Is this how John Keats would have sounded reading his great sonnet Bright Star? Dr Ranjan Sen has a better idea than most. A scholar specialising in phonology and phonetics at the University of Sheffield, Ranjan researched how English was spoken in the early 19th century (not least ----more----by a London Cockney) for the cyber-resurrection of John…

In the second part of our conversation with Fiona Sampson, who chaired 2022's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes, we discuss the joys and the challenges of reading Shelley, Keats and the Romantics in general in 2023. ----more---- Read 2022's Keats-Shelley Prize shortlists Read 2022's Young Romantics Prize shortlists Fiona also continues her d…

The winner of 2022's Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize is 'December Moth outside a care-home window' by Susan Holland. Fiona Sampson writes: ‘This poem is full of linguistic relish and brilliant imagery, with some really exceptional phrase-making including the last line’s ‘glowing impassable threshold.’ Intense, almost forensic observation creates a rich …

Listen to an audio version of Fiona Sampson announcing the winners of 2022's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes.----more---- Enormous thanks to Fiona for all her work - and for recording the announcement while recovering from Covid. Read 2022's Keats-Shelley Prize shortlists Read 2022's Young Romantics Prize shortlists…

Our guest on this episode of the Keats-Shelley Podcast is the poet, biographer and critic Fiona Sampson - who is also Chair of 2022's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes. Read 2022's Keats-Shelley Prize shortlists Read 2022's Young Romantics Prize shortlists Our conversation begins with Fiona reading her favourite Shelley poem, Hymn to Intelle…

To mark the bicentenary of Percy Bysshe Shelley's death on 8th July 1822, Fiona Sampson reads her favourite Shelley poem: Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. Read Hymn to Intellectual Beauty here. Fiona is an acclaimed poet, biographer of Mary Shelley and, last but not least, Chair of 2022's Keats-Shelley Prize. Read more about Fiona Sampson at the Keats-…

At the end of 2020, the Keats-Shelley Podcast spoke to Erica Jong, the bestselling novelist, feminist icon and poet. In fact Erica was a poet before she was a novelist, publishing two poetry volumes making her name with 1973's Fear of Flying. While fiction has dominated her literay output, she has continued to release poetry throughout her 50 year …

2022's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes are open. Our poetry theme this year is Elegy - to mark the bicentenary of Percy Bysshe Shelley's death in 1822, and also the composition of Adonais, his elegy for John Keats, the year before. To mark the launch of the Prizes, we remixed Mick Jagger's recitation of Adonais at Hyde Park in 1969 with ou…

The winning poem of 2021's Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize is 'in the kelp forest' by Katrina Naomi, read here by our Poetry Judge Deryn Rees-Jones. Click here for more about Katrina and 2021's Keats-Shelley Prize. ----more---- Subscribe to the Keats-Shelley Podcast for all new episodes or Follow us on Spotify. You can support the Keats-Shelley House by…

The winning poem of 2021's Young Romantics Poetry Prize is 'A Craftsman's Tale' by Eustacia Feng, read here by our Poetry Judge Will Kemp. Click here for more about Eustacia and 2021's Young Romantics Prize. ----more---- Subscribe to the Keats-Shelley Podcast for all new episodes or Follow us on Spotify. You can support the Keats-Shelley House by B…

On 15th July 1821, 19-year-old Maria Cotterell died in Naples of consumption. Her name may well have been forgotten if she hadn't sailed to Italy on the Maria Crowther, alongside 24-year-old John Keats. In this episode, we tell Maria's story - including new discoveries about her death, her brief encounter with Keats and her treatment by posterity. …

We talk to Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger about his life and career - and more specifically, his love of John Keats. The inspiration for our conversation was Mark’s monumental 2018 work Writ in Water, which commemorated the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. ----more---- Subscribe to the Keats-Shelley Podcast or Follow us on Spotify.…

In this episode of our 'Writ in Water' series, the Keats-Shelley Prize Podcast talks to Nicholas Stanley-Price about the 300-year history of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome.----more---- Read about 2021’s Keats-Shelley Prize. Read about 2021’s Young Romantics Prize. For poetry lovers, this is the place where both John Keats and PB Shelley are buri…

How did John Keats influence Christina Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites? In this episode of our Writ in Water series inspired by John Keats’ epitaph – ‘Here lies one whose name was writ in water’ – we talk to Dr Dinah Roe about Christina Rossetti, her sonnet 'On Keats' - and more widely about how Keats influenced the Pre-Raphaelite artists. This in…

In this mini Keats-Shelley Prize Podcast, Dr Dinah Roe reads and discusses two poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti that quote John Keats' epitaph 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'. The first was also a sonnet ('John Keats'); the second a fragment included in a letter to the other Rossetti brother, William Michael. ----more---- Our brief chat…

On 23rd February 2021, the 200th anniversary of John Keats' death in Rome, the Keats-Shelley Prize Podcast recorded a conversation with Dr Dinah Roe about Christina Rossetti's sonnet 'On Keats', which quotes his epitaph 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'.----more---- We finished around 10.30pm and to mark the occasion read two poems in Ke…

