Synopses & Reviews
In his brief lifetime, John Keats (1795and#8211;1821) published just three volumes of poetry: a collection of early verse in 1817; Endymion, a long and fairly unsuccessful poem in 1819; and a final collection in 1820, which included most of the poems for which he is now famous. For many years these anthologies contained all that the public knew of Keats, but over time it has become readily apparent that an extraordinary wealth of manuscripts lay behind these few volumes.
John Keats: A Poet and His Manuscripts presents, in chronological order, the surviving manuscripts of his finest poems and lettersand#8212;often illustrated at actual size and in their entiretyand#8212;providing a record of the poetand#8217;s visual processes of composition and offering a vivid portrait of his rich imagination and swift progress as a writer and thinker. Stephen Hebron, in his masterly introduction, offers the intriguing story of how Keatsand#8217;s manuscripts were jealously guarded after his death, before they were finally bequeathed to public and private collections, revealing as much about the fame of the poet as the social and literary fashions of the past two-hundred years.
Review
"The book, John Keats: A Poet and His Manuscripts, edited by Stephen Hebron, reproduces Keatsand#8217;s manuscripts in large, yellowed facsimiles, accompanied by Hebronand#8217;s elucidation of their contents and portraits of the poet and his friends and family. A letter or manuscript receives its own section, and the result is Keatsand#8217;s brief timeline mapped by the many occasions of his genius."--New Yorker Book Bench Blog
Synopsis
John Keats is one of the best-loved, admired, and most frequently studied Romantic poets, though he wrote only three volumes of poetry in his short life. This extraordinary biography looks at how Keats developed as a poet against the backdrop of the major events of his life. John Keats follows the poet through intense family ties and friendships, a medical apprenticeship and subsequent decision to pursue poetry, participation in the literary circles of London, travels within Britain, illness, and finally, death from tuberculosis at age 25. A vivid and authoritative introduction to Keats's remarkable life, John Keats is filled with photographs of landscapes and cityscapes from his life, portraits of the poet and his family, evocative paintings, and manuscripts of his works and letters.
About the Author
Stephen Hebron worked for many years at the Wordsworth Trust in Cumbria, England. He is the author of Wordsworth, Keats, and Romantics and the British Landscape, among other volumes.
Table of Contents
Introductionand#160;Collecting John Keatsand#160;Twenty-One Keats Manuscriptsand#160;and#160; 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer'and#160;and#160; Letter to Benjamin Robert Haydon, 20 November 1816and#160;and#160; 'This pleasant tale is like a little copse'and#160;and#160; 'I stood tip-toe upon a little hill'and#160;and#160; Letter to Leigh Hunt, 10 May 1817and#160;and#160; Letter to Fanny Keats, 10 September 1817and#160;and#160; Letter to Benjamin Bailey, 22 November 1817and#160;and#160; Letter to John Hamilton Reynolds, 19 February 1818and#160;and#160; Letter to John Taylor, 27 February 1818and#160;and#160;
Endymionand#160;and#160; 'Hyperion'and#160;and#160; Letter to Richard Woodhouse, 27 October 1818and#160;and#160; 'The Eve of St. Agnes'and#160;and#160; 'The Eve of St. Mark'and#160;and#160; Letter to George and Georgiana Keats, February-May 1819and#160;and#160; 'Ode to Psyche'and#160;and#160; 'Ode on Melancholy'and#160;and#160; 'Ode to a Nightingale'and#160;and#160; 'To Autumn'and#160;and#160; Letter to Richard Woodhouse, 21, 22 September 1819and#160;and#160; Letter to Percy Bysshe Shelley, 16 August 1820and#160;Further ReadingList of ManuscriptsIndex