John Keats | RS White

With scholarly elegance, R. S. White finds fresh links between John Keats's life and work. His five years as a medical student are considered in the formation of his thought, as are his political radicalism and philosophical ideas of life as a 'vale of soul-making' and of the 'three chambers' of the creative imagination. Keats is seen as more heavily indebted to Renaissance writers than were his contemporaries. This comprehensive biography tactfully probes Keats's emotional entanglements with Fanny Brawne and other women, and the shifting relationships within his literary coterie. The much loved Odes, The Eve of St Agnes and narrative poems are considered alongside his playwrighting ventures and many other rich poems that are not so well known. This powerful book, now out in paperback, will excite students, scholars and all readers who love Keats's poetry and are drawn to the moving story of his brief life.