How to Read the Poetry of John Keats

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📔Contents Page: cutt.ly/CmNhRY3
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Happy reading!

[@intellizebrainfolio9870]

"It does make me sad to think about all the poetry that we do not have, if only he had lived another ten or twenty years, what beautiful poetry would we have to relish and cherish, I think Keats would have gone on to create his own mythology." Couldn't agree more🙂

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

At least we have what we have :)

[@emilym8530]

John Keats was on of the first poets I had ever heard of after Shakespeare. I’m 23 and I started reading Shakespeare at the age of 10 and I could comprehend it and it really surprised everyone who knew me and everyone who my parents bragged about me to. I learned about John Keats when my youth pastor at my Pentecostal church asked if I liked poetry and if I have ever heard of John Keats and he gave me a book of all of Keats work and now I’m obsessed!!

[@SheWasOnlyEvie]

“Ode to a Nightingale” and “When I Have Fears” are my utmost favorites of Keats’s poems. I even have the last half of the last line of “Ode to a Nightingale”-“do I wake or sleep?”-tattooed on me as well as Keats’s signature.

[@mn4169]

I adore Keats, his life and his works. He spoke to me as a poet, as a person and an important part of learning.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

That's beautiful. I feel exactly the same way. He has been a constant comfort and companion since my formative years.

[@dancing_on_the_valentine_83]

I've discovered Keats' poetry when I was a teenager. I'm from small city in Poland where I could only read his poetry on the internet and watch Google maps to find places related to him. After years I emigrated to the UK and I got a chance to visit his Hampstead house. That was one of my greatest days of my life. Then I moved to Rome and was visiting his resting place. I've been sitting there for hours, reading his poetry and feeling so surrounded by his energy (I know that sounds insane now, but then it was magical). If reincarnation exists I must have known him in my previous life 😅😍

[@JLFAN2009]

Are the poems of Keats translated into Polish? I'm surprised that any poems are translated into foreign languages, since one would lose the poetry in the process.

[@hannahmoore8359]

I just started reading Bright Star and wanted to learn more about Keats. You popped up! It’s nice to see others passionate about poetry and literature.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Great poem! Perfect for reading aloud :) Thank you, Hannah!

[@monawrath6597]

I was waiting for a Keats video! I couldn’t agree more with you, Keats speaks to me too.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I'm so happy to hear you love him too, Mona :)

[@Eyespy743]

Such a wonderful start to a Saturday morning, in my YT feed. Stephen Fry reading ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, and this vid on Keats. That’s the rest of my weekend sorted, deep diving into Keats a poet I’ve heard of but never read...until now

[@susprime7018]

Keats is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Poetry is wonderful in recitation by the fine voices with feeling such as yourself.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Absolutely! A friend to man :) Thank you very much - I find myself putting the most feeling into Keats and Shakespeare, with Milton, Dickinson, and Shelley making the cut too!

[@paulzenev4346]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy Have you done a program on Milton or PL..??

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

@@paulzenev4346 I have indeed! We have a podcast episode out on the first book of PL: open.spotify.com/episode/6r7JeGRmGw0Vdd86whe3cI

[@RenskeAnimeFan]

I fell in love with his poetry years ago and I recently finally found a complete edition of his works. And gods I am in love. Love to read his poetry with a cup of tea on a rainy day. Best day ever if I do that.

