Customer Reviews

Book of the Heart (Studies in Imagination)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a memorable and illuminating book, making accessible to the general reader the treasures to be found in Keats's letters as well as his poetry. One of the remarkable things about this book is its emphasis on Keats's understanding of the healing powers of imagination and of poetry. Many, many years ago, my favorite English teacher told me that she hoped to write a book about Keats's letters. I remember wondering how a book about anyone's letters could be interesting, and hoped someday to see her book. She never wrote it, alas-- so it was a wonderful discovery to find in Andres Rodriguez's book some of the depths that my long-ago mentor had hoped to plumb. Don't be fooled by the negative review titled "fooled again"-- this is an unusual and beautiful book.

Andres Rodriguez is clearly very passionate about Literature and the influence Keates had upon his own generation and those that would follow. This book reviews and examines not only the poems of Keates but what could be argued to be even more important in the understanding of the man, his letters. The very mention of John Keates conjures up images of everything related to the "Romantics," however, Rodriguez successfully pays tribute to Keates "the author" instead of Keates as a member of the "Romantic Period." This book would be interesting to both avid fans of Keates and those who are taking their first approach in studying the genius.

The book functions both as a biography of Keats and as a story of a person in the process of "the Great Work"--the forging of a soul/identity. Not only was Keats a great poet, he also had remarkable things to say in his letters about death, love, beauty, and salvation.

I gave it four stars instead of five because I felt that some chapters had less to offer than others, but overall the book gave me a greater appreciation for Keats's life and work, and it also gave me inspiration for my own living life poetically.

I purchased this book based on the editorial reviews.
Well, I've been fooled again and again by glowing MOVIE reviews, but this is a first for me in literature. This is a badly written book. My one star recommendation is for you to purchase the book (it is inexpensive) to make your own judgment.