Lamia

Keats, John, 1795-1821Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.2

Word count: 31K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Lamia by John KeatsAuthor: Keats, John, 1795-1821,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 1, 2001

Editor's review

Keats's Lamia is a long narrative poem drawn from the classical myth of a serpent-woman who takes human form and falls in love with a young man. In taut, sensuous verse it explores the conflict between imagination and reality, reason and passion, and stands as a key text for understanding the aesthetics of English Romantic poetry. The imagery is rich and the versification carefully wrought, revealing both Keats's reworking of classical material and his profound treatment of love and disillusionment. This edition is the Project Gutenberg English electronic text, convenient for searching and reading on the go. It rewards slow, section-by-section reading in a quiet setting; reading aloud brings out its rhythm, and pairing it with Keats's odes gives a fuller sense of his poetic development.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Lovers of English Romantic poetry who wish to read Keats's narrative verse closely
Students of English and American literature studying Romantic poetry texts
Readers interested in literary adaptations of classical myth
Advanced learners seeking to improve poetry reading through the English original

Not a good fit for

Readers accustomed to modern prose narrative with limited patience for verse
Beginners needing detailed Chinese annotations and background introductions
Readers who prefer fast-paced plot-driven fiction

Reading tips

Read the whole poem once for the plot, then go back section by section for imagery and rhetoric
Try reading the lines aloud to feel Keats's rhythm and diction
Use the background of the Lamia myth in Greek mythology to understand the poet's reworking
After reading, compare with Keats's odes to trace his themes of imagination and reality

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What kind of work is Lamia?

It is a long narrative poem by Keats that tells in verse the classical myth of the serpent-woman Lamia, who takes human form and falls in love with a young man; it belongs to the narrative tradition of English Romantic poetry.

Does this edition include a Chinese translation or annotations?

This is the Project Gutenberg English electronic text, with the body in English and no Chinese translation or detailed annotations; readers need some grounding in reading English poetry.

What background knowledge is helpful for reading this poem?

Familiarity with the basic Lamia myth in Greek mythology and with the Romantic debate over imagination and reason will help in understanding the poem's conflicts and meanings.

Comments

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About the author

Keats, John, 1795-1821 Author

John Keats (1795–1821) is one of the representative figures of English Romantic poetry. Publicly available information is limited, and the details of his life fall outside the scope of this introduction, but it is certain that in his short life he left behind several poetry collections and letters. The library holds seven of his works, including the poetry collections Poems 1817, Endymion: A Poetic Romance, Lamia, and Keats: Poems Published in 1820, as well as Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends and the translated collections Poèmes et Poésies (French) and Runoelmia (Finnish). His poetry is known for rich sensory imagery and concise, refined language, often exploring themes of beauty, love, death, and eternity; his letters are also regarded as important material for understanding his poetic ideas. Keats has had a profound influence on later English poetry.