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LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 different recordings of <em>Ode to Autumn</em> by John Keats. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of November 11th, 2007.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 16 different recordings of <em>O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell</em> by John Keats. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of May 11th, 2008.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of <em>Ode (Bards Of Passion And Of Mirth)</em> by John Keats. This was the weekly poetry project for May 17th, 2009.

John Keats is perhaps the most talented poet of the English Romantic Period. Although his life was cut short by disease at the age of 25, he produced some of the most famous poems in world literature. Less erudite and philosophical than Shelley and not so technically versatile as Byron, he displayed a sure poetic instinct and an amazing ability to appeal powerfully to the senses and to the emotions by the brilliance of his diction. Thus his poetry is noted more for exquisite feeling than for thought, but in his particular sphere he was unmatched. His influence upon later poets has been immense. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson)

5Lines on The Mermaid Tavern

By John Keats

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Lines on The Mermaid Tavern by John Keats. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for August 15th, 2010.

6To Autumn

By John Keats

LibriVox volunteers bring you 8 recordings of To Autumn by John Keats. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 21st, 2010.<br><br>To Autumn" is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats's "1819 odes".<br><br>He composed "To Autumn" after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening. The work marks the end of his poetic career as he needed to earn money and could no longer devote himself to the lifestyle of a poet. A little over a year following the publication of "To Autumn", Keats died in Rome.<br><br>"To Autumn" has been regarded by critics as one of the most perfect short poems in the English language and it is one of the most anthologised English lyric poems.

7Poems 1817

By John Keats

Early poems of this famous English lyric poet, in which he openly expresses indebtedness to, and reverence for, his poetic predecessors, especially Spenser, into whose chivalric world he boldly ventures; and also for Milton, and the classic poets. There are also glimpses of his personal, family and political relationships. These poems are of medium length and often pastoral and contemplative in nature with many classical references. His lyric genius and love for humanity are clearly displayed.( Peter Tucker)

8Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends

By Sidney Colvin and John Keats

These are the letters of John Keats, as written to family, close friends and others during his brief, eventful years as an artist. (However, the editor chose to exclude love letters to Fanny Brawne, respecting their private nature.) The celebrated Keats letters were written between 1816–1820, and include those colorful entries penned during his 44-day tour with Charles Brown as they rambled through England, Ireland and Scotland. Also included are the famous, lengthy "journal letters," written to his brother George and sister-in-law in America. Not only a poetic genius, Keats shines in epistolary form. His letters brim with the emotion, wit and intelligence he routinely shared with intimates. - Summary by NemoR

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Fragment Of An Ode To Maia by John Keats.<br> This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 7, 2021. <br> ------<br> This Weekly Poem is taken from The Poetical Works Of John Keats (1817) - Summary by David Lawrence

In his wonderful interpretation of the classic tale of Lamia - the mythological entity portrayed as being a deadly threat especially to children and young men - master poet John Keats construes this timeless and enigmatic story with a view towards intrigue, deception, loyalty, honor and fervor of a young man's lust for a life of passionate bliss with the newly found woman of his dreams. In retrospect, considering certain aspects of her past and recent serpent-like incarnation, the beautiful and seductive Lamia was a poor choice for the young man Lycius. But infatuation and the recklessness of youth superseded any rational thought and the wild attraction of the two lovers grew stronger. <br><br> It would take his elderly mentor Apollonius (he "robed in philosophic gown"), to alert Lycius to the hazards of this new relationship. However, whether Lycius will heed the warning of his "trusty guide and good instructor" seems uncertain. In fact, Lycius has marriage in his plans, although he is concerned about a certain inexplicable stress exhibited by Lamia in the presence of Apollonius. <br><br> In an attempt to cool this mad romantic obsession of Lycius and rescue his student from a dubious future, all Apollonius can do now is try to expose Lamia for the evil entity she really is. An old philosopher's cold logic and reason versus the hot passion of youth in a new found love. It must be tried. What could possibly go wrong. <br> - Summary by Bruce Kachuk

Endymion is a poem by John Keats first published in 1818. Keats based the poem on the Greek myth of Endymion, the shepherd beloved of the moon goddess Selene. The poem elaborates on the original story and renames Selene "Cynthia" (an alternative name for Artemis). The poem is written in rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (also known as heroic couplets).<br> Keats dedicated this poem to the late poet Thomas Chatterton.<br> The poem begins with the famous line "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever". (Summary by Alan Mapstone and Wikipedia)

The superb poetic skill and exquisite sensitivity of John Keats is brilliantly illustrated in this collection of meticulously selected sonnets. Keats had a passion for poetry as he had for life itself. His own life, although cut short at an early age, was one of creativity, productivity and one ornamented with immense poetic skill. His was a life that left an indelible mark of wonder on the world, an enduring legacy, a mark of greatness. Keats would write of his heroes, "How many bards gild the lapses of time!" - other poets and writers whose plight he often lamented, whose talent he always praised and whose loss, should it occur, he grieved. Keats would describe great artistry and the unsparing nature of time, "The gradual sand that through an hour-glass runs,- / A woodland rivulet,- a Poet's death." Indeed, Keats would draw his poetic inspiration not only from gifted poets but also from the magnificence of the natural world around him, "The poetry of earth is ceasing never." <br> <br> Keats's sonnets resound with a search for meaning and, where none seems probable, create a compelling vision of what may be to come. In Keats's work we witness the poetry of fascination, of hope, of gratitude, of uncertainty and of entreaty, "But when I am consumed in the Fire, / Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire." <br> <br> These sonnets reflect the heart of a man enraptured, albeit the heart of a man too soon to sound its final beat. But until that fateful day we behold a heart strong and determined with the perennial uncertainty foremost in mind, "O Darkness! Darkness! ever must I moan, / To question Heaven and Hell and Heart in vain." - Summary by Bruce Kachuk