Keats, John

The Complete Poems of John Keats (Modern Library)

Average customer rating:

Beauty with a Capital B
my fav. poem - ode on melancholy (analysis)
Read it, then see it!
One of Britain's Brightest Stars
Puzzled...

The Complete Poems of John Keats (Modern Library)
John Keats
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679601082
Release Date: 1994-04-26

Book Description

'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 dozen greatest English writers,' and T. S. Eliot has paid tribute to the Shakespearean quality of Keats's greatness. Indeed, his work has survived better than that of any of his contemporaries the devaluation of Romantic poetry that began early in this century. This Modern Library edition contains all of Keats's magnificent verse: 'Lamia,' 'Isabella,' and 'The Eve of St. Agnes'; his sonnets and odes; the allegorical romance Endymion; and the five-act poetic tragedy Otho the Great. Presented as well are the famous posthumous and fugitive poems, including the fragmentary 'The Eve of Saint Mark' and the great 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,' perhaps the most distinguished literary ballad in the language. 'No one else in English poetry, save Shakespeare, has in expression quite the fascinating felicity of Keats, his perception of loveliness,' said Matthew Arnold. 'In the faculty of naturalistic interpretation, in what we call natural magic, he ranks with Shakespeare.'

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"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 dozen greatest English writers," and T. S. Eliot has paid tribute to the Shakespearean quality of Keats's greatness. Indeed, his work has survived better than that of any of his contemporaries the devaluation of Romantic poetry that began early in this century.

This Modern Library edition contains all of Keats's magnificent verse: "Lamia," "Isabella," and "The Eve of St. Agnes"; his sonnets and odes; the allegorical romance Endymion; and the five-act poetic tragedy Otho the Great. Presented as well are the famous posthumous and fugitive poems, including the fragmentary "The Eve of Saint Mark" and the great "La Belle Dame sans Merci," perhaps the most distinguished literary ballad in the language.

<HR>"No one else in English poetry, save Shakespeare, has in expression quite the fascinating felicity of Keats, his perception of loveliness. In the faculty of naturalistic interpretation, in what we call natural magic, he ranks with Shakespeare."<BR>   MATTHEW ARNOLD

<HR>Jacket portrait by William Hilton, after Joseph Severn, courtesy ofThe Granger Collection, New York<HR>

Customer Reviews:

Beauty with a Capital B.......2004-07-02

Keats was the Romantic poet who cared most about art and beauty. He didn't allow himself to get mixed up in religion and politics like Shelley or Byron. But in quiet ways, he did comment on political, religious, aesthetic, and sexual beliefs, sometimes in ways that were less traditional than his poetic style. Above all, he was supremely conscious of beauty in the world, as well as the world's suffering.

David Rehak
author of "Poems From My Bleeding Heart"

my fav. poem - ode on melancholy (analysis).......2004-03-06

¡§She dwells with Beauty¡XBeauty that must die.¡¨

¡§His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might, and be among her cloudy trophies hung.¡¨

These beautiful lines are written by John Keats (1795-1821), one of the most talented Romantic poets on par with Shelley, Wordsworth, and Bryon. Why would a charismatic Romantic, who cherishes beauty and life, write such sad and crestfallen lines?

It all began in the summer of 1819 when Keats went on a tour of Scotland, where his first symptoms of tuberculosis emerged. However, at the same time, Keats became engaged to the love of his life, Fanny Brawne, a girl next door. Tragically, doctors diagnosed that the tuberculosis was eroding his health, and eventually would end the life of the brilliant poet. Due to this unfortunate calamity, his marriage with Fanny became an impracticality. Amidst his depression and misery, he wrote the poem ¡§Ode on Melancholy.¡¨

The theme of the ode is that Happiness is transient and when Joy passes, all that is left is the bitter core of Melancholy. The rendezvous with Melancholy is inevitable because it will always be there when delightful moments depart. Keats felt that one must embrace sorrow in order to fully experience pleasure. John Keats grasped this philosophy of life during his years of malady and encourages the reader to enjoy life when possible and be ready to come across Melancholy in certain stages of one¡¦s life.

