The 1819 Odes and Other Selected Verse

By: John Keats

Narrated by: Rob Goll

John Keats (1795-1821) was one of the foremost English Romantic poets. Despite his early death from tuberculosis at the age of 25 he had a considerable poetic output, the majority of his best-known works being written in the year 1819.

The six odes composed during this year are among his most famous and well-regarded poems. The first five were composed during the spring of 1819, while 'To Autumn' was composed in September. The exact order of composition of the first five is unknown. They are featured in this collection in the following order:

Ode to a Nightingale

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Ode on Indolence

Ode on Melancholy

Ode to Psyche

To Autumn

This collection includes the following sonnets:

To My Brother George

O Solitude!

'Keen fitful gusts are whisp'ring here and there'

'To one who has been long in city pent'

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

On the Grasshopper and Cricket

To Sleep

'When I have fears that I may cease to be'

The Human Seasons

On Fame I

On Fame II

Bright Star

To Byron

On a Dream

The final six poems included in this collection are:

Asleep! O sleep a little while, white pearl'

On Death

To Emma

To Hope

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

A Thing of Beauty—From Endymion

Public Domain (P)2022 Rob Goll

While language is dated his Wisdom comes through.

Keats’ thoughts on Fame, Death, and Beauty are timeless though his language and style are probably foreign to 21st Century readers.

The narration was perfectly appropriate to the poems. Four Stars. ****