A Thing of Beauty

The Life and Poetry of John Keats

By: John Cousins

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

"Cousins has given us a compelling biography of Keats' short and tragic life."
MENSA Bulletin


It is difficult;
To get the news from poems;
Yet men die miserably every day;
For lack;
Of what is found there.
William Carlos Williams

John Keats composed the most glorious jewels in the crown of English poetry. His are the most perfect poems in English. His letters are also considered a great literary achievement where he developed his ideas and concepts on art and life. The ability to transcend self by emotionally merging with nature's beauty became an essential credo for John Keats. His feelings on the subject resonated with classical philosophy and the principle of love for the good and beautiful. These ideas would ultimately become Keats's justification for embracing the life affirming importance of the aesthetic life. This credo began to emerge in Endymion whose first line is, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

Good Listening

Beautiful words heard beautifully as several kisses upon the brow . An irresistible gesture repeat again somehow.

Excellent story by a skilled biographer marred by idiotic AI poetry readings.

This is the last book on earth that should have been narrated by artificial intelligence. I was amazed by how accurate AI is while reading prose, except for its butchery of any language but English. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is one lamentable example. But to allow it to recite Keats’s poems in the final chapter was a horrific mistake which ought to have been predicted before it was allowed to happen.

On a happier note, this biography of John Keats was fascinating and well presented. I couldn’t have been more pleased to read new and fresh details of the poet’s life, so very well composed by this author.