Customer Reviews

John Keats: The Making of a Poet

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This is an excellent, fluidly written book which explores the life and writing of John Keats. Aileen Ward writes from a psychological perspective and seems to enter deeply into the inner workings of the poet. She describes his development with sensitivity and elegance. Her writing is seamless, and although she explores Keats's life thoroughly, the text never seems weighed down by detail. Ward's account may seem in certain sections to idealize Keats as 'the poet' and set him above the 'common man.' She can also seem subtly manipulative in her treatment of his life and the psychological journey that she believes him to have undertaken. At times, the reader wonders how she could write so authoritatively on Keats's inner life. However, despite these issues, Ward's biography is extremely valuable for anyone who wishes to better know Keats and his life. It is a perfect book for the beginning Keats scholar-- a deeply-felt biography which seems true to its subject in style as well as form.

Ward shapes the life of Keats into a narrative as lively and tangible as the best novel. Her obvious sympathy for the poet, in the trials of poetic invention and during the long decline in health that preceded his premature death, is never overpowering, nor does it cloud a balanced presentation of the details of his life. By far the best literary biography I've read.