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John Keats: Poetry, Life & Landscapes
“This is a celebratory meld of memoir, biography and travelogue, intensely personal and all the better for it.” —Eleanor Fitzsimons, author of Wilde’s WomenJohn Keats is one of Britain’s best-known and most-loved poets. Despite dying in Rome in 1821, at the age of just twenty-five, his poems continue to inspire generations who reinterpret and reinvent the ways in which we consume his work.Apart from his long association with Hampstead, North London, he has not previously been known as a poet of ‘place’ in the way we associate Wordsworth with the Lake District, for example, and for many years readers considered Keats’s work remote from political and social context. Yet Keats was acutely aware of and influenced by his Hampstead; Guy’s Hospital in London where he trained as a doctor; Teignmouth where he nursed his brother Tom; a walking tour of the Lake District and Scotland; the Isle of Wight; the area around Chichester and in Winchester, where his last great ode, “To Autumn,” was composed.Suzie Grogan takes the reader on a journey through Keats’s life and landscapes, introducing us to his best and most influential work. Utilizing primary sources such as Keats’s letters to friends and family and the very latest biographical and academic work, it offers an accessible way to see Keats through the lens of the places he visited and aims to spark a lasting interest in the real Keats—the poet and the man.“Warm and worthwhile observations on how places as varied as the Lake District and the Isle of Wight shaped Keats’s verse.” —Camden New Journal
222 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 20, 2021
John Keats as a person (and as a poet, and a letter-writer) is easy to love; his contemporaries found it so, and readers have continued to fall for him ever since. Suzie Grogan certainly did, and I did, too.
In her Introduction, Grogan quotes Keats as saying, “We read fine things but never feel them to the full until we have gone the same steps as the Author.” Keats was talking metaphorically, about empathy and life experience – but maybe he would have understood we Locations Geeks who enjoy tracking down the places he knew, and literally following in his footsteps. Some of those places and their treasures have been carefully preserved, while others have been significantly changed or even destroyed – but they all offer experiences and perceptions that enhance even the driest sentence in a biography and help bring it to three-dimensional life.
The first (and most substantial) part of this book is a lively biography of Keats, of the places he visited and the writings (both poems and letters) they inspired. Along the way we are given glimpses of Grogan’s own developing understanding of him and his work, from her teenage years, through her own serious health challenges, and into maturity. Chapters are organised mainly by location and then by chronology, so that we are not following Keats through time so much as through place; a deft way to handle his many to-ings and fro-ings.
The whole is lightly written and easy to read, but full of insight, and it conveys a great sense of Keats the man. It even begins with a consideration of the portraits and written descriptions of him by his friends, so that we might see him in our mind’s eye while we accompany him on his travels. For anyone new to Keats, I suggest this is an excellent place to start. There are weightier and more scholarly biographies, but Grogan admirably shows why it’s worth making the effort to read them as well.
The second part of the book provides a few paragraphs on each of those in the Keats Circle who’ve been mentioned during the earlier parts of the book. The focus is still firmly on Keats, however, and on these people’s influence on his life and work and on his later fame and reputation. This is followed by a chronology of key dates, copies of some key poems, and a bibliography.
Highly recommended to those new to John Keats, and to those who already consider themselves a “Friend of Keats”.
Note: I received a PDF ARC from the publisher, and my Keats Locations website is mentioned kindly in the Acknowledgements. But I was always going to be an Ideal Reader for this work, so you may take any gushing as a genuine response. (And I’ve already pre-ordered a hardback copy for myself.)
In her Introduction, Grogan quotes Keats as saying, “We read fine things but never feel them to the full until we have gone the same steps as the Author.” Keats was talking metaphorically, about empathy and life experience – but maybe he would have understood we Locations Geeks who enjoy tracking down the places he knew, and literally following in his footsteps. Some of those places and their treasures have been carefully preserved, while others have been significantly changed or even destroyed – but they all offer experiences and perceptions that enhance even the driest sentence in a biography and help bring it to three-dimensional life.
The first (and most substantial) part of this book is a lively biography of Keats, of the places he visited and the writings (both poems and letters) they inspired. Along the way we are given glimpses of Grogan’s own developing understanding of him and his work, from her teenage years, through her own serious health challenges, and into maturity. Chapters are organised mainly by location and then by chronology, so that we are not following Keats through time so much as through place; a deft way to handle his many to-ings and fro-ings.
