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Rating: 
Summary: Read it, then see it!
Review: A wonderful companion book to "The Complete Poems of John Keats " is the photo-essay collection, "Walking North With Keats," which recreates a 44-day walking tour that the poet made with his writer-friend Charles Brown in 1818 through northern England, Ireland, and Scotland---which unfortunately was THE walk where he fell ill with the tuberculosis that would finally kill him at 25! The author extensively, but joyfully, highlights Keats's early life, reviews the period's travel literature, photographs the locations & introduces Keats' odes & ballads as well as his letters written during the journey (which helps put into context the poems presented in this book)!
Rating:
Summary: my fav. poem - ode on melancholy (analysis)
Review: ¡§She dwells with Beauty¡XBeauty that must die.¡¨ ¡§His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might, and be among her cloudy trophies hung.¡¨ These beautiful lines are written by John Keats (1795-1821), one of the most talented Romantic poets on par with Shelley, Wordsworth, and Bryon. Why would a charismatic Romantic, who cherishes beauty and life, write such sad and crestfallen lines? It all began in the summer of 1819 when Keats went on a tour of Scotland, where his first symptoms of tuberculosis emerged. However, at the same time, Keats became engaged to the love of his life, Fanny Brawne, a girl next door. Tragically, doctors diagnosed that the tuberculosis was eroding his health, and eventually would end the life of the brilliant poet. Due to this unfortunate calamity, his marriage with Fanny became an impracticality. Amidst his depression and misery, he wrote the poem ¡§Ode on Melancholy.¡¨ The theme of the ode is that Happiness is transient and when Joy passes, all that is left is the bitter core of Melancholy. The rendezvous with Melancholy is inevitable because it will always be there when delightful moments depart. Keats felt that one must embrace sorrow in order to fully experience pleasure. John Keats grasped this philosophy of life during his years of malady and encourages the reader to enjoy life when possible and be ready to come across Melancholy in certain stages of one¡¦s life. Many people may have thought Keats as a successful and accomplished poet. However, Melancholy was his frequent visitor and deprived Keats of Happiness. Tuberculosis took the lives of his mother, his brother and eventually himself, but emotionally, Keats was marred by the criticism toward his works and the departure of his lover. It seemed that the author lost his faith to overcome Melancholy and decided to advise the readers to not fall victim but respectfully accept and not evade it. I believe that people who choose to end their lives become Melancholy¡¦s trophies because they help to spread the powers of sorrow and grief. By killing oneself, one will be leaving loved ones with burdens of Melancholy to bear, and therefore winning more ¡§cloudy trophies¡¨ for the Goddess. In conclusion, one should recognize that Melancholy will eventually appear and by being prepared to embrace the arrival of Melancholy one can truly taste the sweetness of Happiness.
Rating:
Summary: Beauty with a Capital B
Review: Keats was the Romantic poet who cared most about art and beauty. He didn't allow himself to get mixed up in religion and politics like Shelley or Byron. But in quiet ways, he did comment on political, religious, aesthetic, and sexual beliefs, sometimes in ways that were less traditional than his poetic style. Above all, he was supremely conscious of beauty in the world, as well as the world's suffering. David Rehak
author of "Poems From My Bleeding Heart"
Rating:
Summary: Read it, then see it!
Review: Next to Shakespeare I can not think of a Brittish poet who inspired me more than John Keats. His lyrical phrases, his sense of music and metaphor, and his visionary splendor dazzles one and leaves a reader in awe of his gift. My favorites are the Odes, especially the Ode To Psyche, and the Ode To A Nightingale. One can only wonder what great works might have come into existence from this great literary genius had he lived beyond the age of twenty six. Still, he did manage to distill from the heavens some of the finest poems of the English language.
Rating: 
Summary: Puzzled...
Review: The miniscule and sickly John Keats may not have been long for this world but he is an immortal of English language poetry. The accesibility of Keats's great poems is the reason he continues to be read while those who dismissed him in his own day have been swept into the ashcan of literary history. What's great about this complete edition is right there in the title: It's complete, allowing the Keats enthusiast to travel through all of Keats's romantic attempts, ranging from great to mediocre to poetic fumbles... The Keats novice can start with the major poems and odes and marvel, as I once did, how one so young created such a vast quantity of work. This edition also features valuable notes and the trajically short biography of Keats.
Rating:
Summary: my fav. poem - ode on melancholy (analysis)
Review: ¡§She dwells with Beauty¡XBeauty that must die.¡¨ ¡§His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might, and be among her cloudy trophies hung.¡¨ These beautiful lines are written by John Keats (1795-1821), one of the most talented Romantic poets on par with Shelley, Wordsworth, and Bryon. Why would a charismatic Romantic, who cherishes beauty and life, write such sad and crestfallen lines? It all began in the summer of 1819 when Keats went on a tour of Scotland, where his first symptoms of tuberculosis emerged. However, at the same time, Keats became engaged to the love of his life, Fanny Brawne, a girl next door. Tragically, doctors diagnosed that the tuberculosis was eroding his health, and eventually would end the life of the brilliant poet. Due to this unfortunate calamity, his marriage with Fanny became an impracticality. Amidst his depression and misery, he wrote the poem ¡§Ode on Melancholy.¡¨ The theme of the ode is that Happiness is transient and when Joy passes, all that is left is the bitter core of Melancholy. The rendezvous with Melancholy is inevitable because it will always be there when delightful moments depart. Keats felt that one must embrace sorrow in order to fully experience pleasure. John Keats grasped this philosophy of life during his years of malady and encourages the reader to enjoy life when possible and be ready to come across Melancholy in certain stages of one¡¦s life. Many people may have thought Keats as a successful and accomplished poet. However, Melancholy was his frequent visitor and deprived Keats of Happiness. Tuberculosis took the lives of his mother, his brother and eventually himself, but emotionally, Keats was marred by the criticism toward his works and the departure of his lover. It seemed that the author lost his faith to overcome Melancholy and decided to advise the readers to not fall victim but respectfully accept and not evade it. I believe that people who choose to end their lives become Melancholy¡¦s trophies because they help to spread the powers of sorrow and grief. By killing oneself, one will be leaving loved ones with burdens of Melancholy to bear, and therefore winning more ¡§cloudy trophies¡¨ for the Goddess. In conclusion, one should recognize that Melancholy will eventually appear and by being prepared to embrace the arrival of Melancholy one can truly taste the sweetness of Happiness.
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