‘I think I shall be among the English Poets after my death, ‘ John Keats soberly prophesied in 1818 as he started writing the blankverse epic “Hyperion.” Today he endures as the archetypalRomantic genius who explored the limits of the imagination and celebrated the pleasures of the senses but suffered a tragic early death. Edmund Wilson counted him as ‘one of the half dozen greatest English writers, ‘ andT. S. Eliot has paid tribute to the Shakespearean quality of Keats’s greatness. Indeed, his work has survived better than that of any of his contemporaries the devaluation of Romantic poetry that began early in thiscentury. This Modern Library edition contains all of Keats’s magnificent verse: ‘Lamia, ‘ ‘Isabella, ‘ and ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’; his sonnets and odes; the allegorical romance “Endymion;” and the five-actpoetic tragedy “Otho the Great.” Presented as well are the famous posthumous and fugitive poems, including the fragmentary ‘The Eve of Saint Mark’ and the great ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci, ‘ perhaps themost distinguished literary ballad in the language. ‘No one else in English poetry, save Shakespeare, has in expression quite the fascinating felicity of Keats, his perception of loveliness, ‘ said Matthew Arnold. ‘In thefaculty of naturalistic interpretation, in what we call natural magic, he ranks with Shakespeare.’ “From the Trade Paperback edition.”

Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats PDF

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