Many people may have thought Keats as a successful and accomplished poet. However, Melancholy was his frequent visitor and deprived Keats of Happiness. Tuberculosis took the lives of his mother, his brother and eventually himself, but emotionally, Keats was marred by the criticism toward his works and the departure of his lover. It seemed that the author lost his faith to overcome Melancholy and decided to advise the readers to not fall victim but respectfully accept and not evade it. I believe that people who choose to end their lives become Melancholy¡¦s trophies because they help to spread the powers of sorrow and grief. By killing oneself, one will be leaving loved ones with burdens of Melancholy to bear, and therefore winning more ¡§cloudy trophies¡¨ for the Goddess. In conclusion, one should recognize that Melancholy will eventually appear and by being prepared to embrace the arrival of Melancholy one can truly taste the sweetness of Happiness.

Read it, then see it!.......2004-02-19

A wonderful companion book to "The Complete Poems of John Keats " is the photo-essay collection, "Walking North With Keats," which recreates a 44-day walking tour that the poet made with his writer-friend Charles Brown in 1818 through northern England, Ireland, and Scotland---which unfortunately was THE walk where he fell ill with the tuberculosis that would finally kill him at 25!

The author extensively, but joyfully, highlights Keats's early life, reviews the period's travel literature, photographs the locations & introduces Keats' odes & ballads as well as his letters written during the journey (which helps put into context the poems presented in this book)!

One of Britain's Brightest Stars.......2002-03-11

Next to Shakespeare I can not think of a Brittish poet who inspired me more than John Keats. His lyrical phrases, his sense of music and metaphor, and his visionary splendor dazzles one and leaves a reader in awe of his gift. My favorites are the Odes, especially the Ode To Psyche, and the Ode To A Nightingale. One can only wonder what great works might have come into existence from this great literary genius had he lived beyond the age of twenty six. Still, he did manage to distill from the heavens some of the finest poems of the English language.

Puzzled..........2001-02-27

Overall this book is a great value, as would any book be that contains so many of Keats poems and puts them in a durable binding at an attractive price. However, I'm puzzled by the first two lines in the poem, " La Belle Dame Sans Merci" that read, " Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,/ Alone and palely loitering; ". In every book I've ever seen this poem in, or these two lines quoted , including my college Literature Text book, they read, " O what can ail thee, knight at arms,/ Alone and palely loitering ? " There is no information to tell us what the text of the poems for this volume are based on. And, I seem unable to find an e-mail address from The Modern Library's Web Site so I can ask. I would accept a response from The Modern Library if they cared to comment( e-mail at: stephenmccoy@cbnnow.com )

Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats (Modern Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

Excellent For College Study or Independent Reading

Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats (Modern Library Classics)
John Keats
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake

ASIN: 0375756698
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Excellent For College Study or Independent Reading.......2002-03-18

In his short life John Keats created some of the finest poetry in the English language. I have read his shorter poems and odes many times, not for study, but simply for enjoyment. I am not a Keats expert, but I can now easily recognize quotations from Keat's odes, sonnets, and other poems. I especially like "The Eve of St. Agnes", a story of romance and danger in a medieval setting that illustrates Keats' remarkable command of language.

Keats is not difficult, but footnotes help with archaic words and references to more obscure Greek mythology. I prefer to read Keats unaided, then read the footnotes (best if tucked away in an appendix), and then return and read the poem again. For longer poems I jump to footnotes more quickly.

Initially, the inexpensive Dover edition "Lyric Poems", was exactly what I needed. Later, as I tackled longer poetry like "Endymion", I migrated to more complete collections with commentary and footnotes.

Keats" works are widely available in hardcover and paperback. Which collection is best for college study or independent reading? I have two favorites, one by Penguin Classics and the other by Modern Library. Both are available in softcovers.

The first is "The Complete Poems" by Penguin Classics, edited by John Bernard and a standard choice for college classes. I have the second edition, 1977. Barnard's extensive footnotes and commentary are quite good and offset his somewhat brief introduction. Additionally, the appendix discusses textual variations in Keats' manuscripts and has a useful guide to Greek mythology names. The third edition, 1988, adds 20 pages of selected letters, Keats' notes on Milton's Paradise Lost, and his notes on a Shakespearean actor.

