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Title: Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats by Edward Hirsch, John Keats ISBN: 0-375-75669-8 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 13 February, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent For College Study or Independent Reading
Comment: In his short life John Keats created some of the finest poetry in the English language. I have read his shorter poems and odes many times, not for study, but simply for enjoyment. I am not a Keats expert, but I can now easily recognize quotations from Keat's odes, sonnets, and other poems. I especially like "The Eve of St. Agnes", a story of romance and danger in a medieval setting that illustrates Keats' remarkable command of language.
Keats is not difficult, but footnotes help with archaic words and references to more obscure Greek mythology. I prefer to read Keats unaided, then read the footnotes (best if tucked away in an appendix), and then return and read the poem again. For longer poems I jump to footnotes more quickly.
Initially, the inexpensive Dover edition "Lyric Poems", was exactly what I needed. Later, as I tackled longer poetry like "Endymion", I migrated to more complete collections with commentary and footnotes.
Keats" works are widely available in hardcover and paperback. Which collection is best for college study or independent reading? I have two favorites, one by Penguin Classics and the other by Modern Library. Both are available in softcovers.
The first is "The Complete Poems" by Penguin Classics, edited by John Bernard and a standard choice for college classes. I have the second edition, 1977. Barnard's extensive footnotes and commentary are quite good and offset his somewhat brief introduction. Additionally, the appendix discusses textual variations in Keats' manuscripts and has a useful guide to Greek mythology names. The third edition, 1988, adds 20 pages of selected letters, Keats' notes on Milton's Paradise Lost, and his notes on a Shakespearean actor.
The second choice (my favorite) is the newly published "Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats", Modern Library 2001 edition (not the earlier 1994 hardcover version). Apparently as a direct challenge to Penguin Classics, this edition offers a longer introduction (22 pages) by Edward Hirsch and excellent footnotes (not too many, nor too few) by John Pollock. Also, as the title implies, it has selected letters by Keats, some 25 pages in total. Somewhat hidden in the appendix is commentary by six well-known literary critics such as T. S. Eliot, Mathew Arnold, and Keats' biographer Walter Jackson Bate. Lastly, the font is larger and more crisp in the Modern Library version (but is still quite acceptable in the Penguin edition).
Overall, I prefer Hirsch to Barnard, but both are good choices. Both are 5-stars.
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Title: Shelley's Poetry and Prose, Second Edition (Norton Critical Edition) by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Donald H. Reiman, Neil Fraistat ISBN: 0393977528 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: William Wordsworth: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by William Wordsworth, Stephen Gill ISBN: 0192840444 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Evelina: A Cultural Edition by Fanny Burney, Kristina Straub, Frances Burney ISBN: 0312097298 Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $20.60 |
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Title: The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake by William Blake, David V. Erdman, Harold Bloom, William Golding ISBN: 0385152132 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 05 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) by Jerome J. McGann, Lord Byron George Gordon ISBN: 0192840401 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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