by phillipw | Dec 13, 2019 | KE
Keats’ House before Arthur A meager air like dimmed eternity Pervades the scene. The purple of the spikes Of crocuses is like an undersea Phenomenon in coral depths the likes Of which John Keats could not have seen Or conjured in his poetry. But still This...
by phillipw | Oct 29, 2019 | KE, PO
The Political Poet I really LUV the way they try to see A poet’s politics. The latest life Of Keats puts forward a pitiful plea To think of him as if the loving strife Inside him isn’t quite the point. His heart And lungs were doomed and we’re supposed to care...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2019 | GO, JO, KE
The Hard Truth The myth rides gently on that wasting death. Consumption weakened him as if a spell Were cast by Tories hating lines with breath For weaker ones among us. He was well In brain and soul, this little giant filled With all nobilities, this genius...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2019 | JO, KE
John Keats ‘the last lineal descendent of Apollo’ ~ Arthur Hallam The inmost soul of poetry is Keats. Its spirit is derived from locks of hair And curls about his temples. Muse’s seats In heaven rock with wonder and despair When goddesses consider...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2019 | BR, KE
Black Flightless Widow “I have not got over it and I never shall.” ~ Fanny Brawne He died and then the girl Fanny soon Keats on his deathbed Fell ill. Her spirit’s heart contrived to take Its toll upon her flesh. A black cocoon...
by phillipw | Aug 11, 2019 | KE
One Brilliant Spot on a Poet’s Pillow [It used to be that there was a notice in Keats’ House, Hampstead, London, beside the bust of John Keats set on a pedestal that said that it had been tailor-made to make the top of the bust reach exactly to the height...