'Keats never was, and never would be, a popular poet' asserted his contemporary, Shelley, but the next century proved him wrong. No poet apart from Shakespeare is so often quoted in ordinary conversation, and his influence on later poets has been immense.
J. H. Walsh's edition of Keats's letters and poems is intended as an introduction for the new reader, and a re-introduction for those to whom Keats is already familiar. The Introduction helps us to scrutinize the poetry more closely for ourselves, without recourse to the opinions of Keats's many commentators. Then, by means of the letters, the story of Keats's life is unfolded and reveals him both as a man, affectionate, lively and finally anguished, and as a writer.
The selection of poems represents Keats at each stage of his development. There are a few sonnets from his first, badly-received slim volume, and extracts from his ambitious long poem Endymion. Then follow all the poems from the 1820 volume, which included the narrative poems Lamia, Isabella and The Eve of St Agnes, and the Odes. Lastly there are some fragments not often published, and the remarkable dream sequence The Fall of Hyperion which can be compared with the earlier Hyperion. Brief Notes are provided, where necessary, to help the reader to an understanding of the poetry.
The painting of Keats on the cover is by Joseph Severn
