Twentieth- and Twenty-first-century Keats Criticism

Abstract

This essay offers a survey of major twentieth- and twenty-first-century interpretations of Keats's life and work. Mapping lines of influence between distinctive formal, theoretical and historical approaches to Keats's oeuvre, I highlight significant critical trends and areas of recurrent formal and thematic interest in Keats studies. When appropriate, current confluences between these theoretical and historical methodologies are noted. Given the wide scope of material available, prominence has been given to those projects (where possible, emphasis is given to critical books) which both represent particular twentieth-century critical perspectives or thematic concerns and are important studies in themselves. This survey closes by indicating potential areas for future research and observes that many twentieth-century critical viewpoints and issues remain vital to Keats studies at the start of the twenty-first century.