What does it mean to writ(e) in water? And even more, what does it mean to write 'writ in water' on stone? Or is that in stone? These are all questions raised by John Keats' epitaph, 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water'. Which is why the Keats-Shelley Podcast called Adam Smyth, Professor of English Literature at Balliol College, Oxford, and…

At the end of 2020, James Kidd of the Keats-Shelley Podcast talked to bestselling novelist Erica Jong about her life-long love of John Keats. During the conversation, which will be posted soon, we asked what advice she would give writers entering our Young Romantics Poetry and Essay competitions. A small warning: there is one mild expletive (in ref…

John Keats writing his last poem 'Bright star' on the Maria Crowther is one of the great myths of the poet's tragic last months. Inspired by retracing Keats' Final Journey on Google Earth, we ask: what if were true? How might it change our reading of one of his greatest sonnets? As part of our limbering up, we learned the poem by heart and recorded…

Reading and discussion of John Keats' 'In drear nighted December'. From a Twitter Advent calendar for 2020 to mark the launch of 2021's Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes. Read the poem here.----more---- For more information visit: 2021 Keats-Shelley Prize. For more info visit: 2021 Young Romantics Prize. To learn more about the Keats-Shelley…

Reading and discussion of John Keats' first poem, 'An Imitation of Spenser'. This is embedded in our new Google Earth map: The Life, Times and Places of John Keats. ----more---- For more information visit: 2021 Keats-Shelley Prize. For more info visit: 2021 Young Romantics Prize. To learn more about the Keats-Shelley House and our KeatsShelley200 B…

To mark the 200th anniversary of John Keats first setting foot on Italian soil on 31st October 1820 – his 25th birthday – the Keats-Shelley Podcast presents a podcast telling the story of his arrival in Italy means for us two centuries later. Read about 2021’s Keats-Shelley Prize. Read about 2021’s Young Romantics Prize. ----more----We think about …

Joyce Chen's Senbazuru won 2020's Young Romantic Poetry Prize. The poem was read by Dinah Roe, Reader in 19th Century Literature at Oxford Brookes University, as part of our online awards ceremony. ----more---- Listen to Dinah discuss Christina Rossetti's 'On Keats' as part of our 'Writ in Water' series. Follow her on Twitter @preraphsrule. Read ab…

Pascale Petit's Indian Paradise Flycatcher won 2020's Keats-Shelley Poetry Prize. The poem was read by Will Kemp, one of the Poetry Prize Judges, as part of our online announcement.----more---- Read about 2021’s Keats-Shelley Prize. Read about 2021’s Young Romantics Prize. Subscribe to the Keats-Shelley Podcast for all new episodes or Follow us on …

Part two of our conversation with Simon Barnes, the award-winning sportswriter, revered bird lover and Chair of 2020 and 2021's Keats-Shelley Prizes. ----more---- Read about 2021's Keats-Shelley Prize. Read about 2021's Young Romantics Prize. Subscribe to the Keats-Shelley Podcast or Follow us on Spotify. In which Simon discusses the repertory sing…

Simon Barnes, the award-winning sportswriter, revered birder and Chair of 2020 and 2021's Keats-Shelley Prizes, tells us about his love of birds and birding and why songbirds were so important to the Romantic poets.----more---- Read about 2021's Keats-Shelley Prize. Read about 2021's Young Romantics Prize. Subscribe to the Keats-Shelley Podcast or …

Bestselling sports journalist and nature writer Simon Barnes ponders one of Romantic poetry’s big questions: what’s the big deal with poets and nightingales? Reading from his book The Meaning of Birds, Simon examines nightingales in the poetry of John Keats and John Clare – and asks another question: which poet doesn’t know his nightingale from his…

Simon Barnes describes the joy of birdwatching, reading in a post from his own blog. ----more---- The Chair of 2020's Keats-Shelley Prize is the writer, journalist and nature writer Simon Barnes - an ideal choice given our Prize theme of Songbird. This marks 200 year anniversaries of John Keats' Nightingale and PB Shelley's Skylark. We met Simon in…

An older podcast, recorded in December 2014 beside the grave of John Keats. To commemorate the death of John Keats on 23 February 1821, @Keats_Shelley (James Kidd) shares some thoughts on Keats' epitaph: 'Here lies one whose name was writ in water.' Listeners of a sensitive disposition should beware: there is a reference to the TV show Cheers.----m…

An older podcast, recorded in 2014 beside the grave of John Keats. To commemorate the death of John Keats on 23 February 1821, @Keats_Shelley shared some thoughts on Keats, death, life, cats, and poetry from beside his grave in Rome's Cimitero Acattolico. Oh, and one ambulance and one crying child...----more---- The music is ‘Androids Always Escape…

Poetry Reading by Heart: John Keats' To Autumn Seven years ago, Keats-Shelley Twitter (aka James Kidd) was challenged to learn and read John Keats' great ode To Autumn by heart. After days, and even weeks of work, of trying and failing, we eventually got from A to B, or from Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness to gathering swallows tweeting. P…