The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-08-30

Keats Letters.

the letters to Miss Brawne, which, in the oil.
tors opinion. ought never to have been pub
lished. They give us. he thinks. a disnqreea-
bic sense Of eavesdropping. and he might have
added that they exhibit the man at his worst
and justify the o ntempt with which he was
regarded by many OF his contem rorarios II
IL certain that no virile man. or even manly
sort ri boy would in his love- making or
suherinR have howed and snivellsh after such
alamentable fashion. Thetruth Is that he only
livod long enough-hc died whom he was less
than &c years old-to give promise Of being
man. though he had lived quite long enough TO
prove himself n poet whom nature had in.
tended for the very first rank. With the -x .ep-
lions noted We have here. as we have said. al
most NIL OF The let'ers writton Uy Keats that
ara still extant. and they arc presented almost
unpruned. only n few passages OF mere crudi.
ties. hardly more than two pages In all. hav-
ing boon omitted. The editor has made no at
tempt to suppress such u.terancss Ms hetray
ths weak places In the writer's nature. his flaws
OF taste md Il aiming. his movements OF way.
wardness irrl,ability. and morbid suspicion.
Tho render OF those interesting letters will
agree with Mr.. Colyin that II n selection could
be made from those parts only Of Keais's cor.
respond nee which chow him at his best, We
should have an anthology full OF lntuitIons OF
beauty. even OF wisdom. and breathing the
very spirit OF generous youth. Such nm anthoi-
ogy would be unrivaIlsd for zcst whim. fancy.
and amiability. and 1t would be recognized MS
written in m English which. By It's
peculiar. alert. and varied movement
sometimes recalls. perhnrs more close
~ than that OF any other writer. tho
prose passaGes Of Hamlet" and Much Ado
About Nothing" Indeed. as those letters dis
close. there has seldom been moro diliRent
student OF Shakespeare Than W as Keats. Tho
sources At once OF his thought and OF his style
nre TO be sought In Shakespeare and other
]iiizahethan authors. They were. so to speak.
his only teachers, for his carly education was
OF meacre sort. and between tho ages OF NJ
teen and twenty no was aprrenticed to coun-
try surgeon. We can follow IL these letters
tho process o. his self.instruction and tho
q adual awakening o: his intellect.
In a letter wilton in April. 1917. to his
brothors. Keats tells them that INN ediately
after his arrival ut Southam ptun. Il won't and
unlocked q Shakespeare there's my Com
fort" In u letter written from tho Same
place to J. II. Reynolds. he tolls his cor
respondent that "On the Odd OF April was
Shakes, care born. Now. II should receive n
letter rom You and another from my brothers
on that day 'twoud be O parlous good thing.
Whenever you write say word or two on
some passage in Shakespeare that may have
como rather lew to you-which must Q con.
tinunlly happening. notwithstanding that We
read the same plays forty times: for instance
the following from The tempest mover
struck mo II iorcibiy as at present:
"rrchirs
Shall for the vas, Of niRhI that they may work.
All exercise on thee
"IIow can help bi nglnR to your mind the
limo.
y fin cannot exist without poetry-with-
out eternal poefry-hR the day will not do |
the whole ~ i'll began with little. but habit !
has made me n Leviathan. Just now l !
orened Spenser. and the first lines saw wsre
those:
Tho noble heart that harbors vir nous thought
And is with chi d of glorious great intsMt
Can never rest until 1t forth have brought
TIL eternal brood of Z DRY excellent"
Writing some weeks later to Leigh Hunt he |
again lets us see what stu,lios preoccupied
him. lou yht 10 have said word on Shake |
speares Christianity. There are two passages
which have not looked over with you touch
inG tho thing. the one for. the other against.
That In favor is in Measure Tor Measure
Act H.. scene 9:
"kdb-Alas, alias,
Why. all the souls that WERE were forfeit once.
And lie that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy.
THAT against i, in Twelfth Night Act III.
ecene2:
"uarta-For there IL no Christian that moan, 70 h.
saved by believing RICH L. Fan ev belle 70 such impos
s.b!e passages of grossnss."
In letter to he pninter Haydon. Ke ats te,ls |
him: Il am one that gathers samphire.
dreadful trade tho Gin OF Poesy towers
above me-yet when Tom. who meats with |
aome OF Pope's Homer in .plutar.hs Iives.'
Gay. Ihere Is an ola saving VOL! begun Is
nan a"ne IDS pad one l. would use In
s'eao. Not Deeuh at AL til hai dene: 80
&c corning 10 tnat nave mol begun my Poem.
AMI consequently va p''or' can say nothine
ABOUT IL. hahs uoo 90 Desin "rduously
~hete le"Ve on ho'w"ns'ano'nS occasional
1rpress''hs' anu hope lor the support OF
H'eu loWor wn''' c''lhp '".S n.'ie emihehce'
sna er'eI,"'y ~ my 'e"rS VI III 'Fe ,noheh'ous
AhoouI. Eeuonpor your saSinS tHut you nhu !!