The second choice (my favorite) is the newly published "Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats", Modern Library 2001 edition (not the earlier 1994 hardcover version). Apparently as a direct challenge to Penguin Classics, this edition offers a longer introduction (22 pages) by Edward Hirsch and excellent footnotes (not too many, nor too few) by John Pollock. Also, as the title implies, it has selected letters by Keats, some 25 pages in total. Somewhat hidden in the appendix is commentary by six well-known literary critics such as T. S. Eliot, Mathew Arnold, and Keats' biographer Walter Jackson Bate. Lastly, the font is larger and more crisp in the Modern Library version (but is still quite acceptable in the Penguin edition).

Book Description

These are the words John Keats chose to epitomize his short, frustrating, and tragic life. They appear as his epitaph in Rome's Protestant cemetery. Often called the greatest English poet after Shakespeare, Keats had a lifelong preoccupation with early death. This sense of mortality, along with the poet's famous, unrequited love for Fanny Brawne, sparked dozens of finely written sonnets and lyrics of love.This beautifully crafted collection contains some of the most heartfelt of Keats' personal poems. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci A Ballad" and "The Eve of St. Agnes" are paragons of the gothic lyric, wherein mysterious lovers, dream visions, and late-night fantasy come magically to life. Lighter verse, such as "Where be ye going, you Devon maid?" and such passionate, pensive poems as "When I have fears that I may cease to be" provide a personal glimpse of the young poet's dreams and dreads.This selection of twenty-six poems also presents an introduction to the life of John Keats, notes on the indivdual poems, and ten illustrations, half of which are of biographical interest and half underscore thematic elements contained in the poems.

Average customer rating:

A tribute to real heroes! October 4, 2005
Loving Uncle
One of the "Great Stories" to come out of WWII
The Bullet with Your Name on It.
Excellent book

They Fought Alone
John Keats
Manufacturer: J. B. Lippincott Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Behind the Lines: Corps 07 (Corps)

ASIN: B0006AYKWI

Customer Reviews:

A tribute to real heroes! October 4, 2005.......2005-10-05

My father was there and his name is in the list in the back of this book! On this first anniversary of his death I find myself remembering many of the stories he told and reflecting on how his experience in the Philippines shaped the rest of his life. Extremely fascinating and incredible! Every single man a hero! This book can only tell part of the story, as any book can but it is extremely well-written. I'm not a fan of war books but this book reads so easily. It is a well-deserved tribute to real heroes...

This book gave me a lot of insight into the man my father was. It's easy to see why part of his heart remained in the Philippines. This book is a Must Read!

Susan Harayda Wood

Loving Uncle.......2005-03-30

Having received "They Fought Alone" as a high school graduation present(class of'67) from Uncle Wendell, and having read it many times, I realize how much of a hero he was. I married a Filipino and the book gave me many insights into the culture. If anyone wants to know what it takes to make it through a tough situation, read "They Fought Alone" and realize what our soldiers live with every day! The one thing I learned and continue to put to use in my life, never ask anyone to do anything that I'm not willing to do myself!! Uncle Wendell was indeed an real-life unsung hero. He will always be one of my heros!

One of the "Great Stories" to come out of WWII.......2002-12-31

I recently reread "They Fought Alone" after finding that two of W.E.B. Griffin's best-selling WWII fiction books were about Colonel Wendell Fertig's guerrilla campaign in the Philippines. These two books--"The Fighting Agents" and "Behind the Lines"--mix a little fact with a lot of fiction, but include some material from the John Keats book. I reread Keats to separate the fact from the fiction. I also stumbled upon a fall 2002 article on the Special Forces in "American Heritage" magazine, which mentioned Fertig's follow-up role in helping to organize the Green Berets in the 1950s--a story I did not know until reading Griffin. What a small world!

Griffin knew Fertig at Fort Bragg, which is where Fertig helped found the Special Warfare School and, interestingly, where Fertig's great-grandson, Dave Hudson, wrote his review of the Keats book. Griffin stated that Fertig's lack of promotion to general-officer rank, after commanding 30,000 guerrillas--the equivalent of an Army Corps, was one of the great travesties of justice perpetrated by a jealous MacArthur staff after the war.