The whole is lightly written and easy to read, but full of insight, and it conveys a great sense of Keats the man. It even begins with a consideration of the portraits and written descriptions of him by his friends, so that we might see him in our mind’s eye while we accompany him on his travels. For anyone new to Keats, I suggest this is an excellent place to start. There are weightier and more scholarly biographies, but Grogan admirably shows why it’s worth making the effort to read them as well.
The second part of the book provides a few paragraphs on each of those in the Keats Circle who’ve been mentioned during the earlier parts of the book. The focus is still firmly on Keats, however, and on these people’s influence on his life and work and on his later fame and reputation. This is followed by a chronology of key dates, copies of some key poems, and a bibliography.
Highly recommended to those new to John Keats, and to those who already consider themselves a “Friend of Keats”.
Note: I received a PDF ARC from the publisher, and my Keats Locations website is mentioned kindly in the Acknowledgements. But I was always going to be an Ideal Reader for this work, so you may take any gushing as a genuine response. (And I’ve already pre-ordered a hardback copy for myself.)
January 30, 2021
Whether you love biographies, poetry, or find either one intimidating, behold! This is the biography for you.
Suzie Grogan gives us an incredibly grounded (and eminently readable) look at the life of Romantic poet John Keats. If you've ever encountered Keats and his work before--whether through high school/university English courses or perhaps Jane Campion's 2009 movie "Bright Star"--then you've probably come away with some idea of Keats as the Fragile Tragic Poet laid low by the evil critics who spurned his work and drove him to death's door.
As a lifelong Keats enthusiast, Grogan takes us beyond that image of Keats and digs into the real person. Was Keats fragile? In a sense, yes. He did die at age 25, which was young even by late Georgian standards for adult mortality. But Keats was also someone with a lot of strength. At five feet high, Keats was broad-shouldered, full of vitality, and very muscular. Far from being delicate, he trained as a surgeon. He also faced incredible loss at a young age, and who wouldn't be affected by the death of one's closest family?
What Grogan does particularly well is travel to the real places where Keats lived and stayed throughout his life. She takes us chronologically through the environments Keats experienced and contrasts them with how they look today. She draws connections between these places and how they rear their head in Keats's work, be it letters or poetry. Grogan doesn't limit Keats's poetry to its real-life inspiration. It's not just a matter of taking real life and spitting it out in verse. Instead, Grogan embraces the idea of a human life in its full context. Keats's poetry is not his life, but it isn't divorced from it, and that connection may bring a greater appreciation of the human behind his beloved poems.
Recommended to anyone, but especially to those either familiar with Keats or entirely new to him. Also perfect for readers who do not know much about poetry and are interested in why people love it so much (and not necessarily poetry by Keats, but all poetry). As Grogan writes: "One thing I believe is that there is a poet out there for everyone. Someone will speak to you and you will feel as if they have somehow read your thoughts and distilled them into a few lines on a page."
(By the by, this is also a great book for anyone interested in a look at a Keats's daily life and work experience in the late Georgian period.)
Suzie Grogan gives us an incredibly grounded (and eminently readable) look at the life of Romantic poet John Keats. If you've ever encountered Keats and his work before--whether through high school/university English courses or perhaps Jane Campion's 2009 movie "Bright Star"--then you've probably come away with some idea of Keats as the Fragile Tragic Poet laid low by the evil critics who spurned his work and drove him to death's door.
As a lifelong Keats enthusiast, Grogan takes us beyond that image of Keats and digs into the real person. Was Keats fragile? In a sense, yes. He did die at age 25, which was young even by late Georgian standards for adult mortality. But Keats was also someone with a lot of strength. At five feet high, Keats was broad-shouldered, full of vitality, and very muscular. Far from being delicate, he trained as a surgeon. He also faced incredible loss at a young age, and who wouldn't be affected by the death of one's closest family?
What Grogan does particularly well is travel to the real places where Keats lived and stayed throughout his life. She takes us chronologically through the environments Keats experienced and contrasts them with how they look today. She draws connections between these places and how they rear their head in Keats's work, be it letters or poetry. Grogan doesn't limit Keats's poetry to its real-life inspiration. It's not just a matter of taking real life and spitting it out in verse. Instead, Grogan embraces the idea of a human life in its full context. Keats's poetry is not his life, but it isn't divorced from it, and that connection may bring a greater appreciation of the human behind his beloved poems.
