On Halloween

 The Birthday of John Keats:

Allhallows Eve

On October 31, 1795, English poet

John Keats was born in London.

Happy birthday, Keats!

Your haunting

and mysterious

ballad "La Belle Dame

Sans Merci"

enthralls me this eve.

Happy Halloween! To read Keats's ballad "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" click here.

John Keats (1795-1821)

"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats

It was English naturalist and writer William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) who said, "It is my experience that, when a nightingale starts singing, the small birds near immediately become attentive, often suspending their own songs. And some fly to perch near him and listen."

To read the poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by English poet John Keats, click here.

John Keats (1795-1821)

"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats

On this day in 1934, according to the Associated Press, "Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published in book form after being serialized in Scribner's Magazine." Fitzgerald borrowed the title of that novel from the fifth line in the fourth stanza of the poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats.

To read more about F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel Tender Is the Night, click here.

To read the poem "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats, click here.

John Keats (1795-1821)

English poet

"This living hand, now warm and capable" by John Keats

Today is Halloween. Happy Halloween! On this day in 1795, English poet John Keats was born in London. Happy birthday, John Keats! Here is an untitled poem of his that is appropriate for Halloween. It is the last poem that he wrote.

This living hand, now warm and capable
Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold
And in the icy silence of the tomb,
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights
That thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again,
And thou be conscience-calm'd -- see here it is --
I hold it towards you.

John Keats (1795-1821)

"To Autumn" by John Keats : The Poetry Foundation

Listen to a recording of a man reading this classic poem, this classic ode, by John Keats: To Autumn - Poem of the Day - Poetry Foundation

John Keats (1795-1821)

English poet

"On the Grasshopper and Cricket" by John Keats : The Poetry Foundation

"The Poetry of earth is never dead." So begins this sonnet by English poet John Keats (1795-1821): On the Grasshopper and Cricket

John Keats

"On the Sale by Auction of Keats' Love Letters" by Oscar Wilde

ON THE SALE BY AUCTION OF KEATS' LOVE LETTERS
A sonnet by Oscar Wilde

These are the letters which Endymion wrote
   To one he loved in secret, and apart.
   And now the brawlers of the auction mart
Bargain and bid for each poor blotted note,
Ay! for each separate pulse of passion quote
   The merchant's price. I think they love not art
   Who break the crystal of a poet's heart
That small and sickly eyes may glare and gloat.
Is it not said that many years ago,
   In a far Eastern town, some soldiers ran
   With torches through the midnight, and began
To wrangle for mean raiment, and to throw
   Dice for the garments of a wretched man,
Not knowing the God's wonder, or His woe?


Listen to a recitation of the sonnet above in a video and read about that sonnet on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2tavj1Mhyvw 

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

"La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad" by John Keats : Poem Guide : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation

Read La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad by John Keats : Poem Guide : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation ~ This poem by John Keats (1795-1821) was reprinted in The Pocket Mystery Reader (1942), edited by Lee Wright.

English poet John Keats

was born on this day in 1795.

Biography: John Keats (1795-1821) : The Poetry Foundation

Read a biography of English poet John Keats : The Poetry Foundation

John Keats

was born on this day in 1795.