Having known a by-then grandfatherly Colonel Fertig in the early 1960s when he was at the Colorado School of Mines, I would agree with Griffin's assessment. Wendell Fertig was one of a very select group of real heroes, not the instant, media-manufactured, post-9/11 kind.

I hope Hollywood and Brad Pitt can bring Colonel Fertig some very belated, posthumous justice, although I am not optimistic based on Keats' and Griffin's lack of success. However, the two authors must be given considerable credit for keeping this remarkable story alive for 40 years from the publication of "They Fought Alone" and 60 years after the actual events so that Hollywood could finally "discover" it.

The Bullet with Your Name on It........2001-10-04

Two years ago (9/99), I took "They Fought Alone" with me to a very large but remote mining site in the Philippines. I had met Col. Fertig numerous times nearly 40 years ago, but I had never read his book. I thought that his book would give me insight to the Filippino people and it did not disappoint me. It quickly became the "best read book in camp". After the Western employees read the book, it made the rounds of the Filippinos. I donated "They Fought Alone" to the newly built camp library when I left the Philippines.

Col. Fertig said a number of times that you only need to fear the bullet with your name on it. We, Americans, need to take a page from his book and start filling airliners and go back to our normal lives after 9/11.

Excellent book.......2000-12-19

"They Fought Alone" is an excellent book. It tells the story of COL Wendell W. Fertig and the United States Forces in the Philippines during World War II. USFIP, as it was known, fought guerrilla warfare against the occupying Japanese forces from the surrender of American forces in the Philippines (i.e. the Bataan Death March) until GEN MacArthur's return. If you have any interest in military history and/or guerrilla warfare, this book would be of interest to you. There is presently a movie script based on this book and in talks for production for a big-screen adaptation. Incidentally, COL Wendell W. Fertig was my great-grandfather.

English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology (Dover Thrift Editions)

Average customer rating:

Good for the price
The poetry itself
A Great Poetry Collection for the Price
A pretty good anthology
GREAT

English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology (Dover Thrift Editions)
William Blake , William Wordsworth , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Lord Byron , Percy Bysshe Shelley , and John Keats
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Essay on Man and Other Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)
The Importance of Being Earnest (Dover Thrift Editions)

ASIN: 0486292827

Book Description

Rich selection of 123 poems by 6 great English Romantic poets: William Blake (24 poems), William Wordsworth (27 poems), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (10 poems), Lord Byron (16 poems), Percy Bysshe Shelley (24 poems) and John Keats (22 poems). Introduction and brief commentaries on the poets.

Customer Reviews:

Good for the price.......2007-01-04

I was teaching the "English Romantics" to a small class of students. I needed something cheap. This did the job although it has no footnotes or annotations to the text. Introduction to each poet is helpful but limited in scope.

Bill Kurry

The poetry itself .......2006-10-10

I think most readers know what they are going to get with a 'Dover edition or reprint'. An attractive, spartan looking volume( It has changed in recent years and their volumes are more colorful) without extensive commentary or note. The works themselves.
In this case it is a collection of the poetry of the great Romantics, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron.
There are of course many anthologies of this poet, most with more elaborate notes and explication.
But I love many of these poems so much that I am happy to see them again in any new edition.
The poetry of the English Romantic period is among the greatest Mankind has.
On that basis primarily I would recommend this volume.

A Great Poetry Collection for the Price.......2004-06-24

Dover Thrift Edition books are known for providing classical literature for a great price, without abridging the material (unless they say so of course). This anthology is no exception. The best poets of the English Romantic period are included, including two of my favorites, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Blake, Byron, Shelley, and Keats are also represented quite liberally.

Don't expect too much of this anthology outside of the actual poems themselves though. It is a Thrift Edition after all. The paper is strong, but not of the highest quality. There are brief introductions to each of the poets, but no real commentary or notes on the poems themselves. The editor does translate some of the ancient languages that the poets occasionally employ, like Latin and Greek. At the end there is an index of first-lines and titles. Also, I have to say, that these are not "romantic" as modern readers often use the term. "Romantic" refers to an era of art, music, philosophy, and literature where artists and writers allowed their emotions to overflow using a whole host of symbols, creating great works that owed more to the depths of the Imagination than the rational intellect. Coleridge was himself a theologian and philosopher and expressed many of his ideas of Imagination and eternal Symbol in his poems. Overall, this is a good sampling of some of the finest poetry available. Factoring in price and quantity, it is definitely 4 stars.

