John KeatsThe life of Keats provides a unique opportunity for the study of literary greatness and of what permits or encourages its development. Its interest is deeply human and moral, in the most capacious sense of the words. In this authoritative biography--the first full-length life of Keats in almost forty years--the man and the poet are portrayed with rare insight and sympathy. In spite of a scarcity of factual data for his early years, the materials for Keats's life are nevertheless unusually full. Since most of his early poetry has survived, his artistic development can be observed more closely than is possible with most writers; and there are times during the period of his greatest creativity when his personal as well as his artistic life can be followed week by week. The development of Keats's poetic craftsmanship proceeds simultaneously with the steady growth of qualities of mind and character. Mr. Bate has been concerned to show the organic relationship between the poet's art and his larger, more broadly humane development. Keats's great personal appeal--his spontaneity, vigor, playfulness, and affection--are movingly recreated; at the same time, his valiant attempt to solve the problem faced by all modern poets when they attempt to achieve originality and amplitude in the presence of their great artistic heritage is perceptively presented. In discussing this matter, Mr. Bate says, The pressure of this anxiety and the variety of reactions to it constitute one of the great unexplored factors in the history of the arts since 1750. And in no major poet, near the beginning of the modern era, is this problem met more directly than it is in Keats. The way in which Keats was somehow able, after the age of twenty-two, to confront this dilemma, and to transcend it, has fascinated every major poet who has used the English language since Keats's death and also every major critic since the Victorian era. Mr. Bate has availed himself of all new biographical materials, published and unpublished, and has used them selectively and without ostentation, concentrating on the things that were meaningful to Keats. Similarly, his discussions of the poetry are not buried beneath the controversies of previous critics. He approaches the poems freshly and directly, showing their relation to Keats's experience and emotions, to premises and values already explored in the biographical narrative. The result is a book of many dimensions, not a restricted critical or biographical study but a fully integrated whole. |
From inside the book
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Page 9
... Dilke's annotation to the 1848 Milnes biography : Tom " was very like Mrs. Llanos [ Fanny Keats ] -so like that John spoke of it as most painful to him . " While articled to a lawyer in Northampton , Clarke had been forced to run the ...
... Dilke's annotation to the 1848 Milnes biography : Tom " was very like Mrs. Llanos [ Fanny Keats ] -so like that John spoke of it as most painful to him . " While articled to a lawyer in Northampton , Clarke had been forced to run the ...
Page 18
... Dilke : John was open , prodigal , and had no power of calculation whatever . John's eyes moistened , and his lip quivered at the relation of any tale of generosity of benevolence or noble daring , or at sights of loveliness or distress ...
... Dilke : John was open , prodigal , and had no power of calculation whatever . John's eyes moistened , and his lip quivered at the relation of any tale of generosity of benevolence or noble daring , or at sights of loveliness or distress ...
Page 30
... Dilke ( see below , p . 709 , n . 6 ) , stated that Hammond was paid a premium of " two hundred Guineas and expenses . " In the first printing of the present book ( 1963 ) , I wrongly described this as an exaggeration . Mr. Gittings has ...
... Dilke ( see below , p . 709 , n . 6 ) , stated that Hammond was paid a premium of " two hundred Guineas and expenses . " In the first printing of the present book ( 1963 ) , I wrongly described this as an exaggeration . Mr. Gittings has ...
Page 52
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Page 192
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Contents
1 | |
23 | |
43 | |
An Adventure in Hope Summer 1816 | 67 |
The Commitment to Poetry Chapmans Homer Hunt and Haydon Autumn 1816 | 84 |
Completing the First Volume November and December 1816 | 107 |
The Laurel Crown and the Vision of Greatness December 1816 to March 1817 | 131 |
A Trial of Invention Endymion | 149 |
Hyperion and a New Level of Writing | 388 |
Fanny Brawne The Eve of St Agnes Winter 181819 | 418 |
A Period of Uncertainty February to April 1819 | 452 |
The Odes of April and May 1819 | 486 |
The Final Beginning Lamia May to July 1819 | 525 |
The Close of the Fertile Year To Autumn and The Fall of Hyperion July to September 1819 | 562 |
Illness Autumn and Winter | 606 |
Adrift January to August 1820 | 628 |
An Act of Will June to December 1817 | 193 |
Negative Capability | 233 |
Another Beginning December and January 1817i8 | 264 |
Devonshire and Isabella February to April 1818 | 294 |
The Burden of the Mystery The Emergence of a Modern Poet Spring 1818 | 316 |
The Departure of George Keats and the Scottish Tour Summer 1818 | 339 |
Reviews the Writing of Hyperion the Death of Tom Keats Autumn 1818 | 363 |
The Voyage to Italy August to November 1820 | 654 |
November 1820 to February 1821 | 671 |
I Family Origins | 701 |
II The Length of Keatss Apprenticeship | 703 |
The Keats Childrens Inheritance | 705 |
Inde2 | 713 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbey Abbey's Agnes autumn Bailey beautiful become began begin brothers Charles Brown Clarke completely copy countinghouse course death December Dilke dream early Elgin Marbles Endymion Enfield Eve of St eyes Fall of Hyperion Fanny Brawne feel felt friends George Keats Grecian Urn Guy's Hospital half Hampstead Haydon Hazlitt heart hope human Hunt Hunt's ideal imagination interest Jennings John Keats Keats wrote Keats's Lamia later least Leigh Hunt letter lines live London look Lycius Margate Mathew Milton mind months nature never Nightingale Ode to Psyche once phrase poem poet poetic poetry probably Psyche remark Reynolds seemed sense Severn Shakespeare sister sonnet sort speak spirit stanza suggested talk tells thing Thomas Keats thou thought tion told took tried trying turn verse walk weeks Woodhouse word Wordsworth writing written
Popular passages
Page 524 - She dwells with Beauty— Beauty that must die; And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips Bidding adieu...
Page 121 - THE poetry of earth is never dead : When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead ; That is the Grasshopper's...
Page 88 - Homer ruled as his demesne ; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold : Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken...
Page 64 - To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven, — to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
Page 260 - Sublime ; which is a thing per se, and stands alone,) it is not itself — it has no self — It is everything and nothing — It has no character — it enjoys light and shade ; it lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevated — It has as much delight in conceiving an lago as an Imogen.