Keats - Softcover

Motion, Sir Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571172288 ISBN 13: 9780571172283

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2003

Synopsis

Keats is the first major biography of this tragic hero of romanticism for some thirty years, and it differs from its predecessors in important respects. The outline of the story is well known - has become, in fact, the stuff of legend: the archetypal life of the tortured genius, critically spurned and dying young.

What Andrew Motion brings to bear on the subject is a deep understanding of how Keats fitted into the intellectual and political life of his time. Important friendships with such anti-establishment figures as William Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt are given their full due, and the closeness of his own spirit, as expressed in his poems, to the ferment all around is made clear. Many significant new facts about Keats's schooldays and medical training, in particular, enrich the picture. Keats emerges as a more political figure than he is usually portrayed, but his personal sufferings, too, come into closer focus. Most importantly, Andrew Motion - himself a distinguished poet and former poet laureate - demonstrates how the poems continue to exert their power.

'A definitive life of a great poet, and one of the finest biographies of the decade.' New Statesman

About this title

Review:

Whitbread Prize-winning biographer Andrew Motion (Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life) aims to broaden our understanding of John Keats (1795-1821) by paying close attention to the historical context in which he wrote and the political opinions he voiced. The poet was "of a sceptical and republican school", Motion argues, and Keats's work reflected his experiences "not just as a private individual, but socially and politically as well." This bracing reinterpretation stresses the vigour of Keats's character as well as his verse, burying for good the sentimental cliché of a sickly dreamer concerned only with art for art's sake.

Book Description:

Andrew Motion's breathtaking biography of John Keats combines new and detailed research with crisp and vivid storytelling.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0571172288
• ISBN 13: 9780571172283
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 704