A pretty good anthology.......2002-08-01

The price is certainly right. I used this book to teach a high-school poetry class. The selection of Blake is the weakest part of it: the selections from Innocence and Experience aren't ample enough to give a real sense for the book, and exclude some lyrics that I just couldn't do without (e.g. the "Holy Thursday" of Experience). The complete lack of notes (which originally I thought of as a plus :->) led to some unnecessary pain for students -- I remember one attempted close-reading of "The Extinction of the Venetian Republic" which toiled slowly through the poem, dealing with mysteries that wouldn't have been mysterious at all if there had been even a brief note on the political context of the poem.

On the plus side, there is not a bad poem in the whole book: every rift is loaded with ore. And it's an attractive paperback, nicely typeset, comfortable in the hands: it doesn't feel like a cheapo-cheapo book, which you'd rather expect from the price.

GREAT.......2000-06-10

It has some of the best poems i have ever read in them! there is a need to buy this book if u are hopelessly devoted to love poems!

Keats: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)

Average customer rating:

All ye need to know on earth- For Keats Beauty is Truth
Better than I imagined.
Milky white cream or soap to the tongue?
Keats Poems

Keats: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
John Keats
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Byron: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
Shelley: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
Wordsworth: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
Tennyson: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets)
Coleridge: Poems (Pocket Poets Series)

ASIN: 0679433198
Release Date: 1994-04-12

Book Description

These Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover editions are popular for their compact size and reasonable price which do not compromise content. Poems: Keats contains a full selection of Keats's work, including his lyric poems, narrative poems, letters, and an index of first lines.

Customer Reviews:

All ye need to know on earth- For Keats Beauty is Truth .......2006-07-10

It is possible to argue that the greatest Keats is that of the annus mirabilis 1819 when he wrote the Odes. This work contains the great Keats' lyrics among the most musical , sensuous poetry in the English language. The sense that' beauty may not be truth' for everyone, but that for Keats it certainly is. This is of course one of many different editions which contain the great
lyrics of Keats. It is pleasant, light , compact a pleasure to hold and to read.

Better than I imagined........2006-03-14

The arrival of this book came sooner than expected, which was very welcome, and the shipping packaging was very strong and sturdy. The book was in perfect condition, and is a beautiful edition of Keat's poems. Thank you. I couldn't have asked for more.

Milky white cream or soap to the tongue?.......2004-07-05

Keats' message is abstruse. He points at the illusion of "I" as being an intertwining of "we". Opposites are illusions. The highest aspect of human existence is in love: the personal contact and the breaking of the illusion of "I" in connection, transcendence, created in union or fellowship with others. No other poet wrote so creamy white to the tongue, but was he cheating by not being as forward and clear, or substantive; over stepping the allowance given to poetry of form supporting meaning. Beauty is its own vindication is another message of Keats "truth is beauty, beauty is truth" and I think by his writing style he felt the slippery smooth qualities would override the illusive aspects, beauty would be its own vindication, if not add a mysterious spell-binding quality to his writing -- but is it just smoke and mirrors? Life is a dream within a dream, within a dream... (sounds like the mocked priest in "The Princess Bride" but this is Keats). This a general feeling for his longer poem, among his shorter poems he has gems like "autumn". Change is a constant, life is an enigma, so is Keats.

Oscar Wilde's openning treatis in the "Picture of Dorian Grey" seems to be in-line with Keats or is it an attack on Keats in the the end?

Keats was not on the mega superstar status as Byron, in his day. Keats is as much for our time as his own. He gained, apparently, the energy and will to take up poetry due to being youthfully influenced by Byron, wearing his shirt open and such, but any comparison stops there. Byron was a driving force for his time and could be argued to be the first modern super pop star of the young generational angst, outsider sort, as well as having a significant mark on thinking to come. He was not the athiest as Shelly but closer to the agnostic/Pagan sympathizer of Byron.

I have mixed feelings about Keats, mostly on the negative side. In the end I guess Keats was clear: beauty is its own reward, over substance, over philosophy, what are these things, to him, but illusions, all is illusion, the closest thing to truth, if there is such a thing, is beauty, and Keats did write beautiful words in beautiful ways. Maybe I will read him again someday.

