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This is a profoundly beautiful collection that has so many moments of sheer
unhallowed grief that I was close to tears many a time, surely a tribute
to the potent force of the written word. Married with the timeless charm
of Mendelssohn's piano music, Keats' poetry and writings almost spring from
the speakers. In all Keats' famous poems such as 'Ode on a Grecian Urn',
'To Autumn' and many many others, a constant line of beauty runs through
the narrative with effortless lyricism painting a picture of romantic genius.
However my major discovery lay in these poignant letters, short stabs of
grief-stricken melancholy by an astoundingly mature 25 year old. The letters
to Keats' lover, Fanny Brawn are particularly beautiful, sheer despair and
eternal longing permeate the lines with an almost tragical regularity. We
are thrown headlong into Keats' last years and are made to suffer his wayward
emotions and constant depression brought upon by ill-health and unfortunate
circumstances. The poems that intersperse the narratives are all grandly
romantic and one could not fail to understand that genius is constantly at
work. Keats' preoccupation with death is also dealt with in most of his letters
and one cannot but imagine the wrecked thoughts and destroyed ambitions running
through the life that was slowly ebbing fast. As the last of the letters
to Charles Brown fades away, we are intoxicated by the utter simplicity and
beauty of 'When I have fears that I may cease to be', the final calling card
of a life that lives on in this cruel world with the potency of love. Samuel
West is an ideal advocate for this collection, his reading is dramatic but
not overtly so and Matthew Marsh's sobre narration carries a hint of the
ever impending doom. I imagine Keats on his deathbed, at last he had his
wish, to go to the country where all troubles and heartache are indeed laid
to rest and where he could enjoy the dreams with his beloved in the solitude
of paradise.
Reviewer
Gerald Fenech
Reading:
Effects:
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Reviewer
Gerald Fenech
Reading:
Effects:
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Read by Samuel West with Matthew Marsh