Recommended to anyone, but especially to those either familiar with Keats or entirely new to him. Also perfect for readers who do not know much about poetry and are interested in why people love it so much (and not necessarily poetry by Keats, but all poetry). As Grogan writes: "One thing I believe is that there is a poet out there for everyone. Someone will speak to you and you will feel as if they have somehow read your thoughts and distilled them into a few lines on a page."
(By the by, this is also a great book for anyone interested in a look at a Keats's daily life and work experience in the late Georgian period.)
November 17, 2020
John Keats is one of my favourite poets so imagine how happy I was to see this gorgeous book available to read! It is the most outstanding and comprehensive yet accessible work I've read on Keats, what influenced him and prompted him to write and his life and events around him. It's akin to finding all the information on him as a writer and as a person and combining them to create this treasure chest of a book. Not only that but oh, what lovely photographs, drawings and illustrations! Many are new to me.
What if Keats hadn't died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 25? What he could have accomplished! Though I'm grateful for what he DID write and document. How lucky we are to have his poetry and letters. Though I've been to several Keats-related sites, to walk where he walked and to see what he saw through his eyes, as the author did, must have been pure magic. If writers knew their profound effects on people years after they are gone...
Grogan writes about his physical looks (of which he was self conscious) and mannerisms and personality, too. I would like to listen to him read his own poetry with his inflections and emphases. I had not seen his life mask before! Very interesting. The information about his almost-medical career was fascinating. Keats' relationship with Fanny, other writers (such as Wordsworth) and his friends are well documented here with as much information as is available. My favourite is the devotion of Joseph Severn during Keats' terrible illness and death. Descriptions of his beloved landscapes such as Stock Ghyll Force, capture and enchant me. That's "my" Keats.
That was Section 1 in the book; Section 2 is extremely useful as the author advises in the beginning; it introduces us those around Keats. This is followed by a chronological list of important dates in Keats' life and the spectacular ending...almost a denoument...which highlights some of Keats' indescribable poetry. The author's emotional connection to Keats is lovely to follow. So, if you are a fan of Keats or wish to learn more about him, this is your best opportunity!
My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this lovely, lovely book in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated.
What if Keats hadn't died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 25? What he could have accomplished! Though I'm grateful for what he DID write and document. How lucky we are to have his poetry and letters. Though I've been to several Keats-related sites, to walk where he walked and to see what he saw through his eyes, as the author did, must have been pure magic. If writers knew their profound effects on people years after they are gone...
Grogan writes about his physical looks (of which he was self conscious) and mannerisms and personality, too. I would like to listen to him read his own poetry with his inflections and emphases. I had not seen his life mask before! Very interesting. The information about his almost-medical career was fascinating. Keats' relationship with Fanny, other writers (such as Wordsworth) and his friends are well documented here with as much information as is available. My favourite is the devotion of Joseph Severn during Keats' terrible illness and death. Descriptions of his beloved landscapes such as Stock Ghyll Force, capture and enchant me. That's "my" Keats.
That was Section 1 in the book; Section 2 is extremely useful as the author advises in the beginning; it introduces us those around Keats. This is followed by a chronological list of important dates in Keats' life and the spectacular ending...almost a denoument...which highlights some of Keats' indescribable poetry. The author's emotional connection to Keats is lovely to follow. So, if you are a fan of Keats or wish to learn more about him, this is your best opportunity!
My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this lovely, lovely book in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated.
December 1, 2020
Suzie Grogan lives with a book of Keats’ poetry in her pocket. She is a devotee. The pages brim with her own cherished sense of Keatsian Joy.
In her jolly enthused book she walks in the footsteps of Keats, quite literally translating the landscapes before her as he might have seen them. Given the 200 years past, this can be quite a challenge; numerous inns have turned into Costa coffees, and the endless ear-grating pitch of automobile traffic doubtless annihilates the lost call of the nightingale. Nevertheless, Grogan inspires with her reflections upon the poet, scattering Keats’ light deep into the 21st century.
There are canonical biographies and numerous critical works written about Keats. Grogan is not professing a work of scholarship to add to the canon, she is talking to her fellow Keats’ devotees personally and confessing her own emotional journey. This is a deeply relatable heartfelt testament. It is not overwrought sentimentality, but an expression of intimate care for the fate of a poet (or any author) and how that can work wonders in our own lives. In this sense, Grogan fulfills Keats’ own wish that poetry fill the Vale of its readers Souls.
