The 64 Sonnets

With an informative introduction by Edward Hirsh, this edition of John Keats' The 64 Sonnets will well serve to introduce a new generation of readers to the poetic genius of John Keats. It would also be an excellent replacement for shelf worn copies in personal, academic, and public library collections. Each poem is accompanied by a commentary providing context and background information on the sonnet. Nature withheld Cassandra in the Skies: Nature withheld Cassandra in the skies/For meet adornment a full thousand years;/She took their cream of beauty, fairest dyes,/And shaped and tinted her above all peers./Love meanwhile held her dearly with his wings,/And underneath their shadow charm'd her eyes/To such a richness, that the cloudy kings/Of high Olympus utter'd slavish sighs./When I beheld her on the earth descend,/My heart began to burn--and only pains,/They were my pleasures,/ they my sad life's end;/Love pour'd her beauty into my warm veins.