equal measure for example, requires us to suspend and not suspend our judgement at once. If we do, then the poem’s dramatic energy is evident. If we dismiss either or otherwise take a side, we find the poem deadly dull. I can see now that I myself had little increase of humanity, these past twenty years or so, and can only plead that well, at last, aged 39, I feel more or less able to read Keats with benefit, moral as well as aesthetic. That the young man reached the state of his craft at the age he did is, cliché or no, stunning.

Keats’ obsession with Beauty is part of his vision of progress, as we learn in Hyperion. Romanticism is associated with loving medieval knights-errant, but Keats’ favorite theme is actually Greek mythology, in which he correctly perceives an animist, empathic vision of the world. With these propositions in mind, I’ll have to approach the various Odes yet again. Also, I now feel prepared to tackle Endymion — a problem I had before was wanting to tackle the volumes in order, but the first has the most imperfections, and Endymion doesn’t give up its pleasures easily.

Keats writes mostly in iambic pentameter, ranging widely from chatty strain against the feet, to noble and awe-inspiring rule and rhyme. A few poems, as for example “Robin Hood”, use iambic tetrameter, the ballad line, yielding the 1820 British romantic prototype of a country western song. With just these two forms alone, I can hear myself teaching students, entire vast worlds are made. I’m very sure this is only my first turn through them.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had this hanging around on my shelf for awhile, and finally got through it on a long weekend. While undoubtedly a fine example of romantacist poetry, it just absolutely was not my style (thus like pulling teeth to finally finish it). Having said that, some of the poems will definitely stick with me. In particular, "The Pot of Basil", where she plants her dead lover's head in a pot, and grows sweet basil in the same pot to keep him always close by (and slowly eat him by degrees???). But alas, her evil, murdering brothers also do away with the pot, leading the heroine to lament, "Still is the burthen song - 'O cruelty, to steal my Basil-pot away from me!'" Like I said...MEMORABLE.

[Keesa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Keats may very well be considered one of the greatest poets ever, but he is not my favorite, by a long shot. The meter of his poems lacked the soothing, lulling flow of Tennyson or Shakespeare, and I cared little for the themes of the poems, which were mostly classical or mythological, even though I love mythology as much as anyone.

[Yazan Haddad · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seams I am not a fan of Keats since this is his last and most matured book. I fail to see the moral of the story in Lamia because she appears to be the real victim (unless it is about deception).
Perhaps the most readable of poems was Fancy (I give it five stars).
The unfinished end of Hyperion suits this book as Apollo (viz. Keats) is begging to become a God.

[Sonam Nagpal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long, classic poetry is not agreeing with me at the moment. My 2nd attempt at reading some classic poetry failed within the last 2 months. 🥲
No more poems for me for some time now. I don't want to blame such renowned poets; it's just me possibly not in the right mood to read big poems right now but still trying to do so, and thus failing miserably. 🙃

[Val.F · Rating 4 out of 5]

No doubt about it this young poet was a brilliant writer and sadly taken too soon.
Beautiful poems way above my intelligence level but appreciated non the less and a great read for those wanting an insight into this genius mind and soul.

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore romantic poetry. The language the words like gems and treasure. It is really a pleasure to read, and Keats suffered a lot in life and had a melancholic tinge to the sheer beauty of his poetry. Anyway, I see why they pushed this on me in high school.

[PR MURTHY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book

Excellent book. Very emotional approach.
We can not leave the book , once we start reading it. Very good presentation.

[Caitlin Streit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly great poet

Beautiful prose ,beautiful imagery ,.
Keats will continue to move hearts and minds even in our modern times.greatness taken far too soon.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

🌟4 Stars🌟

This has been my metro book for months and now the journey is over. On to Wordsworth 🥲

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite a collection of some of the best poems by John Keats. Rather than read them all, one by one, you can simply pick up this collection and call it pretty much a day.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Kindle e-book version. Paperback may be more convenient for students who wish to read the notes, definitions, and introductions at the back of the book. Kindle is fine for highlighting verses, but tedious getting to and from the end notes.

Why did I choose Keats? He was the answer to a question on Jeopardy recently. My ongoing strategy to support my creative writing is to read widely. My choice of books includes classical literature and poetry. I knew nothing about Keats. What was published in 1820, Keats wrote in three years. He died at age 26.

I would not choose to emulate Keats' early 19th Century romantic language, but it is beautiful. Folk/rock singer songwriters over the past forty years have taken lyrics from Keats: "The Midnight Hour", "Forever Young", "To let the warm love in", " 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty' -that is all you need to know."

