Nothings which are made Great and dignified by an ardent pursuit

January 25, 2024 12:51 AM

Keats had no particular regard for consistency, and what he says in his letters about poetry and the imagination constitutes no systematic defence. Poetry was essential to his existence; for others, he knew, its value might be less. Nevertheless, even in playful musings on the unreal and the unvalued he is thinking about the power of address, of recognition, to bring into being what might not otherwise exist. from Hooted from the Stage [LRB; ungated]
posted by chavenet (2 comments total)

"You're not a Poet, You're a Dreamer!"
posted by ovvl at 5:11 PM on January 25

This is quite savage, and I couldn’t work out why. The previous articles I’ve read by Susan Eilenberg have been really clear to me, but I couldn’t figure out what made her turn against Anahid Nersessian’s book so fiercely. From everything I’d read before, and the description in the article, it seems like a fairly typical personal essay, taking a major cultural touchstone as its launching point.

Either way, it made me more interested in reading Keats’ Odes: A Lover’s Discourse than the praise I’ve read about it.

I kinda feel for Lucasta Miller, as she’s ostensibly sharing co-billing with a book under review, but she ends up just getting two rather tame paragraphs after a long, brilliant consideration of John Keats through the prism of his posthumous reputation, and the much more memorable appraisal of Nersessian’s work.
posted by Kattullus at 12:11 PM on January 26