Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats'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.' |
Contents
3 | |
Specimen of an Induction to a Poem | 10 |
To Some Ladies | 17 |
Imitation of Spenser | 24 |
The Eve of St Agnes | 183 |
Ode to a Nightingale | 236 |
Fancy | 242 |
To Autumn | 249 |
Wheres the Poet? | 334 |
Extracts from an Opera | 339 |
To Sleep | 346 |
La belle dame sans merci | 353 |
A Party of Lovers | 360 |
Two or three Posies | 366 |
a Vision | 373 |
The Cap and Bells or The Jealousies | 388 |
On Peace | 279 |
Ode to Apollo | 280 |
Written in Digust of Vulgar Superstition | 286 |
On The Story of Rimini | 292 |
Hence Burgundy Claret and Port | 298 |
Answer to a Sonnet by J H Reynolds ending | 303 |
To J H Reynolds from Teignmouth 25 March 1818 | 309 |
On visiting the Tomb of Burns | 315 |
All gentle folks who owe a grudge | 322 |
Read me a lesson Muse and speak it loud | 328 |
Otho the Great | 413 |
King Stephen | 479 |
Notes | 515 |
565 | |
568 | |
571 | |
Commentary | 577 |
Study Guide | 597 |
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Albert Apollo Apollo god Auranthe beauty bliss breath bright Charles Cowden Clarke clouds cold Conrad dark dead dear death divine doth dream earth Emperor Endymion Erminia Ethelbert eyes faery fair Fanny Brawne fear feel flowers gentle Gersa goddess gods golden green hair hand happy hast hath hear heart heaven hour Hyperion John Keats Jupiter Keats Keats's kiss lady Lamia leaves light line 14 line 30 lips live look Ludolph Lycius lyre melody moon morning mortal Muses Naiad Neptune god never night note for Endymion nymph o'er Otho pain pale poem poet poetry poor Saturn seem'd shade sigh Sigifred silent silver sleep smile soft song sorrow soul spirit stars sweet tears tell thee thine thing thou art thought Titans trees twas voice warm weep whisper wild wind wine wings wonder young