[@user-xf1we9lm1e]

As much as it inspires and tickles my creative bones, watching your videos does not fail to remind me of how shamelessly I have been procrastinating and doing an immense disservice to my reading promises. “Ars longa, vita brevis” indeed!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you! One can't ask for a higher compliment than that! Though I can tell from your comments that you are deeply and widely read and have a strong love for literature - I'm sure you're doing a great service to your reading :)

[@user-xf1we9lm1e]

Thank you! :)

[@orjtwysetjvvun]

Hi! I'm just starting with Keats using small Faber&Faber book edited by Andrew Motion, and I love it so far This piece from Endymion really touched me to the deepest core of my soul😌 What I know not: but who, of men, can tell That flowers would bloom, or that green fruit would swell To melting pulp, that fish would have bright mail, The earth its dower of river, wood, and vale, The meadows runnels, runnels pebble-stones, The seed its harvest, or the lute its tones, Tones ravishment, or ravishment its sweet, If human souls did never kiss and greet? Such mastery, such mild flow, that I got carried away, and I'm not even a native speaker😁

[@cafepoem189]

Thank you for always showing great contents.🙏

[@APEXCARPIO]

I love Keat's poem Fancy.

[@laylavladi]

YES ♡ I’ve been trying to get into some of his poetry. I wasn’t sure where to start… so this was super helpful!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Nice one, Layla :) I'm so happy to hear that!

[@bambiporter1786]

Just watched " Bright Star." Never before knew of him. So glad to discover him tonight. 💕

[@MJTII]

Well now this line plays in my mind, and joyfully rolls off my tongue - "Beautiful poetry bound in a hardback burgundy." 😊

[@dincanforbes1230]

Thank you Benjamin..Keats is one of my very favorites..he does manage to paint the wind...you give him as rich a treatment as he gave to his poetry..

[@oralady7675]

The information are really interesting. Thank your very much. You've given me much support. Thank you

[@robertocatrone715]

I love Keats as well. One of my favorites is Ode to the nightingale. I enjoy your videos. Keep up your great work.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you so much, Roberto! I really appreciate that :) Ode to a Nightingale is one of my favourites too. 'Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!' Incredible poem!

[@michelle86633]

Fantastic video, Benjamin! I am doing a reread on The Works of John Keats right now and was thrilled to see this video come up from you the other day. Keats was, and always will be, such a gem. He seems to own my heart with every word. Thanks again for all of your hard work and time on these videos and podcasts, your material continues to fuel our passion and enrich our reading experiences.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Michelle :) That's great to hear you're rereading Keats. Any new favourites upon rereading? He owns my heart with every word too - what a fantastic way of putting it. And thank you for your kind words. You have made my day.

[@michelle86633]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you so much for the reply, Ben. As far as new favorites on this reread, To My Brother George, To Charles Cowden Clarke and Endymion have hypnotized me. I’m sure there will be many more as I continue on. I am trying some of your recommendations with seeking out secondary sources on some of his works so I can see/experience what he was finding such great inspiration in, helping me better appreciate his words even more so. I am hoping to continue to explore more works from other classic poets as well, thank you again for fueling that passion. The Hardcore Literature Book Club sounds like a great group, are you still adding more members? Looking forward to more of your videos soon!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

​@@michelle86633 Wonderful selection. Endymion is indeed hypnotising. I wonder what poetic gifts we would have if Keats had lived just a little longer - the promise is incredible. And I'm so happy to hear you're finding such fulfilment in reading great poetry :) The book club is definitely still adding more members and you would be warmly welcome. It's a great group with likeminded lovers of literature. I'm positive you would enjoy some of the videos on Keats, Shelley, and Blake in particular!

[@larasayed01]

Thank you loads for this insightful presentation about my sweetheart, Keats ❤️❤️❤️ Please, more and more of Keats! Thank you so much 🌸

[@fernandamurari8577]

Thank you! Bright Star got me started! It is sublime!

[@Meenimie]

It is good when every video on KZbin starts with very short or even no introduction. Saves time, catches attention.

[@makingpixierose]

My favorite poem is ode to a nightingale, but i don't truly know if that's because of itself or the fact that i checked the movie Bright Star outb from the library I've day on a whim knowing nothing of him and came away sobbing and in love with Ben Whishaw reading it so beautifully over the credits.

[@DanielHuman1996]

Endymion is one of my favorites! One of the best dream hallucinations through mythology. An Epic of the Titans and Olympians is one of the greatest What Ifs with Hyperion.