Keats Poems.......2000-04-04

If you're a true Keats fan this is a must to add to your collection. Contains all of Keat's best work. Or enrich somone's life who is not familiar with Keats. A great gift idea.

The Major Works: Including Endymion, the Odes and Selected Letters (Oxford World's Classics)

Average customer rating:

"Arise, good youth, for sacred Phoebus' sake..."

The Major Works: Including Endymion, the Odes and Selected Letters (Oxford World's Classics)
John Keats
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)
The Major Works: Including The Prelude (Oxford World's Classics)
The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)
The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)
Shelley's Poetry and Prose (Norton Critical Edition)

ASIN: 0192840630

Book Description

This authoritative edition was originally published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Keats's poetry and prose - all the major poems, complemented by a generous selection of Keats's letters - to give the essence of his work and thinking. In his tragically short life Keats wrote an astonishing number of superb poems; his stature as one of the foremost poets of the Romantic movement remains unassailable. This volume contains all the poetry published during his lifetime, including Endymion in its entirety, the Odes, 'Lamia', and both versions of 'Hyperion'. The poetry is presented in chronological sequence, illustrating the staggering speed with which Keats's work matured. Further insight into his creative process is given by reproducing, in their original form, a number of poems that were published posthumously. Keats's letters are admired almost as much as his poetry and were described by T. S. Eliot as 'certainly the most notable and most important ever written by any English poet'. They provide the best biographical detail available and shed invaluable light on Keats's poems.

Customer Reviews:

"Arise, good youth, for sacred Phoebus' sake...".......2004-02-10

This review is of -John Keats: The Major Works-,
edited by Elizabeth Cook (Oxford World's Classics)
ISBN: 0192840630, 2001, 667 pp.
There are now 3 major editions of the complete poems
of John Keats. Each of them has its own excellencies.
There is the -John Keats: Complete Poems-, edited by
Jack Stillinger (Belknap Press, Harvard) ISBN: 0674154312,
-John Keats: The Complete Poems-, edited by John Barnard
(Penguin Classics) ISBN: 0140422102, and also this
present volume, edited by Elizabeth Cook, ISBN: 0192840630.
A fact which both John Barnard and Elizabeth Cook point out
as editors is their debt, as well as the debt of all Keats
scholars, to Jack Stillinger. As she says in her "Note on
the Text": "In deciding which source text to use I am deeply
indebted to Jack Stillinger who in -The Text of Keats's
Poems- (1974) and in his subsequent edition of Keats's
-Poems- (1978) presents his informed and considered arguments
for and against each transcript and state of text. Prior
to his work editors had frequently created Keats's poems
from a patchwork of different source texts."
The glories of this Oxford Classics edition are the
same as with many of their editions, the fine "Introduction",
the wondrous notes to the poems (pp. 557 - 641), an excellent
selection of "Further Readings", Glossary of Classical
Names, Index of Keats's Correspondents (with much helpful
background information about them), and an Index of Poem
Titles and First Lines. In this volume, there are also
Appendix I, "St. Agnes' Eve" as found in George Keats's
manuscript, and Appendix II, "La Belle Dame sans Mercy",
as printed in the -Indicator-, 10 May 1820. Some editors
and Keats lovers feel the changes that Keats made to
the latter poem to publish in the -Indicator- mar the
wondrous tone and atmosphere, so they print the first
version.
In her "Introduction," Elizabeth Cook stresses several
important aspects of Keats's psyche and his reverences
toward other authors (Spenser and Milton, in particular).
From the side of the aspect of his psyche, she states:
"Keats conceived of history as a process of *actualizing*
the world's sum total of what is knowable and thinkable.
In Stoic fashion he postulates a finite quantity of
world-stuff of which Milton has used up an unfairly
large portion, therby depleting not only his contemporaries,
but posterity [later writers] as well.
* * * He writes with the assumption that a certain quota
of qualities, capacities, and experiences is allotted to
each individual." In relating of Keats's sensitivity,
sense of dedication, and love, she says: "In June 1818,
when one brother, Tom, was dying of tuberculosis and
the other, George, planning to sail with his new bride
for America, Keats wrote to his friend Bailey, 'My Love
for my Brothers from the early loss of our parents and
even for earlier Misfortunes has grown into a affection
"passing the Love of Women"." This was a section of
verse from the Old Testament regarding the love of
Jonathan, King Saul's son, and David, the exiled,
hunted song singer, which Herman Melville was also
attracted to.
The formatting in this edition is very readable,
the font is medium, not small, the layout of the
pages is uncrowded and accessible, so that even with
the longer poems one is not presented with a complicated
task by smaller type.
The excellence of this Oxford edition is the inclusion
of 87 (!) of Keats's letters to various correspondents
(pp. 348 - 543), as well as the prose pieces, "When
Alexandre the Conquerore was wayfayring" (which according
to the Notes was "Composed probably late 1815 while Keats
was a student at Guy's [Hospital]. The only source for
this fragment is Walter Cooper Dendy, -The Philosophy of
Mystery- (London, 1841), pp. 99-100 where it is quoted at
the end of a chapter on the pathology of 'Poetic Phantasy
or Frenzy." The other prose pieces are "Keat's Marginalia
to the Shakespeare Folio", "Keats's Marginalia to Milton's
-Paradise Lost-", a piece on "Mr. Kean" [the actor], and
the "Rejected Preface to -Endymion-." Keats's letters are
a very valuable source of information of his views on
poetry as a craft and an avocation, as well as providing
commentary on his times.
The only caution with these large-size Oxford Major
Works is that one should be very careful not to crease
the outside binding, as the pages if not sufficiently
glued, might tend to come apart. Otherwise the Oxford
Classics editons, and this one in particular, are
treasured resources of fine works as well as extremely
helpful scholarship.
-- Robert Kilgore.

