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Essays on john keats
Theme of death in john keats poetry
Theme of an ode to nightingale
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John Keats Theodicy John Keats’ life was short, but through its brevity it forced Keats to ponder certain questions and ideas he may not have had (had he lived a full life). Keats faced imminent death since he knew he had tuberculosis. His self-diagnosis was not wrong, and he died just a year or two after learning about his condition. Though Keats devoted the remaining short time in his life to writing poetry, he suffered hardships with his ability to pursue his passion due to his nearing death. He wanted more time to write more, to experience more, and to live more. But his inability to have these things called him to question why he was in such a predicament that his life be shortened, that he must suffer such hardships and endure the pain …show more content…
How could he not when he was faced with it so young? His views on mortality help shape his theodicy and why he thinks that the world is a vale of soul making. In “Ode to a Nightingale,” he discusses the idea of mortality in relation to immortal things. He talks about the nightingale and its ease with which it sings and lives as though he envies it: “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/ My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk/ Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains/ One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:/ Tis not through envy of thy happy lot/ But being too happy in thine happiness/ That thou, light winged dryad of the trees/ in some melodious plot/ of beechen green and shadows numberless/ singest of summer in full throated ease” (Keats, 1-10). He describes the nightingale as a tree spirit who sings in ease and has not a care in the world, while he has an aching heart and his senses are sedated and in a world of oblivion. The contrast between his self-description and the nightingale, which sings in the summer, is light winged and sounds like it has no cares at all, almost elf like, is quite a stark contrast. It almost brings an image of darkness and light to mind. Keats also writes in this same poem, “Darkling I listen; and, for many a time/ I have been half in love with easeful Death/ Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme/ to take into the air my quiet breath;/ now more than ever seems it rich to die/ To cease upon the midnight with no pain/ while thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad/ in such ecstasy!/ Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain/ To thy high requiem become a sod.” This stanza once again shows a contrast between Keats’ darkness and despair in contrast with the nightingale, which is also in the dark but even in such dark still sings with no pain. Keats can’t even bear to listen to the nightingale’s song, as he has ears in vain and, upon listening, he becomes
Time is endlessly flowing by and its unwanted yet pending arrival of death is noted in the two poems “When I Have Fears,” by John Keats and “Mezzo Cammin,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Keats speaks with no energy; only an elegiac tone of euphoric sounds wondering if his life ends early with his never attained fame. He mentions never finding a “fair creature” (9) of his own, only experiencing unrequited love and feeling a deep loss of youth’s passion. Though melancholy, “Mezzo Cammin,” takes a more conversational tone as Longfellow faces what is commonly known as a midlife crisis. The two poems progressions contrast as Keats blames his sorrow for his lack of expression while Longfellow looks at life’s failures as passions never pursued. In spite of this contrast, both finish with similar references to death. The comparable rhyme and rhythm of both poems shows how both men safely followed a practiced path, never straying for any spontaneous chances. The ending tones evoking death ultimately reveal their indications towards it quickly advancing before accomplish...
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
The Virgin and the Whore: An Analysis of Keats’s Madeline in “The Eve of Saint Agnes”
John Keats’s illness caused him to write about his unfulfillment as a writer. In an analysis of Keats’s works, Cody Brotter states that Keats’s poems are “conscious of itself as the poem[s] of a poet.” The poems are written in the context of Keats tragically short and painful life. In his ...
middle of paper ... ... He forgets about the impossible, and being immortal and being alone, but rather embraces the temporary and exhilarating. Keats presents his feelings on how he no longer wishes for impossible goals, and how it is much more preferable to enjoy life as much as possible. It is of no use longing for things we cannot have, and so we must learn to live with the myriad of things we already have, of which one in particular appeals to Keats: the warmth of human companionship and the passion of love.