[@goingblindmusic]

Beginning with Keats but La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Bright Star Sonnet have transfixed me. Excited for more!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Two brilliant ones! Happy reading :)

[@namukasamoureen2544]

Thanks for that wonderful thing for us the beginners ❤😮😊

[@kirbycairo]

Quite interesting video. Thanks. I am a lifelong reader of poetry and always enjoy hearing the ideas of others on the poetry in which I am interested.

[@danimalpink4182]

Great content! Also, you have a lovely voice and should really do audiobook recordings/poetry recordings

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you :) I've always wanted to do audiobook narrations, so I really appreciate that. Hopefully some day!

[@alexhindes3861]

Hey Benjamin, curious to know if you've read Dan Simmons's Hyperion series? Somewhat of an ode to Keats woven into a Science Fiction / Fantasy story. If so did you enjoy it?

[@speedracer2841]

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Its loveliness increases - it will never pass into nothingness

[@CristiaLesher]

"How many bards gild the lapses of time!" is my favorite Keats. I cherish that insight he gives us into his own experience of writing as well as his evocative impressions of "the unnumber'd sounds that evening store." Gets me every time, that poem. One worth having in my memory to enjoy at will.

[@floriandiazpesantes573]

I just called in to see your friendly face, to listen to your youthful voice and being uplifted once again by your astonishing energy. I didn’t expect to hear something new after your extraordinary lecture in the “Hardcore Literature Book Club” and the most interesting discussion of the members unfolding there. But once more you surprised me with some lush illustrations and more than welcome information. I wish the poor poet had had such warm hearted review before his sad death in Rome in that February 200 years ago. Thanks for keatsing me today.

[@floriandiazpesantes573]

And now ready to indulge in your longer book club lecture on Hesse’s “Siddartha”, getting my book, pen and journal ready. No better way to spend a good time on a rainy afternoon.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

You're right, Florian! The discussion is tremendous. I'm so happy that people have really taken to Keats. He's a poet who only benefits from repeated rereadings, reading aloud/to others, feeling his words form in one's mouth, discussing, pondering, meditating. 200 years ago as of this year - a tragedy in the history of literature I feel keenly. When you lay a lily on his grave, please recite 'Bright Star' for me!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

@@floriandiazpesantes573 Amazing! And I'm editing the latest Proust video :)

[@floriandiazpesantes573]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy “When Caesar says “Do this,” it is perform’d.”

[@kshitijyadav4208]

Maybe a video on poetry I mean covering how to start with this genre and extensive video on poetic eras and your fav poems

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Great idea, thank you! Can do :)

[@kaylashae2652]

Loved this video! I’d love to see what your take on Sylvia Plath is

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Kayla :) I recently bought an early edition of Ariel and spent an afternoon in a gloomy mood rereading her. I resonate very strongly with her, and have plans to do a dedicated video or podcast on her soon!

[@hanssaunders3490]

Well done, Benjamin.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you, Hans! :)

[@paulzenev4346]

In recent years I caught up w/ the Romantics!! I read Paradise Lost much younger. It took me a while to get to any other poetry. And I started with Keats and some of the same poems you mention. I started with "To Autumn" and then the odes you mention -grecian urn, Nightengale. And then La Belle and The Eve of St Mark. Interesting that you refer to Endymion as juvenilia. I have not read it. But is that how it is looked at?? I think I am ready to move on to his longer poems. The Norton edition seems interesting. Thank You Benjamin//

[@Vusleeka9]

Currently reading trying to read Keats. Introduced --> opening line of Endymion: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever". Was painting an owl stealing the moon. So, I ordered Keats from the library - but the poem isn't even in it. Reading "On the Silver Globe" and just realized that all the craters on the moon are named after Greek astronomers/myths or Scientists. Reading Robert Graves' Greek Myths... Yeah, when I read... it's like a trail of bread crumbs leading me into dark forests.

