Ruth Rosen’s Bright Star

Ruth Rosen reads some of the great odes and poems written by John Keats in a fundraising event for Keats Community Library.

Leading poetry and prose performer Ruth Rosen reads some of the great odes and poems written by John Keats, including extracts from Keats’s letters to family and friends, and love letters to Fanny Brawne.Keats's astonishing and rarely-heard letters are great works of literature in their own right, regarded by TS Eliot as the finest written by any poet.

Rosen, a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, tells the extraordinary and inspiring story of the young poet completely through his own words using only his letters and his poetry. Keats died at the age of 25; in the few years before that he produced some of the best-loved poems in the English language, including "Ode To A Nightingale" written in the garden of the house at Keats Grove

Rosen’s performances of literary works by writers including Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, William Blake, Charlotte and Emily Brontë have received rave reviews and she has appeared at many national and international festivals and theatres. She has collaborated and given performances with many writers including in particular Harold Pinter.Her recent performances of Bright Star have taken place at the National Theatre and at the Keats Shelley Museum in Rome.