Ravenwing wrote:Do any of you find it frustrating that there are so many different versions of Keats' poems, due to editors having slightly changed them? Especially the words that he himself capitalized, being printed as having a lowercase first letter—which was not the way that he wrote his poems. Also, I have noticed some editors have had printed a semi-colon where Keats in his own hand did use an M dash, or a colon where Keats did use a period, and an utter abomination: changing "ye" to "you." What right that any of them thought they did have, that they could change Keats' poems, without even a notice to the reader, is not a right at all, but an arrogance.
Are there any books of Keats' poems which you know of, recent or otherwise, that are faithful to how he actually wrote them—word for word, letter for letter, capitalization for capitalization, and punctuation marks for punctuation marks?
Also, can those who have tried to hijack this thread, or, to put it nicely, tried to take it on a tangent which has nothing to do with discussing the accurate printing of Keats' poems exactly as he wrote them—please be considerate and do start a new thread, perhaps in the Miscellaneous section of this Forum. Thank you.
From Ravenwing.
I have several books in my Keats library that may be of some interest to all interested in Keats (and who might that
not be on this forum!?); however, I'm not too sure they will be of help with the question of concern:
John Keats: A Poet and His Manuscripts by Stephen Hebron. It traces the life and career of Keats through the surviving manuscripts of many of his finest poems and letters. Most of the manuscripts in the book are shown in their entirety and many are shown at actual size. Hebron's commentary that accompanies each manuscript discusses/explores each in detail, highlighting the literary landmarks, and traces Keats's development as a writer and a thinker. Of interest, Hebron also tells the story of how many of Keats's letters and poems changed hands in the 150 years after his death, passing, as we know, from the Keats family and friends to private collectors and finally to public collection in both England and America. Unfortunately, "Bright Star" isn't one of the manuscripts; however, for any Keatsian this book is extremely interesting.
Another book is
Keats Poems Published in 1820, copyright 1909, edited by M. Robertson. I bought this book because, according to its preface, it is a reprint "page for page and line for line of a copy of an original of the 1820 edition that is now housed in the British Museum. For convenience of reference line numbers have been added; but this is the only change. . . ." I figured since I'll never be able to afford an actual first edition of the 1820 volume - at 35,000$ - this will be as close as I'll ever get! Unfortunately, since "Bright Star" was published posthumously, it's not in this book. However, I believe it's a good collection for us to have, since the editor made a concerted effort to be true to the original.
The third book I have I is
John Keats: Poetry and Manuscripts at Harvard, A Facsimile Edition. It's edited by Stillinger and Helen Vendler wrote the accompanying essays. Since Stillinger and Vendler just limit their discussions to the manuscripts found at Harvard, "Bright Star" isn't included.
I hope these are of interest.