Divided into travelogues, each section covers a journey undertaken by Keats in his short life. The wonders of Scotland, the wet of Devon, the isolation of the Isle of White, the home of Hampstead, and the setting sail to Rome, each well-known passage of Keats’ life is carefully interweaved with Grogan’s own selection of letters and poetry, highlighting how Keats may have felt, but equally as important, how he might have viewed the social context about him in each location. Indeed, it is perhaps as an interpreted historic vista of late Georgian society that the book most impresses.
For the Keats obsessive and the new reader alike, there’s ample poetry here to surprise us as well as to comfort us. From the saucy ballads of a Devon maid to the terrors of old Meg upon the Highland Moors, more subversive wit and vitality to Keats meet with the eye than with the popular record. He reminds us to live. Poetry is not a specialist subject for the bookworm; it is synonymous with a call to adventure.
In her jolly enthused book she walks in the footsteps of Keats, quite literally translating the landscapes before her as he might have seen them. Given the 200 years past, this can be quite a challenge; numerous inns have turned into Costa coffees, and the endless ear-grating pitch of automobile traffic doubtless annihilates the lost call of the nightingale. Nevertheless, Grogan inspires with her reflections upon the poet, scattering Keats’ light deep into the 21st century.
There are canonical biographies and numerous critical works written about Keats. Grogan is not professing a work of scholarship to add to the canon, she is talking to her fellow Keats’ devotees personally and confessing her own emotional journey. This is a deeply relatable heartfelt testament. It is not overwrought sentimentality, but an expression of intimate care for the fate of a poet (or any author) and how that can work wonders in our own lives. In this sense, Grogan fulfills Keats’ own wish that poetry fill the Vale of its readers Souls.
Divided into travelogues, each section covers a journey undertaken by Keats in his short life. The wonders of Scotland, the wet of Devon, the isolation of the Isle of White, the home of Hampstead, and the setting sail to Rome, each well-known passage of Keats’ life is carefully interweaved with Grogan’s own selection of letters and poetry, highlighting how Keats may have felt, but equally as important, how he might have viewed the social context about him in each location. Indeed, it is perhaps as an interpreted historic vista of late Georgian society that the book most impresses.
For the Keats obsessive and the new reader alike, there’s ample poetry here to surprise us as well as to comfort us. From the saucy ballads of a Devon maid to the terrors of old Meg upon the Highland Moors, more subversive wit and vitality to Keats meet with the eye than with the popular record. He reminds us to live. Poetry is not a specialist subject for the bookworm; it is synonymous with a call to adventure.
December 9, 2020
I finished reading "John Keats, Poetry, Life and Landscapes:, by Suzie Grogan last night. I like reading books where I learn new things and this was no exception. I knew very little of John Keats other than his poetry of course which we learned in school. I knew nothing of the man himself or of his life in general. In this, the book did not disappoint and I learned quite a bit.
Although the book was filled with knowledge of Keats and his life, I found that it was not an easy read. To me it was very wordy and filled with obscure details which were written in a style that made it hard to get the flow of the book moving. Maybe it was just me, but I did find it rather difficult to keep my attention focused at times.
The book is well researched and full of historical detail which I find interesting and informative. It tells of the places Keats had lived and of his training to be a doctor which I didn't know of. It tells how he has influenced history and politics over time, these facts not usually being associated with him before. All of this I found very interesting and I am glad I did not give up reading this book though at times I almost did.
I feel that it was worth the time and the bit of a struggle it took me to get through for the sheer fact of the knowledge and insight into his life and influence I gained. It portrayed a much broader picture of John Keats than just that of poet that you learn of in school. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to gain insight and knowledge of the man behind the poetry.
I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars, only because I found the style in which it was written difficult.
I would like to thank @NetGalley and the publishers at @PenandSwordHistory for the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley
#JohnKeats
Although the book was filled with knowledge of Keats and his life, I found that it was not an easy read. To me it was very wordy and filled with obscure details which were written in a style that made it hard to get the flow of the book moving. Maybe it was just me, but I did find it rather difficult to keep my attention focused at times.
The book is well researched and full of historical detail which I find interesting and informative. It tells of the places Keats had lived and of his training to be a doctor which I didn't know of. It tells how he has influenced history and politics over time, these facts not usually being associated with him before. All of this I found very interesting and I am glad I did not give up reading this book though at times I almost did.
