Description
Book Synopsis'Outstanding... The best short introduction I have come across' Sunday Times
When he died at the age of just twenty-five, few imagined John Keats would one day be considered among the greatest poets of all time.
Taking nine of Keats's best-known poems, Lucasta Miller excavates their backstories and, in doing so, resurrects the real Keats: an outsider from a damaged family whose visceral love of language allowed him to change the face of English literature for ever.
Combining close-up readings with the story of his brief existence, Miller shows us how Keats crafted his groundbreaking poetry and explains why it continues to speak to us across the centuries.
'One never wants Keats's life to end so soon; I didn't want this book to end, either' TLS Books of the Year
'Irresistible... [Miller]digs into the backstories of her subject's most famous poems to uncover aspects of his life and work that challenge well-worn romantic myths' Wall Street Journal
Trade ReviewIn lucid, graceful prose she [Miller] manages to bring us closer to the life and work of a poet who never seemed that far away...
I didn't want this book to end. * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *
An enlightening and perceptive introduction to (or reminder of) the great Romantic poet's life and work. * Financial Times *
Outstanding... [Miller's] knowledge of all things Keatsian is formidable... For newcomers to Keats, Miller's is the best short introduction I have come across. -- John Carey * Sunday Times *
Miller disrobes the myth, while helping us to appreciate what she calls Keats's "vertiginous originality". As a wittily perceptive introduction to (or reminder of) the poet and his work, her book is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon. -- Miranda Seymour * Financial Times *
Lucasta Miller's task, which she carries out very successfully, is to strip away what we think when we think about Keats... This excellent book... enters an already crowded market of Keats biographies, but earns its place through its firm basis in precise reading. Miller is empathetic, and relishes Keats's best phrases. -- Philip Hensher * Spectator *