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greatest poet in English
The greatness of Keats
"...exceptionally keen sensitivity... "
Essential
The definitive edition of the poetry of Keats.

Complete Poems
John Keats , and Jack Stillinger
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Shelley's Poetry and Prose (Norton Critical Edition)
Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)
The Major Works: Including The Prelude (Oxford World's Classics)
Selected Letters (Oxford World's Classics)
The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

ASIN: 0674154312

Book Description

Here is the first reliable edition of Keats's complete poems designed expressly for general readers and students. </p>

Upon its publication in 1978, Stillinger's The Poems of John Keats won exceptionally high praise: "The definitive Keats," proclaimed The New Republic--"An authoritative edition embodying the readings the poet himself most probably intended, prepared by the leading scholar in Keats textual studies."</p>

Now this scholarship is at last available in a graceful, clear format designed to introduce students and general readers to the "real" Keats. In place of the textual apparatus that was essential to scholars, Stillinger here provides helpful explanatory notes. These notes give dates of composition, identify quotations and allusions, gloss names and words not included in the ordinary desk dictionary, and refer the reader to the best critical interpretations of the poems. The new introduction provides central facts about Keats's life and career, describes the themes of his best work, and speculates on the causes of his greatness.</p>

Customer Reviews:

greatest poet in English.......2005-04-16

Keats not only rivals Shakespeare in the beauty of his verse and the enchanting pictures he conjures but he is a cut above Shakespeare in the value of his art. The two odes 'on a nightingale' and 'on a Grecian urn' surpasses any piece of English literature I have come across so far. In its conception and philosophy ,in its expression of the ephemeral and impermanent nature of human life,its exposition of the permanance of ideal art and in its realization of the principle of the identity of truth and beauty it takes poetic thought to a plane that has never been approached, before or hence in English literature.

The greatness of Keats .......2004-11-04

One of the most musical of the great poets, whose language has a richness next to Shakespeare's, a most romantic soul whose annus mirabilis 1819 brought forth the five great odes, the tremendous long lines still memorable, Beauty is truth/Truth is Beauty' That is all ye know on earth And all ye need to know/ the pain of beauty or the beauty in pain in the nightingale's song, the lyric of the Grecian urn, the dying at twenty-six ' his name writ in water', much had he travelled in realms of gold, the great letters of negative capability, the ostler's son in a surgeon's hospital , Fanny Brawne, the alien corn of Ruth, all the music which would one day be heard again in the lines of Wallace Stevens, the complexity of beauty dying , hearing more than one voice as the page echoes on, one of the poets' poets surely , upon a peak in Darien, like all the great masters he only gains in rereading.

