Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne
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Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

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Product Info

  • EAN: 9780143117742
  • Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Features

  • ISBN13: 9780143117742
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Editorial Reviews:

  • The epic romance of one of the most celebrated poets in the English language

    Coming to theatres in September 2009 is the tragic love story of nineteenth-century poet John Keats and the love of his life, Fanny Brawne. Keats died at the young age of twenty-five, leaving behind some of the most exquisite and moving verse and letters ever written, inspired by his deep love for Fanny. Bright Star is a collection of Keat's romantic poems and correspondence in the heat of his passion, and is a dazzling display of a talent cut cruelly short.

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  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: One of the Bests
  • Comment: John Keats is one of the best poets I have ever had the honor to read. Having died at the age of 25, John Keats may have lived a short life but his poetry and letters show he knew much more about love and life than most of us today. This book, in particular, serves as a companion to the 2009 movie "Bright Star", staring Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw. As the movie focuses on the doomed romantic relationship between John Keats and Fanny Brawne, this book offers selected poetry and letters that John Keats wrote to Fanny. Unfortunately, none of Fanny Brawne's letters have survived.

    Despite the fact that all the letters included in this book are all from John Keats, you still are given a glance into his heart. After reading this book I was in awe at how deep and personal his letters and poems were. A few tears were shed, both of sadness and happiness. Even though Fannny Brawne did finally marry six years after Keats death you can not believe anything but that these two were soul mates in the highest sense of the word.
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: Excellent companion volume to a wonderful film
  • Comment: Bright Star, the story of the doomed love story of Romantic poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, was my favorite film of 2009, and this slim volume is an excellent companion to it. The book contains an introduction by director Jane Campion, all of Keats' letter to his beloved Fanny, and the poems that were inspired by her. If you are new to Keats or want to learn more about the man behind the movie, this is a good place to start. If you're already familiar with Keats' work, this volume may not satisfy you, and I would recommend his Collected Poems.

    This book is worth adding to your library for the beautifully written letters to Fanny. In his letters, Keats is passionate, sad, occasionally desperate, and very aware of his own mortality. Unfortunately, we don't have the other side of the story; Fanny's letters to Keats were destroyed (at his request). (Fanny did correspond in later years with Keats' sister, so we know something of her thoughts on the relationship.) But even on their own, Keats' letters are wonderful to read and add another dimension to the experience of the film.

  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: Great buy!!!
  • Comment: This seller delivers what they promised! I would do business with them again in a heartbeat!
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
  • Summary: Swoon-worthy poetry of unrequited love
  • Comment: "Bright Star," showcases the love letters and poems written by John Keats to Fanny Brawne.

    Although Keats died when he was just 25, he left behind some of the most amazing poetry ever written. He also left a tender collection of love letters, inspired by his great love for Fanny Brawne. They knew each other only a few short years and spent much of this time apart due to Keats' worsening illness.

    Keats writes again and again about Fanny. In fact, the last poem of this book is called, "To Fanny," and he wrote love letters to her constantly. (Oh, swoon! And get this - she wore the ring he had given her until her death, almost 45 years after he passed away.)

    The movie itself Bright Star is a treat to watch. Picture it: The setting is London, and the year is 1818. A secret love affair begins between 23 year-old English poet, John Keats (played by Ben Whishaw), and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), who is an out-spoken student of high fashion. This unlikely duo begins their friendship by butting heads. He thinks she's stylish, but too much of a flirt, while she is unimpressed with literature in general.

    When Fanny hears that Keats is nursing his seriously ill younger brother, she offers to help. Keats is touched by her efforts and shares his poetry with her. The poetry soon becomes a romantic remedy that works not only to sort their differences, but also to fuel their love for one another.

    Fanny's mother becomes alarmed by this friendship (typical, huh?), but by then their relationship has an unstoppable momentum. Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers are swept up in the tide of their emotions. Keats wrote to Brawne, "I have the feeling as if we're dissolving." (ooh la la!)

    When Keats fell ill a year later, the two young lovers were separated. Keats needed to travel abroad to warmer clients due to health reasons, and Brawne remained in their home country, without her love. In Keats' own poignant words, "forever panting and forever young."
  • Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
  • Summary: "When I have fears that I may cease to be...." *
  • Comment: This slim 132 page book was published as a companion to the film "Bright Star" (2009) directed by Jane Campion, who also wrote the introduction. I did not see the movie, as it was shown in only a few theaters in this area for a brief period of time, and hardly any word of it was mentioned in the local newspapers. I understand that it will be out in DVD in January 2010.

    Anyone who loves the poetry of the English Romantic Writers, e.g., Byron, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, et al, is already familiar with the poems of John Keats. It is interesting, though, that these poems and letters were the product of Keats's intense love for Fanny Brawne. Written in the last few years of his life, they are honest, open, touching, and full of life, love, and youthful optimism. They also hint of the tragedy yet to come.

    A letter written on 27 February 1821 by Joseph Severn, the friend who accompanied Keats to Rome, recalls Keats's last moments:

    "He is gone-he died with the most perfect ease-he seemed to go to sleep. On the 23rd, about 4, the approaches of death came on, 'Severn-I-lift me up-I am dying-I shall die easy-don't be frightened-be firm, and thank God it has come!' I lifted him up in my arms...he gradually sunk into death-so quiet-that I still thought he slept. I cannot say now-I am broken down from four nights' watching, and no sleep since, and my poor Keats gone."
    (ENGLISH ROMANTIC WRITERS - David Perkins, Ed. p.1263)

    How could I give anything less than 5 stars?

    * The first line of "When I Have Fears" by John Keats (1818)


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