[@Vusleeka9]

Favorite Greek Myths: Cassandra, Psyche & the Nightingale... Keats has poems for each of these... Keeps reading Keats

[@grandmastreasure8160]

Can you make a long video on Keats and his Odes

[@nachfullbarertrank5230]

I'm also here because of Dan Simmons' Hyperion, you got me interested :D

[@tamething1]

I went through troughs of secret recurring depression for a few months when finishing college. One weekend, I went home to my parents' farm, and was alone in the house for a few hours. I felt restless. I'm an avid reader, so I picked a random poetry book and let it fall open to a random page. And I read, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever..." I had heard this line before, but nothing beyond that. So I read the poem, down to the line "They always must be with us, or we die." Certain lines just jumped off the page at me, especially "...spite of despondence, of the gloomy days, of all the unhealthy and o'er darkened ways made for our searching, yes in spite of all, some shape of beauty moves away the pall from our dark spirits." I identified with that. He expressed how I was feeling. My parents' farm was such a beautiful place, and returning to it from the city always refreshed my spirits. From this, I began reading and loving his other poems, and his letters: His love letters to Fanny are just swoon-inducing :) I also read a book about his tragically short life, "John Keats, the Making of a Poet" by Aileen Ward, published in 1963. To all you Keats fans, I recommend it.

[@anita_fumeta_uwu5029]

The one I really want to read is The Eve of St. Agnes basically because my name is Inés (Spanish for Agnes) and I was born on St Agnes Eve so I think it’s a must for me

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

That's amazing. It definitely sounds like an absolute must for you, Inés! Fantastic poem - I'd love to hear what you make of it :)

[@siamcharm7904]

te greatest lyric poem of all to autumn

[@aestheticallyworking2367]

Thank you so much for this informative video on Keats! I'm currently reading his letters to fanny brawne as 'Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art' is in my syllabus but I want to know before starting this poem should I read st. Agnes?

[@y_magaming9798]

Lamia is my favorite. That is all. Keats is my favorite poet. I used to fight a lot as a boy and young man. I always liked that about keats

[@FlyingOverTr0ut]

Great video. I want a bigger apartment at some point to store all the books I want to read, which I prefer to reading on the computer if possible.

[@makingpixierose]

My star in my book collection is an 1860s green Volume of Keats 🥰

[@nyc88s]

How did you know I recently bought a complete Keats? I also visited his grave in Rome. Love him.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Wow. I would love to make the pilgrimage to his grave too some day.

[@Exp3rter]

Every time I read his last publication "LAMIA, ISABELLA. the EVE OF ST AGNES and other Poems" I am saddened by the potential he had, only had he lived. That had to be, undoubtedly, the greatest single volume of poems a poet had ever published in his life. (A point, it also included Hyperion, it wasn't posthumous.) But lo, how did that collection end, what was the last line? "During the pain Mnemosyne upheld Her arms as one who prophesied.-At length Apollo shriek’d;-and lo! from all his limbs Celestial" Keats, via self-identification is Saturn, and as Saturn ends by realizing his potential and becoming a god, Keats, the one with the greatest potential to be an immortal poet, has enshrined his name in history with this collection, and he realizes that, and by Mnemosyne's guidance (the mother of the Muses) "lo! from all his limbs / Celestial"

[@shrimaleclasses7720]

I am a great fan of John Keats. Will you please suggest to me some annotated books on Keats?

[@mushfiquefahim141]

Dan Simmons anyone?

[@sutapachatterjee3508]

Please explain Hyperion. I would love to know it better

[@biscuitlane4945]

A wonderful poet Ben. I was first brought to Keats at A level and ‘Lamia’ is a work I often think of with fond memory :)

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Very nice! Great choice for the A-Level syllabus. 'Lamia' was one of those wonderful works written during Keats' productive period, not long after 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' :)

[@Anicius_]

O poesy for thee i grasp my pen That am not yet a glorious denizen of thy wide heaven

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Beautiful :)

[@sutapachatterjee3508]

Could you please explain Prometheus Unbound?

