Poems by John Keats

John Keats, the last of the Romantic School, was born in 1795 and died at age 25 in 1821. He was a "Poet's Poet", developing his themes from a high artistic faith, and his aesthetic philosophy from his love of beauty.

Perhaps the most perfect of the Romanticists, he wrote poetry for its own sake. Here, Margaret Rawlings reads a selection of his finest work, including "To a Nightingale", "Mermaid Tavern", "To Autumn", and "On a Grecian Urn".

©2008 Saland Publishing (P)2008 Saland Publishing

Like finding your grandmother naked in your bed

Keats wrote for 6 years, and he was dead at 25. These are poems for the young. They are hopeful, sensual, Romantic. For those of us who are older, they are wistful, elegiac, and I suppose voyeuristic, like returning to your high school after 30 years and peering under the bleachers.

Margaret Rawlings (died in 1996 at 89), was a wonderful actress, who knew the repertoire and I believed respected it. She could've played Lear or Falstaff or Gloucester, but only one who is desperate or a hack would perform Keats in her 70s. It is grotesque, like finding your grandmother naked in your bed.