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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
As expected, poetry isn't my thing. I'm glad I gave it a try though. It was interesting.
relaxing
fast-paced
Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomèd mine—
Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made
The tender-person’d Lamia melt into a shade.
John Keats spends a lot of this collection lusting after Greek mythology. Understandable, honestly, especially given the fact that he has a special skill in storytelling, and revamping older works, in both the mythical and medieval genre. His take on the Milton-esque version of the Titan's fall in the incomplete Hyperion, the Boccaccio retelling in Isabella, the sensuality in Lamia are all crafted with a masterful claim on the pen. I think at times, the female figures tend to dissolve into overused archetypes, which was a shame but expected given that he was a young man in the Romantic era. The Romanticism in question is displayed best in his Odes section, which truly read like torturous labor of love, however it can also be seen in his protests about science and how it creates mundanity out of the extraordinary. I also quite enjoy Keats' writing style, there is a certain quality of comfort and ease that, although prevalent among other Romantic era poets, has a unique evanescent quality which also, in a weird contradiction, clears the way for the emotions to linger after the words. I do wonder what might have become of Hyperion if he could have shrugged off the anxiety of influence that Milton had him under, or if he had lived long enough to really mature into his writing.
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomèd mine—
Unweave a rainbow, as it erewhile made
The tender-person’d Lamia melt into a shade.
John Keats spends a lot of this collection lusting after Greek mythology. Understandable, honestly, especially given the fact that he has a special skill in storytelling, and revamping older works, in both the mythical and medieval genre. His take on the Milton-esque version of the Titan's fall in the incomplete Hyperion, the Boccaccio retelling in Isabella, the sensuality in Lamia are all crafted with a masterful claim on the pen. I think at times, the female figures tend to dissolve into overused archetypes, which was a shame but expected given that he was a young man in the Romantic era. The Romanticism in question is displayed best in his Odes section, which truly read like torturous labor of love, however it can also be seen in his protests about science and how it creates mundanity out of the extraordinary. I also quite enjoy Keats' writing style, there is a certain quality of comfort and ease that, although prevalent among other Romantic era poets, has a unique evanescent quality which also, in a weird contradiction, clears the way for the emotions to linger after the words. I do wonder what might have become of Hyperion if he could have shrugged off the anxiety of influence that Milton had him under, or if he had lived long enough to really mature into his writing.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
Bought this because it contained Hyperion, and I was right to. Keats's poems are the epitome of the romantic spirit, and while I liked his odes and narrative Lamia and Eve of St Agnes, they all pale in comparison to Hyperion. It is brilliant. Curse every critic whose sarcastic responses to Endymion prevented Keats from completing it.
Some poems and stories were really good, some were incredibly boring. Averages out to about a 3
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced