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Keats
Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph | Lucasta Miller
6 posts | 4 read | 1 reading | 1 to read
*A BEST BOOK OF 2021 IN THE TIMES* The epitaph John Keats composed for his own gravestone - 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water' - seemingly damned him to oblivion. When he died at the age of twenty-five, having taken a battering from the conservative press, few critics imagined he would be considered one of the great English poets two hundred years later, though he himself had an inkling. In this brief life, Lucasta Miller takes Keats's best-known poems - the ones you are most likely to have read - and excavates their backstories. In doing so, she resurrects the real Keats: a lower-middle-class outsider from a tragic and dysfunctional family, whose extraordinary energy and love of language allowed him to pummel his way into the heart of English literature; a freethinker and a liberal at a time of repression; a human being who delighted in the sensation of the moment; but a complex individual, not the ethereal figure of his posthumous myth. Combining close-up readings of his writings with the story of his brief but teeming existence, Lucasta Miller shows us how Keats made his poetry, and explains why it retains its vertiginous originality and continues to speak to us across the generations.
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Graywacke
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I‘m reading a fantastic book on Keats. This is my introduction to him. (I keep seeing the word “Keatsian”. Lately in reference to Wilfred Owen and Emily Dickinson. I‘m trying to understand what this word means.)

By the way - Lucasta Miller undermines “Therefore” above - which she says he knowingly knew was inappropriate here. 🙂

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Graywacke
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Had some fun with Keats at the library today. I might read the tagged book from 2022. Full title : Keats: a brief life in nine poems and one epitaph. The Motion biography (1993?) has a terrific preface.

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Sophronisba
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“This is a book by a reader for readers.“

#FridayReads #FirstLineFridays

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Palimpsest
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Pickpick

Keats was the first poet I really loved and his poems have retained their place in my heart. I enjoyed learning more about his background, where he lived, his friendships, and love for Fanny.

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catiewithac
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Pickpick

I loved this book! ❤️ Miller hits the perfect note between biography, literary criticism, personal essay and poetry. Every chapter/essay begins with Keats‘ poems. It was a delight to be reintroduced to his genius in such a refreshing manner. This is a charming book!

TheBookHippie Ooooooo. 2y
Sophronisba I am such a fan of Lucasta Miller. I love everything she's written. 2y
57 likes2 comments
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Theaelizabet
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Pickpick

John Keats died 200 years ago at the age of 25. In her new book, Miller provides an interesting and thoughtful consideration of the poet through close readings and the contextualizing backstories of nine poems (and that infamous epitaph).

Suet624 I didn‘t realize he was only 25 4y
BarbaraBB Hi Teresa, just checking in. I hope all is well. Missing you in the book club! 3y
23 likes2 comments