John Keats

" Walter Jackson Bate, in his biography of Keats, has writers, critics, readers, have approached Keats during the last century, on one quality in his writing they have been completely united. They have all been won by an economy and power of phrase excelled only by Shakespeare." This poet whose greatest ambition was to he "among the English poets" is not only preeminent among those of the past, but for well over a century he has continued to be the yardstick by which those who have written poetry in our language can measure their success. He remains a wellspring to which all of us might go to refresh our belief in the value of this art."--Publisher's website.

Collects the poetry and correspondence of the English poet.

Here in one volume are the top one hundred poems, as determined by a survey of more than 1,000 anthologies - the poems in English most frequently anthologized, the poems with the broadest, most enduring appeal. With insights into the historical period in which each poem was written, the verse form used, and connections among poems, this is the ideal introduction to poetry, as well as a treasury for the dedicated reader.

King Lear by William Shakespeare On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again by John Keats Student Matinee, Stratford by Margaret Stinson Caporushes by Flora Annie Steel King Lear in Respite Care by Margaret Atwood Nothing Shall Come of Nothing by Mairi MacInnes Wise Enough to Play the Fool by Isaac Asimov Send in the Clowns by Goenawan Mohamad Refrain by Mary Jo Salter Goneril by Karel Capek I Dream of Lear by Jerry W, Ward, Jr, The Blind lxading the Blind by Lisel Mueller A Dog, a Horse, a Rat by A.S. Byatt The Happy Ending Kmg Lear by Nahum Tate Why Lear Must Die by Victor Hugo Cordelia by Anna Jameson Calm After Storm by Frank Yerby Why King Lear Is the Cruellest Play by Frank Kermode

'I think I shall be among the English Poets after my death,' John Keats soberly prophesied in 1818 as he started writing the blankverse epic Hyperion. Today he endures as the archetypal Romantic genius who explored the limits of the imagination and celebrated the pleasures of the senses but suffered a tragic early death. Edmund Wilson counted him as 'one of the half dozen greatest English writers,' and T. S. Eliot has paid tribute to the Shakespearean quality of Keats's greatness. Indeed, his work has survived better than that of any of his contemporaries the devaluation of Romantic poetry that began early in this century. This Modern Library edition contains all of Keats's magnificent verse: 'Lamia,' 'Isabella,' and 'The Eve of St. Agnes'; his sonnets and odes; the allegorical romance Endymion; and the five-act poetic tragedy Otho the Great. Presented as well are the famous posthumous and fugitive poems, including the fragmentary 'The Eve of Saint Mark' and the great 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,' perhaps the most distinguished literary ballad in the language. 'No one else in English poetry, save Shakespeare, has in expression quite the fascinating felicity of Keats, his perception of loveliness,' said Matthew Arnold. 'In the faculty of naturalistic interpretation, in what we call natural magic, he ranks with Shakespeare.'

This is a unique celebration of that most beautiful and self-possessed of creatures--the cat. More than 50 poems are included, reflecting every feline mood: the comic, the aristocratic, the lazy, the cunning, the fierce, the inscrutable. Lovers of cats and lovers of poetry will be delighted by the wide-ranging nature of the collection by poets such as T.S. Elliot, Ted Hughes, W.B. Yeats, William Wordsworth, Edward Lear and many others. One of the most attractive features of the book is the choice of pictures. A stunning selection of drawings and paintings by such artists and illustrators as Renoir, Manet, Picasso, Hogarth, Cruikshank and Lear add to the charm of the verse, making this a book to be treasured by cat lovers everywhere.