I feel that it was worth the time and the bit of a struggle it took me to get through for the sheer fact of the knowledge and insight into his life and influence I gained. It portrayed a much broader picture of John Keats than just that of poet that you learn of in school. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to gain insight and knowledge of the man behind the poetry.
I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars, only because I found the style in which it was written difficult.
I would like to thank @NetGalley and the publishers at @PenandSwordHistory for the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley
#JohnKeats
December 8, 2020
John Keats: Poetry, Life and Landscapes by Suzie Grogan is a fun and very well structured book. Keats is presented as poet, human, and very much a person of his time.
While this covers his life and works it also brings together research that is scattered in various biographies and critical books into this readily accessible volume. If one simply wants to know and understand Keats in order to more fully appreciate his poetry, this will likely serve you better than the comprehensive but often dryly academic tomes.
I recently read a book, Keats's Odes: A Lover's Discourse by Anahid Nersessian, that focused on his odes but in doing so also covered his relation to place and the events going on around him. Like Grogan, Nersessian is a lifelong Keats fan and it shows. These books complemented each other very well, one his life writ large the other his life filtered through his odes. And both include the personal attachment of the authors to their subject.
Interestingly, I am also reading a book titled Writing America by Shelley Fisher Fishkin that connects place with literary figures, though in that case strictly in the US. Like Grogan, Fishkin shows us that locations are more than just places when it comes to influencing writers.
I highly recommend this volume to anyone even remotely interested in Keats and his poetry. The writing is clear and the connection between the public and the private makes this the kind of read where the reader will likely relate to how deeply a writer's work can touch our own lives.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
While this covers his life and works it also brings together research that is scattered in various biographies and critical books into this readily accessible volume. If one simply wants to know and understand Keats in order to more fully appreciate his poetry, this will likely serve you better than the comprehensive but often dryly academic tomes.
I recently read a book, Keats's Odes: A Lover's Discourse by Anahid Nersessian, that focused on his odes but in doing so also covered his relation to place and the events going on around him. Like Grogan, Nersessian is a lifelong Keats fan and it shows. These books complemented each other very well, one his life writ large the other his life filtered through his odes. And both include the personal attachment of the authors to their subject.
Interestingly, I am also reading a book titled Writing America by Shelley Fisher Fishkin that connects place with literary figures, though in that case strictly in the US. Like Grogan, Fishkin shows us that locations are more than just places when it comes to influencing writers.
I highly recommend this volume to anyone even remotely interested in Keats and his poetry. The writing is clear and the connection between the public and the private makes this the kind of read where the reader will likely relate to how deeply a writer's work can touch our own lives.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
December 1, 2020
I will never get to England. I had dreamed of it when I was in my twenties and thirties. I wanted to see the places that inspired the literature I loved. Now, I am content to remain an armchair traveler.
Suzie Grogan's biography John Keats is a real treat, a wonderful way to meet John Keats and learn about his life and work and travels. Grogan discovered Keats as a teenager, memorizing his poetry and studying his life. She makes readers love Keats, too.
I will admit that I had a limited knowledge of the Romantic writers, a deficit I have tried to make up for in my mature years. I had come across Keats while reading about other Romantic era writers. It was time to become more familiar with his poet.
Keats studied to be a doctor but decided to dedicate his life to poetry. As a teenager, Keats had nursed his mother who was dying from TB. And he had taken care of his brother who also died of TB. As a physician, he knew he had tuberculosis, and it drove him to give up the woman he loved. Keats himself tragically died of TB at age 25.
Before his death, he managed a strenuous walking tour, although troubled by a sore throat. Grogan follows Keats' walking journey across north England and Scotland, describing what Keats would have seen and the modern view of the same scenes. The tour helped to inspire some of his best poetry.
Illustrations enrich the book: Keat's beautiful, refined face, the houses and cottages where he lived or visited, the cathedrals and the streets he knew, statues and art portraying him.
Grogan includes the iconic poems she discusses in the volume, and reading them was an important part of my appreciation.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Suzie Grogan's biography John Keats is a real treat, a wonderful way to meet John Keats and learn about his life and work and travels. Grogan discovered Keats as a teenager, memorizing his poetry and studying his life. She makes readers love Keats, too.
I will admit that I had a limited knowledge of the Romantic writers, a deficit I have tried to make up for in my mature years. I had come across Keats while reading about other Romantic era writers. It was time to become more familiar with his poet.