Keats’ poetry explores many issues and themes, accompanied by language and technique that clearly demonstrates the romantic era. His poems ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Bright Star’ examine themes such as mortality and idealism of love. Mortality were common themes that were presented in these poems as Keats’ has used his imagination in order to touch each of the five senses. He also explores the idea that the nightingale’s song allows Keats to travel in a world of beauty. Keats draws from mythology and christianity to further develop these ideas. Keats’ wrote ‘Ode To A Nightingale’ as an immortal bird’s song that enabled him to escape reality and live only to admire the beauty of nature around him. ‘Bright Star’ also discusses the immortal as Keats shows a sense of yearning to be like a star in it’s steadfast abilities. The visual representation reveal these ideas as each image reflects Keats’ obsession with nature and how through this mindset he was able
early poets such as William Shakespeare who portrays loss in many of his tragedies including the loss of sanity in ‘King Lear’ and the loss of his life. of reputation in ‘Othello’, through to Keats’s ‘Odes’ and into the. twentieth and twenty-first century. Loss is an important aspect of life and many modern poets find it to be an interesting theme to deal with. with in their work,. The poems chosen for the anthology show a range of responses to different types of loss, from death to material.
Comparing La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Keats and Mariana. The two poems 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' and 'Mariana' are very similar genres of a. They are both based on a romantic theme. They are both about unrequited love.
Throughout Keats’s work, there are clear connections between the effect of the senses on emotion. Keats tends to apply synesthetic to his analogies with the interactions with man and the world to create different views and understandings. By doing this, Keats can arouse different emotions to the work by which he intends for the reader to determine on their own, based on how they perceive it. This is most notable in Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale, for example, “Tasting of Flora, and Country Green” (827). Keats accentuates emotion also through his relationship with poetry, and death.
In Keats “Ode to a Nightingale” we see the sense embodied through a variety of different literary techniques and in particular his use of synaesthesia imagery. The dejected downhearted nature of the poem promotes emotion in the reader even before noting poetic devices at work. The structure of the meter is regular and adds to the depth of this poe...
In order to experience true sorrow one must feel true joy to see the beauty of melancholy. However, Keats’s poem is not all dark imagery, for interwoven into this poem is an emerging possibility of resurrection and the chance at a new life. The speaker in this poem starts by strongly advising against the actions and as the poem continues urges a person to take different actions. In this poem, the speaker tells of how to embrace life by needing the experience of melancholy to appreciate the true joy and beauty of
Time is an ever constant moving aspect of life. It can build one up and tear one down
Within both poems, Keats blurs the lines between what is dream and what real. As the narrator of “Ode to Psyche” expresses, “Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see / The winged Psyche with awaken’d eyes” (“Ode to Psyche” 5-6) and as was previously seen, the narrator in “Ode to a Nightingale” expresses concern, wondering if the experience he had with the nightingale “Was it a vision, or a waking dream? / Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?” (“Ode to a Nightingale 79-80). This distinction between dream and reality creates an interesting relationship between both narrators and their subject matters: the nightingale and the Goddess Psyche. Firstly, the implication of sleep implies a state of unconsciousness, or rather, a more natural frame of mind. When awake, we are actively thinking and examining the world around us, constantly distracted—just as the narrator in “Ode to a Nightingale.” When asleep, the mind is in a more natural state, creating an intimate relationship between mankind and its place within nature. Here, Keats uses the idea of the goddess Psyche could serve a duel meaning. Firstly, the narrators question as to whether he is dreaming or truly witnessing Psyche with his own mind indicates a connection between Psyche and dream, or rather, the idea of human mind in an uninterrupted state of being. Simply, dreaming allows the
When talking about poetry and Romanticism, one of the most common names that come to mind is John Keats. Keats’ lifestyle was somewhat different from his contemporaries and did not fit the Romantic era framework, this is most likely the reason he stood out from the rest. Keats wrote many poems that are still relevant, amongst them Ode to a Nightingale, which was published for the very first time in July, 1819. The realistic depth and lyrical beauty that resonates in Ode to a Nightingale is astounding. Though, his career was rather short, Keats expressed a deep yearning to rise above misery and celebrate life via his consciousness and imagination. Themes of life and death play out in a number of his poems. This essay seeks to discuss Keats’s representation of mortality and immortality, specifically in his poem Ode to a Nightingale.
In Ode to Psyche, Keats creates a very free and open ode by not sticking to a strict rhyme scheme and instead opting for a simple alternating rhyme scheme or couplets when he wants rhyming, or sometimes opting for no rhyme at all. Keats almost completely neglects internal rhyme,using it only three times, instead focusing on the descriptive language of the poem to deliver it’s message.