Record Number: 17371

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

[Marginalia in Keats's annotated copy of "Paradise Lost" in Book 1, lines 318-21]: Keats underlines the line 'To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven?' and writes: 'There is a cool pleasure in the very sound of vale. The english word is of the happiest chance. Milton has put vales in heaven and hell with the very utter affection and yearning of a great Poet. It is a sort of delphic Abstraction - a beautiful thing made more beautiful by being reflected and put in a Mist. The next mention of Vale is one of the most pathetic in the whole range of Poetry. "Others, more mild, / Retreated in a silent Valley etc". How much of the charm is in the Valley!'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

unknown

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

John Keats

Age:

Unknown

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

31 Oct 1795

Socio-Economic Group:

n/a

Occupation:

poet

Religion:

atheist

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

unknown

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

John Milton

Title:

Paradise Lost

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

17371

Source:

Print

Author:

John Keats

Editor:

John Barnard

Title:

John Keats: The Complete Poems

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1988

Vol:

n/a

Page:

518-9

Additional Comments:

The marginalia is transcribed in Appendix 4 of this edition.

Citation:

John Keats, John Barnard (ed.), John Keats: The Complete Poems, (London, 1988), p. 518-9, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17371, accessed: 20 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None