The Keats-Shelley Review is a scholarly journal that has been published bi-annually by The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association for more than one hundred years. It is accessible through the Angelo and Jennette Volpe Library at Tennessee Technological University in both print and digital formats, and a limited amount of articles can also be found on The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association’s website. The journal is edited by James Grande alongside an editorial board of international constituency and is known for having a “longstanding status as a prestigious journal of major literary and critical significance,” according to the introductory information of the thirteenth volume (The Keats Shelley Memorial Association 1999).
The Keats-Shelley Review publishes a wide range of materials including articles, poems, notes on contributors, abstracts, news, book reviews, and essays. Submissions such as articles and essays are recommended to be at least five thousand words, but are limited to no more than eight thousand words. The journal and all of its submissions are centered around romanticism, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and their circle. John Keats and Percy Shelley were major English romantic poets in the nineteenth century. They knew each other and ran in many of the same circles. Prominent members of their group included Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, and John Polidori, and all of which are commonly discussed throughout the numerous volumes of the journal.
As expected, the most common topics throughout The Keats-Shelley Review are, in fact, John Keats and Percy Shelley. Each volume contains numerous articles and other submissions of the above listed types that are about John Keats’ or Percy Shelley’s character, life, or works. Some examples of the submissions one might expect to see that discuss the character and lives of John Keats and Percy Shelly are articles such as “Keats And Coldness” by James Burton, “Shelley’s Eternal Time: Harmonizing Form And Content In Prometheus Unbound” by Jeffrey A. Schwarz, and “Keats’s Lover’s Discourse And The Letters To Fanny Brawne” by Nichola Deane. Articles and submissions discussing or explaining the works of John Keats and Shelley can also be found, among them being “ ‘My Spirit sought/ To Weave a Bondage of Such Sympathy’: Sympathy, Enthusiasm and Revolution in Laon and Cythna” by Alessandra Monorchio.
Submissions that are published within the journal can also relate less directly to John Keats and Percy Shelley by being about the members of their inner circle. For example, “ ‘Come Kick Me’: Godwin’s Memoirs And The Posthumous Infamy Of Mary Wollstonecraft” by Amy Rambow, featuring intreguing subtitles like “Suicide, Salvation, And Sex,” “Kingsborough Scandals,” “Obscurity And Reintegration,” and “Premarital Sex.” Another example is “ ‘A Higher And More Extended Comprehension’: Byron’s Three Weeks In Rome” by Peter Cochran.
Yet another topic for works published within the journal is romanticism, simply because John Keats and Percy Shelly were romantic writers. An article titled “Reception Of Romanticism In Japan Before World War II” by Akiko Okada is a prime example of this. Although it does not directly make mention to John Keats or Percy Shelley, this article belongs in The Keats-Shelley Review because its main subject is romanticism.
Lastly, and perhaps most surprisingly, the journal also includes poetry submissions and excerpts. The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association even hosts a contest and rewards a first and second prize to the two best poems in honor of John Keats and Percy Shelley. The winners are then given a monetary prize and their poem is published in that year’s volume; however, it is important to note that the poems within the journal are not limited to those entered into the contest. The Keats-Shelley Millennium Poetry Prize winner from volume fifteen in 2001 was an interesting poem titled “The Nightingale Broadcasts” by Robert Saxton. Some poems throughout volume thirty two, issue two include three poems by Mattew Sweeney: “Autumn,” “Into The Air,” and “The Parrot’s Soliloquy.”
Simply put, The Keats-Shelley Review is a well-established, accessible journal that is supported and published by The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. The journal covers John Keats, Percy Shelley, and many more less obvious topics. With an extensive shelf-life, the journal is a reputable and useful source for Keats-Shelley fans, romantic enthusiasts, lovers of literature, and college students, specifically English majors.
Works Cited
Burton, James. “Keats And Coldness.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 13, 1999, pp. 15-23.
Cochran, Peter. “‘A Higher And More Extended Comprehension’: Byron’s Three Weeks In Rome.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 15, 2001, pp. 49-63.
Deane, Nicola. “Keats’s Lover’s Discourse And The Letters To Fanny Brawne.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 13, 1999, pp. 105-114.
The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 13, 1999.
The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 15, 2001.
The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association. The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018.
Monorchio, Alessandra. “‘My Spirit sought/ To Weave a Bondage of Such Sympathy’: Sympathy, Enthusiasm and Revolution in Laon and Cythna.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, pp. 123-133.
Okada, Akiko. “Reception Of Romanticism In Japan Before World War II.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 15, 2001, pp. 88-106.
Rambow, Amy. “‘Come Kick Me’: Godwin’s Memoirs And The Posthumous Infamy Of Mary Wollstonecraft.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 13, 1999, pp. 24-57.
Saxton, Robert. “The Nightingale Broadcasts.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 15, 2001, pp. 11-12.
Schwarz, Jeffrey A. “Shelley’s Eternal Time: Harmonizing Form And Content In Prometheus Unbound.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 13, 1999, pp. 76-87.
Sweeney, Matthew. “Autumn.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, p. 176.
Sweeney, Matthew. “Into The Air.” The Keats-Shelley Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, p. 177.
English Research Sources 