Keats studied to be a doctor but decided to dedicate his life to poetry. As a teenager, Keats had nursed his mother who was dying from TB. And he had taken care of his brother who also died of TB. As a physician, he knew he had tuberculosis, and it drove him to give up the woman he loved. Keats himself tragically died of TB at age 25.
Before his death, he managed a strenuous walking tour, although troubled by a sore throat. Grogan follows Keats' walking journey across north England and Scotland, describing what Keats would have seen and the modern view of the same scenes. The tour helped to inspire some of his best poetry.
Illustrations enrich the book: Keat's beautiful, refined face, the houses and cottages where he lived or visited, the cathedrals and the streets he knew, statues and art portraying him.
Grogan includes the iconic poems she discusses in the volume, and reading them was an important part of my appreciation.
I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
February 24, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. Knowing a little about Keats, I found the way the book is written and laid out really helpful. It felt like walking through Keats’ life in the company of a knowledgable friend who wears their learning lightly. This is not a biography of the “he was born, this happened, he died” type and Ms Grogan is clear about that. She mentions several times the biography by Andrew Motion and quotes from it. This book is episodes from the poet’s life tied to the places where he lived or journeyed.
I had no idea that Keats was such a small man nor that he had died so young. I saw him as a tragic figure in the romantic poet genre and didn't connect the work so closely with the man. Now when I reread his poetry, I will have images in my head of the man he was, the sadness and joy in his life and the places he saw that I too can or have visit/ed.
A beautiful book full of insight and information and much as I would love to follow in Keats’ footsteps like the author, I think walking hundreds of miles from northern England through the length of Scotland would be better done in my armchair with a book in my hand. I will reread this book after I’ve gone through some of Keats poetry.
I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.
I had no idea that Keats was such a small man nor that he had died so young. I saw him as a tragic figure in the romantic poet genre and didn't connect the work so closely with the man. Now when I reread his poetry, I will have images in my head of the man he was, the sadness and joy in his life and the places he saw that I too can or have visit/ed.
A beautiful book full of insight and information and much as I would love to follow in Keats’ footsteps like the author, I think walking hundreds of miles from northern England through the length of Scotland would be better done in my armchair with a book in my hand. I will reread this book after I’ve gone through some of Keats poetry.
I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.
May 8, 2023
My main issue with the book only revealed itself when reading in conjunction with Roe’s work of Keats. Although I liked it and very much appreciated the addition of photos and visual stimulus, the consistent referencing back to the "teenage self" eventually felt unnecessary and distracting (no, seriously, I do understand you have loved Keats all your life, but I don’t need to know how your teenage self felt about every bit). I did enjoy the personal accounts in relation to the author’s experiences and struggles. If you are familiar with Keats's work and life, you may, as I did, wish to seek out more in-depth accounts. The cover is by one of my favorite artists, so it is much more aesthetically pleasing sitting out than most "biographies” (which is nice for when you have finished the book and wish to entice your guests with a bit of Keats!) This is an excellent primer, but it did not have the depth I desired. It is very short; therefore, this might be for you! There were some very astute observations and beautiful musings throughout.
April 26, 2021
In John Keats: Poetry, Life and Landscapes Suzie Grogan shares her experiences of following in Keats’s footsteps in Hampstead, Oxford, the Isle of Wight and elsewhere; her responses to his poetry; and its influence on her life. This is an intensely personal book, but it is also well-informed, containing numerous references to scholarly and biographical work on Keats. It includes useful biographical information, pen portraits of family, friends and lovers, and some of his poems. The style is direct, honest and unpretentious, as well as a no-nonsense rejection of the stereotypical image of Keats as the frail, sickly romantic. [Disclosure: the author is known to me but this is my honest opinion of the book.]
January 19, 2022
Now I know a lot about John Keats and his poetry, what drove him and his lifetime. I especially enjoyed reading Susie Grogan’s parallel walks in his steps and her personal life story interspersed with his life story and how so many years have changed the scenery of Keats’s England. She covered his family, his history and what happened to his friends and family. Well researched and beautifully written - I read it slowly as it was a book that I wanted to savor.
July 1, 2021
Fascinating insight into the life and work of a cherished poet that I have known little and about. Some of the journeys that he made, especially knowing the areas myself, are quite awe inspiring considering the poor health that Keats was burdened with. I now feel the need to purchase his poems and letters to get to know him better.
January 22, 2024
I hate John Keates poetry. Not at all for me.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews