Keats: Selected Poetry

Keats is one of the great poets of the English language. There are of course many collections of his work, and I see no special reason to choose this one before all others. Most readers in any case will concentrate on the very great poems, the Odes above all. To know Keats fully it is also necessary to know the Letters as he was one of the great letter writers the English language has known. Keats is one of the richest and most linguistically brilliant of all the great poets. The Truth of his life is the incredible Beauty of his Poetry.

There are many collections of Keats' poetry, of course, but this is the one that introduced me to his radiant work. From early poems such as the naive but sustained dream of "Endymion," to the luxuriant & sensual "Eve of Saint Agnes," to the great odes & his unfinished "Hyperion," the astonishing range of this tragically short-lived poet is presented with short but useful annotations. It's still difficult to believe that such a young man could create so much lapidary beauty in such a short time! In addition to all the major poems, there's a small selection of his letters, which are even more emotionally intense & raw than his poems. The introduction by editor Paul de Man gives an astute & perceptive overview of Keat's work. Of all the Romantic poets, Keats seems to exemplify their aspirations & vision most beautifully. Even his apprentice work is already rich, detailed, melodic & flowing -- so much so that it's easy to overlook its very real philosophical underpinnings. But there's substance beneath the visually stunning style, a sense of the tragic dimension of life, and a constant grappling with transcendental questions. In a contemporary world that celebrates the crass & the lowest common denominator, we realize that beauty is revolutionary, never more needed than now. And there is no better place to find it than in the poetry of John Keats. If you have any sensitivity & longing for life-transforming art, his work is indispensible!

A classic collection of John Keates' poetry. Contains all of his best poems and many more. A wonderful reading experience.

There are many good collections of the poetry of John Keats. This selection by John Barnard is quite good and has long served as a text for college classes.Barnard writes that the poetry of John Keats is uniformly serious and always poetic. Keats' prime concern was art and beauty. The casual reader may not even notice certain passages that resulted in severe political criticism by the Tory press and other supporters of Charles II.The real popularity of this particular collection is the poetry of Keats himself. Barnard has assembled an excellent collection, one that is fully representative of Keats' remarkable genius. He largely avoided the longer poems of John Keats with the exception of Endymion in which he offers Book 1 in its entirety, but only extracts from Books 2, 3, and 4. Nonetheless, this abridged version of Endymion still exceeds 2000 lines.Looking for alternative collections? John Barnard has also compiled John Keats, The Complete Poems. It was also published by Penguin Classics. It is about 750 pages, more than three times as long as Selected Poems. For example, the full Endymion is some 50 pages longer than the abridged version in Selected Poems. Barnard's explanatory notes in this collection are quite extensive, totaling nearly 200 pages in reduced print size. There is also a wide ranging appendix exceeding 50 pages, including selected letters of John Keats.Another good choice is published by Modern Library. Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats is actually a very good choice and is indeed my favorite. The introduction by John Hirsch is more than 25 pages and is quite helpful. I particularly like the explanatory notes by Jim Pollock. They are less extensive than those in Barnard's The Complete Poems, but I found them most useful.

I loved this book. It is truly a classic. Keats is long before my time, however his work that he left behind is still here and leaves a big mark on the world of poets. Wanting to be a journalist myself, and having a hunger for literature, Keats' book was quite inspiring. I recommend it for any poet. One of my favorites is, of course, "When I have fears that I may Cease To Be."