[@tommyryan3434]

It hard to keep up with all these people I have never heard of them John keat I will look him up in the book shop thanks

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I hope you enjoy him :)

[@osckarlaguna.]

I always wondered why keats was absent in the meeting of Byron and shelley and company in the villa Diodati events. Keats in one the greatest poets, I like the poem to Chatterton.

[@thetruth4654]

I do love John Keats in my heart there is a never ending fight between John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley

[@sacarver153]

7:04

[@reaganwiles_art]

As I understand negative capability it is an ability to empty oneself of oneself and to allow then something new to manifest in that emptiness. Ezra Pound wrote a poem about it, I think he titled it 'Histrion.' The making nothing of oneself, the via negativa, this is how I interpret negative capability. Pound' poem: No man hath dared to write this thing as yet, And yet I know, how that the souls of all men great At times pass athrough us, And we are melted into them, and are not Save reflexions of their souls. Thus am I Dante for a space and am One Francois Villon, ballad-lord and thief, Or am such holy ones I may not write Lest blasphemy be writ against my name; This for an instant and the flame is gone. ‘Tis as in midmost us there glows a sphere Translucent, molten gold, that is the “I” And into this some form projects itself: Christus, or John, or eke the Florentine; And as the clear space is not if a form’s Imposed thereon, So cease we from all being for the time, And these, the Masters of the Soul, live on.

[@moni120469]

What’s your school background? 🥰

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Roman Catholic Primary, followed by really awful state school for Secondary, then Oxford University.

[@tamarfischer283]

Ode to a nightingale. For sure. For many a time I have been half in love with easeful death. Who can't relate? But who else would so elegantly put in all the Qualifiers in place' half' 'easeful.' Cos the other half of our love goes for ease ful LIFE

[@stevenlight5006]

I'll start with bright star.

[@1siddynickhead]

There's only one literary pilgrimage I want to make and that's to his grave...

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Ah, this is a popular one - I would love to do it myself too :)

[@severianthefool7233]

“Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind..”

[@jackcooper3307]

Second only to John Milton for me

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

You have exquisite taste, Jack!

[@thearamsay9578]

I am also a big tit fan. Beauty is truth, truth beauty quote is one of my favourite quotes and I tend to favour contemporary musicians who say the same thing, such as Donovan of the 60s and the late Maurice White of earth wind and fire, both of them waxed quite lyrical on the subject of beauty and truth. In 2018, I published my first novel, Lucy, as a vehicle to interest children in the poets of the romantic movement and their ideals. It’s a fantasy set on a Wintry planet inhabited by a humanoid fur bearing species Whose society is based on the ideals of the romantic movement, of which John Keats is the main poet. Of course, as this is a fantasy and these furry aliens have never heard of John Keats, I don’t often quote directly from him in the book. Anyway, I think it’s important for today’s woke young people to learn about something different from the political left and the things they tout. As a Star Trek fan, I found it intriguing that there are no societies in the track universe based on romanticism. There are logical people like the Falcons, warrior races like the Klingons, and search places as rigleys pleasure planet. But no society based on the romanticism which musicians poets and artists of the 1800s were a part.

[@mattjmjmjm4731]

To be fair a lot of his early poetry is rubbish to my mind, a boyish obsession with knights and greek gods, thankfully he grew as a poet and made some masterpieces, some critics say if he lived longer would be on par with shakespeare.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Well, yes - I can't immediately think of a writer who doesn't have their lacklustre juvenilia from their developing years. It would have been interesting to see if Keats ever could unshackle the influence of Shakespeare enough to compete with him!

[@mattjmjmjm4731]

@@BenjaminMcEvoy Make a video on Percy Shelley, amazing poet, one of my first literary loves(thanks to harold bloom).

[@hecate6524]

😍😍😍😍😍