"...exceptionally keen sensitivity... ".......2004-02-02

There are two editions of Keats's Complete Poems which I
admire very much. This one edited by Jack Stillinger
and published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University
(ISBN: 0674154312) and the Penguin Classics, 3rd
edition, edited by John Barnard (ISBN: 0140422102).
I very much like the fuller notes and 6 Appendices
and the blunt, full, but suggestive chronology in
the Penguin, along with the complete writing and
publishing information fully written out rather
than abbreviated into initials one might have to
look up.

The importance of Jack Stillinger to Keats studies is cited
by both John Barnard (Penguin classics edition of -The
Complete Poems-) and Elizabeth Cook (Oxford World's
Classics edition of -The Major Poems-, ISBN:
0192840630). John Barnard says in his "Introduction":
"Jack Stillinger's -The Poems of John Keats- (Cambridge,
Mass., 1978) and his -The Text of John Keats- (Cambridge,
Mass., 1974) now give the fullest available account of
Keats's text, and are based on a comparision of the
printed texts with the wealth of manuscript material,
now mainly in American libraries."
And this edition compiled and edited by Jack
Stillinger has it glories, too. The first of these
is the excellent "Introduction," which has meaningful
insights in it concerning Keats, but which can also
be related to one's own experiences in life, though
Stillinger does not himself so relate them. A few
of these I like very much are: "Obviously Keats had
an exceptionally keen sensitivity to the minute
particulars of objects, sounds (as well as various
shades of silence), and motions in the world around
him." *** "He nursed his brother Tom in a lengthy
illness that ended in death on December 1st of this
year [1818], and as an added complication he met and
fell in love with Fanny Brawne. More than anything
else, I think, it is this combined experience of
suffering, death, and love all at once, against a
background of serious conversation, reading, and
thinking, that accounts for Keats's sudden rise to
excellence in his poetry."
There is no way, of course, to share Keats's
poetry in a review of this sort. To read it,
experience it, think about it, and realize
the Beauty -- and also the Truth -- in it
is the reward.
-- Robert Kilgore.

Essential.......2002-07-24

No personal library can be complete without at least a sampling of Keats, and this is the book that everyone should get. All the poems -- even the fragments -- are here, with line numbers included. The several appendices and letter excerpts make the collection even more valuable. If you are trying to decide which Keats collection to get, you have found the best.

The definitive edition of the poetry of Keats........2001-10-17

Jack Stillinger devoted much of his professional life to establishing the definitive texts of Keats's poems. This painstaking work has resulted in a number of changes to the poems. As to the quality of the poetry itself, at his best Keats approaches Shakespeare, as in the Odes. Stillinger is also an excellent teacher; I had his course on Keats 26 years ago, and it was fascinating. While the other reviewers have done a very good job of describing the beauty of Keats's poetry, one point Stillinger made about Keats as a person is worth repeating: Keats was the one English romantic poet that you would want to ask for advice about a personal problem you had. All the rest, Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley (especially!), and Byron would have given you advice that, if followed, would have been wildly impractical. Keats, as shown by his letters, was not pretentious and had a large degree of human decency and common sense. While these characteristics are not one usually associated with romantic poets, I think that they contribute to the strength of his poetry.

John Keats, A Longman Cultural Edition (Longman Cultural Editions)

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The best Keats anthology going

John Keats, A Longman Cultural Edition (Longman Cultural Editions)
John Keats , and Susan J. Wolfson
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0321236165

Customer Reviews:

The best Keats anthology going.......2006-12-12

Susan Wolfson's new Longman Cultural Edition of Keats is nonpareil. By interspersing the letters and the poems -- all arranged
chronologically--Wolfson brilliantly guides us through the poet's development. Alone among easily accessible editions, this one allows us to follow the poet and theorist in action, experimenting, elaborating, going out on limb after limb. Ideal for classroom use, ideal for simply reacquainting oneself with Keats's lyrics, narrative poems, epics, letters, etc. A must-read; a must-have.

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Complete Poems of Keats and Shelley
John Keats
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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