With a poet as established as Keats, and a reputation that has endured as his has, it is usually more informative to talk of the merits to this particular editions of his works rather than the, perhaps, futile act of recommending him in general.
However, for those that have never read any of his works, it must be done. Although his life was a short one - his writing career spanned just five years - and he received a lesser education of many of the other leading Romantics (with the notable exception of John Clare), he produced a body of work that does more than just rival his contemporaries. He is the most sensual and beautiful of poets with a touch of perfection in his expression that is seen only in Shakespeare. His philosophy is so subtly woven into his works that it never clouds an appreciation for the atmosphere of the piece. What is most extraordinary about Keats is his ability to infect such deep and sensuous emotion within the reader. As is a stipulation for all great writers, Keats is able to control the emotions of the reader: he evokes love, despair, melancholy all through his use of language. Works such as ‘To Autumn’, ‘Ode to a Nightingale, ‘Ode on Melancholy’ are considered amongst the supreme masterpieces of English literature, but Keats was also a skilled narrative poet - ‘Eve of St. Agnes - and writer of epics - ‘Hyperion’ and ‘Endymion’. Pretensions aside, it is fair to say of Keats that he wrote from the soul, one of the reasons that his ‘Odes’ have a superior reputation to his longer works. When Keats was forced to consider a poem for too long it lost the much of what made him great, but his genius ensures that, whether the poem is considered a failure or not, it will contain lines and passages of sublimity, for example, ‘Endymion’ is regarded by many as a failed epic, but it opens with one of the most famous and profound lines in literary history: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”.
This edition has an introduction by Nicholas Roe but like the rest of the of the book, it is concise and void of too much depth. However, far from being a criticism, it lends itself to the tone of the anthology. This book is for those who are either unfamiliar with Keats or only concerned with his major works. However, where the editor has had to work, he has done it superbly. The fragments of ‘Endymion’ and ‘Sleep and Poetry’ that he chooses are ideal in that they convey much of each work’s tone and thrust without reading it in its entirety.
An anthology designed to be concise and initiate the reader with the basics of Keats’ considerable genius. However, if one is looking to experience him a little deeper, they should but his ‘Complete Works’.
