The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats

by John Keats

Excerpt from The Complete Poetical Works and Letters of John Keats

In undertaking to assemble Keats's Complete Poetical Works, I have been aware that I was including some things which neither Keats nor any one else would call poetical. Yet besides the contribution which verse makes to beauty, there is also the light which it throws on the poetical mind and character. And since the volume of Keats's production is not large, and much of his posthumous poetry is rightly classed with his own acknowledged work, it seemed best to give everything, but to make the natural discrimination between the poetry in the body of the volume and that which follows in the division, Supplementary Verse. The personality of Keats is so vivid, that just as his friends in his lifetime and after his death carefully garnered every scrap which he wrote, so the friends created by his life and his poetry may be trusted to know what his imperishable verse is, and yet will handle affectionately even the toys he played with. Although I have endeavored to draw from Keats's letters such passages as throw direct light on his poetry, there yet remains an undefined scholia in the whole body of his familiar correspondence. No attentive reader of Keats's letters will fail to find in these unstudied, spontaneous expressions of the poet's mind a lambent light playing all over the surface of his poetry, and therefore it is not a wide departure from the scheme of this series of poets to include, in the same volume with Keats's poems, a collection also of his letters. This collection is complete, though one or two brief notes will not be found here, because already printed in the headings to poems. I have been dependent for the text mainly upon Mr. Colvin, supplemented by the minute garnering of Mr. Forman. I have to thank Mr. John Gilmer Speed for his courtesy in permitting the use of letters which be derived from the papers of his grandfather, George Keats.

Genres: Poetry

508 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

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

[B. P. Rinehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romantic Era literature. I have a hard time with it. Honestly, I have very mixed feelings towards the 1800s in general but I have very mixed feelings towards the Romantic era (and its transcendentalist American cousins). Now I have reviewed Romantic era figures before (most noticeably my four reviews of Edgar Allan Poe), but how do I feel about English Romanticism? Well I talked already about Wordsworth(punny name) and Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, so in my next few reviews I will talk about a (maybe "THE") "Romantic era" poet who I am most fond of. I will discuss my impression of him here and then I will try to give short reviews of his celebrated "Odes" individually.

I don't exactly remember where or what book I first discovered him at but I must say that one makes him stand a part for me is that he comes off so alive and colorful (in a serious way) and I find myself actually believing him compared to his peers (sorry P.B. Shelley).

Another thing that really impresses me about Keats is how well he composes his verse. Calling it a line doesn't sound right because it is more like a lyric. His poems often sound like they should be sung.And I always have an urge to put music to them in my head. I sometimes wish I had a gift for putting the sort of King James Bible sounding words to print like he does (provided I didn't die of freak illness early on I would be rich!).

Now his "Odes" aren't my favorite poems (that honor probably goes to The Waste Land, and he is not my favorite poet (that is a toss-up between T.S. Eliot and Langston Hughes. But I do say that for me he stands miles above his contemporaries in the field of poetics.

[ninachtigall · Rating 4 out of 5]

too dumb for most, smart enough to enjoy some

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love him.