I already had read Works of Ovid translated by Dryden, Marlowe, and others. Not only did they write beautifully about Greek and Roman mythology, but they composed beautiful poetry in doing so. Keats did not study Greek or Latin. He did his own new compositions based on Dryden. What 21st Century poetry would you compose to convey the meaning of the antique stories?

Next I am reading the "The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake". The paperback edition is heavy enough to use as a doorstop or hold up one end of a bookshelf. Blake was a contemporary of Keats, but lived a much longer life. Keats challenged poets. Blake was a radical thinker, challenging leaders of thought from traditional religion and humanism.

[ZaRi]

Now Morning from her orient chamber came,
And her first footsteps touch'd a verdant hill;
Crowning its lawny crest with amber flame,
Silv'ring the untainted gushes of its rill;
Which, pure from mossy beds, did down distill,
And after parting beds of simple flowers,
By many streams a little lake did fill,
Which round its marge reflected woven bowers,
And, in its middle space, a sky that never lowers.

There the king-fisher saw his plumage bright
Vieing with fish of brilliant dye below;
Whose silken fins, and golden scales' light
Cast upward, through the waves, a ruby glow:
There saw the swan his neck of arched snow,
And oar'd himself along with majesty;
Sparkled his jetty eyes; his feet did show
Beneath the waves like Afric's ebony,
And on his back a fay reclined voluptuously.

Ah! could I tell the wonders of an isle
That in that fairest lake had placed been,
I could e'en Dido of her grief beguile;
Or rob from aged Lear his bitter teen:
For sure so fair a place was never seen,
Of all that ever charm'd romantic eye:
It seem'd an emerald in the silver sheen
Of the bright waters; or as when on high,
Through clouds of fleecy white, laughs the cœrulean sky.

And all around it dipp'd luxuriously
Slopings of verdure through the glossy tide,
Which, as it were in gentle amity,
Rippled delighted up the flowery side;
As if to glean the ruddy tears, it tried,
Which fell profusely from the rose-tree stem!
Haply it was the workings of its pride,
In strife to throw upon the shore a gem
Outviewing all the buds in Flora's diadem.

[Abby]

Why am I reading Keats? I have no idea. Well, some idea--I was searching for those English Romantics who found such inspiration in 19th century and Classical Greece. Probably should have picked up Byron, but I knew nothing about any of those guys and somehow landed on this boyish, enthusiastic lover-poet. Bored to tears.

But then I discovered, appropriately, "Ode to a Grecian Urn" after seeing a whole lot of them in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, and found that line:

'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know

which people are constantly attributing to Keats with no context whatsoever. Not that context lends it much more sense, but it did help. There are truly beautiful poems in this (random) collection. Personally, I am suspicious of beauty and think Keats is full of it. But I can appreciate his gift for dramatic lighting.

[Heather Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a real love/hate thing going on with this book.

I love Keats style and the melody of so much of his poems. The length though. But also the beautiful melody to it gets me lost in the words and I lose what the poem is actually about. Some of the poems seemed to have pages of description before it got around to what was going on. I don't know if it would have been easier to read a print version, if the formatting suffered with the way digital media changes things to make them fit on different size pages. I've definitely run into that before and will have to check.

Altogether, this is a beautiful, though somewhat hard to read collection of poems. I appreciate the way poetry was so intellectual and am grateful that is no longer a requirement at the same time.

[Nenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

#31 a book with bad reviews
2015 Reading Challenge

Just to clarify:
"Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his life, his reputation grew after his death, so that by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. Jorge Luis Borges stated that his first encounter with Keats was the most significant literary experience of his life." => John Keats Wikipedia Page.

[J.D. Estrada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lush and descriptive poetry that is definitely worth reading several times. For people into lighter reads, it might be better to go for something less dense because Keats expects you to know your mythology or read his poetry at a library to look up and understand references. That said, lovely collection that definitely inspires verses within. If you like long narratives in poetry, this is a sensational collection with some other shorter entries as a breather between hefty reads.

[Frank Stearns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keats is probably great - but I'm just not sophisticated enough to get it. I did manage to read this entire book though so at least I know for certain that I'm not a Keats fan. I'm now prepared if I'm ever in mixed company and the topic turns to Keats.... although not likely.

[Hannah Galloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Preferred some more than others, I'd say my favourite was probably Ode to Psyche.

Also, I bought my edition from a charity shop and the inside cover has the name "I.E Francis" dated from 1962 in my town, so thats pretty cool!

[Abrar Alnaseri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of keats i have read here
He was pretty much realistic in his fantasies when it comes to the other poems aside with lamia and Hyperion

[jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never read Keats' longer poems. Now I know, I prefer the shorter ones.

[Mariam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry of Keats' is so beautiful. They make the senses come alive. Loved the great odes.