The Eve of St. Agnes: With a Chapter from The Mentor - Famous English Poets by Hamilton Wright Mabie

By John Keats and Hamilton Wright Mabie

“The Eve of St. Agnes” is a Romantic narrative poem written by John Keats in 1819 and first published in 1820. Comprised of 42 Spenserian stanzas, it was considered one of his best poems by his contemporaries and remained influential well into the 19th century. John Keats (1795–1821) was an English Romantic poet and one of the most important figures in the second generation of Romantic poets, together with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. He died from tuberculosis at the age of 25, just four years after his work entered publication. Other notable works by this author include: "Ode to a Nightingale", "Sleep and Poetry", and "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer". A fantastic poem by a master Romantic poet that will appeal to all lovers of English poetry. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter from "The Mentor - Famous English Poets" by Hamilton Wright Mabie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528790093

John Keats

John Keats (1921 - November 3, 2000) was an American writer and biographer. Born in Moultrie, Georgia, he attended the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania before serving in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific during World War II. In the 1950s he worked for the Washington Daily News and debuted as an author in 1956 with The Crack in the Picture Window. He also wrote numerous magazine articles, which led to non-fiction books and biographies. From 1974 to 1990 Keats taught magazine writing at Syracuse University. He died in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 2000 at the age of 79.

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THE EVE

OF ST. AGNES

By

JOHN KEATS

WITH A CHAPTER FROM

The Mentor - Famous English Poets

BY HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE

First published in 1820

This edition published by Read Books Ltd.

Copyright © 2019 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

JOHN KEATS BY HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE

PREFACE BY EDMUND GOSSE

THE EVE OF ST. AGNES

JOHN KEATS

BY HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE

No one man ever published a worse first volume nor a better last volume of poetry than did John Keats. And no poet was so severely criticized at the beginning nor more highly praised at the end of his life. Yet between the appearance of his first work and the publication of his last volume there was a space of but three years.

Keats’ origin was humble; but not so vulgar as most people think. He was born on October 29, 1795, and was the eldest son of Thomas Keats, head hostler at the Swan and Hoop livery stables in London. But in spite of these commonplace early associations his parents were able to send John to a private school at Enfield. Thomas Keats was killed by a fall from his horse in 1804, and Mrs. Keats