John Keats

John KeatsJohn Keats was an English poet. Although not generally well received by his contemporary critics, he has become one of England’s best-loved poets. His poetry, and also his ideas about “negative capability” and the “vale of soul-making”, have bettered not only my work but my life.

First Year in London: Lessons in Negative Capability

“Not wrong, just different.” –Valerie‘s mantra for overcoming culture shock Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of my arrival in London. This afternoon I attended a reading at Keats House in Hampstead. Four volunteers read poems and excerpts from his letters dealing with the concept of Negative Capability. This ability to remain “in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, …

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“Bright Star”

Don’t listen to him. Mr. Voice-Over-Man. He’s one man, with one vocal timbre, and an uncanny knack for taking a sensitive, intelligent, nuanced film, and making it sound like corn syrup. Don’t listen to the voice in the preview. I did. It made me queasy. I suppressed the gag reflex only by remembering that a …

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