Assignment 103: "Keats: Epitome of Romantic Innocence"
This blog is part of an assignment for paper 104- The Literature of Romantic Period.
Personal Information:-
Name:- Aakash Chavda
Batch:- M.A. Sem 1 (2023-2025)
Enrollment Number:- 5108230011
E-mail Address:- aakashchavda637@gmail.com
Roll Number:- 1
Assignment Details:-
Topic: "Keats: Epitome of Romantic Innocence"
Paper & subject code:- 104 - The Literature of Romantic Period & 22394.
Submitted to:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar.
Date of Submission:- 01 December,2023
Abstract
This paper delves into John Keats as an epitome of romantic innocence, examining the profound influence of his poetry on the Romantic period. Keats is considered as purest and most perfect of the all romantic poets because of his subtle observation of nature and ability to see things closely which other poets are not able to grasp easily. Focusing on Keats's thematic emphasis on beauty, nature, and sensuality, the abstract investigates how his works epitomize the Romantic ideals of emotional intensity and imaginative escape. Through a close analysis of key poems like "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode to a Grecian Urn," this study highlights Keats's ability to intertwine vivid imagery with a profound philosophical inquiry into the nature of existence. We'll seeks to highlight Keats's enduring influence as a poet who embodied Romantic innocence, making substantial contributions to the movement's exploration of human emotions and the sublime in literature.
Key words:- Keats, romantic innocence, vivid imagery, nature, beauty.
Introduction
The name John Keats is one of the most recognized in the Western literary world, especially in the area of lyrical poetry. He remains one of the most broadly anthologized poets of the English Romantic Movement, his accomplishments remain an amazement because he died at such an early age of 25, without leaving a large body of work. Despite his dying so young, he has earned a stellar reputation that has continued to grow throughout the centuries, demonstrating that a high value is placed on his poetry. Keats’ poems continue to provide readers a pleasantly entertaining and enjoyable, as well as insightful, experience.
John Keats
Born in London, October 31, 1795, Keats lost both of his parents while he was still a child: his father Thomas Keats, who was a livery-stable owner, died when John was eight years old, and his mother Frances Jennings Keats died, when he was only fourteen. John’s maternal grandmother turned her grandson’s upbringing over to two London merchants, Richard Abbey and John Rowland Sandell, who then became the boy’s main guardians. Abbey’s business dealt in tea, and it was he who took the greater responsibility in raising the young orphan. Sandell's presence in John’s life remained minor. Until age fifteen, Keats attended the Clarke School at Enfield. Abbey then ended the boy's public schooling but enrolled him in the study of medicine leading to a license as an apothecary. Instead of continuing in the drug profession, however, Keats left that field and took up the writing of poetry.
It was good fortune for Keats that he became acquainted with Leigh Hunt, an influential editor at the weekly newspaper, The Examiner, whose subtitle was "A Sunday paper on politics, domestic economy, and theatricals. Serving as Keats' mentor, Hunt became instrumental in assisting the Romantic Movement in becoming ascendant, and because of the influence of Hunt’s literary influence, Keats gained the ability and wherewithal to publish his book of poems in 1817, at the tender age of 22.
Keats, during his short life span had published many exquisite short and long poems, but the Odes are the center of Keats's great work. Odes such as- 'Ode to Psyche', 'Ode to Autumn', 'Ode to Melancholy' and 'Ode to Nightingale'. These poems remain the heart of a group of his works that have been most widely anthologized.
This collection was received with great praise from the literary critics, including such giants as Charles Lamb and many others. Leigh Hunt and Percy Byshee Shelley, among others, composed glowing, enthusiastic reviews of this Keats collection. Among them Ode to Nightingale is one of the great poem because of its purity of tone and style, it try to say everything that poetry can say.
Despite his enduring relationship with Fanny Brawne and warm reviews, Keats faced health challenges that necessitated a move to Rome for a more favorable climate. Accompanied by painter Joseph Severn, Keats succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 25 on February 23, 1821, leaving an indelible mark on the English Romantic Movement. His final resting place is in Campo Cestio, Rome.
Keats Emphasis on Beauty
The poetry of Keats, from the earliest to the latest, is shot through as by bright and somber threads with two contrasting thoughts: delight in beauty and disappointment with reality. The second on is often overlooked but both are closely connected. According to Keats, poetry is beauty but his concept of beauty was narrow and immature. Keats's disappointment arose from his failure to find in the world of men the beauty that he craved. The fault lay partly in his passionate but immature conception of beauty, which he associated exclusively with youth, nymphs, flowers, poetry, romance, and the ideal. Beauty, in his opinion, is the highest religion and the ultimate goal he
has been pursuing throughout his terrible and tragic life. With his solid belief in the concept that
"beauty is truth," John Keats unintentionally adopts this fact throughout his verse, which is a
testament to his talent as a poet. Beauty, in Keats's view, is the
animating spirit of both life and art.
We know that Keats was much influenced by Greek mythology, and that we can see in his poems. One such example is 'Ode to Grecian Urn' in which Keats emphasis on beauty of 'Urn'.
Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
In the very first stanza we can see the poet's admiration towards the Urn. It is there for very long time but no one had appreciated its beauty. Keats refers it as 'Bride of Quietness'.
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter;
These are the famous lines from this ode, which emphasis on the imagination of poet. Poet wants to heard melodies that are unheard because it is more beautiful than those we can heard.
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,- that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
Connection to Nature
Keats had a masterful simplicity of purpose and control, he is often referred as pure poet, great poet of his age, in fullest sense, Keats was a greatest natural magician. As we know nature had remained the central theme for all the romantic poets so does for Keats as well. He like Wordsworth was closely connected with the nature and often appreciated the beauty of nature in his poems. but one thing to be pointed out that, Keats like Wordsworth dis not spiritualized the nature. Keats believed in 'principle of beauty in all things' -- Art for Art's Sake.
In "Ode to a Nightingale," Keats reflects on the transient nature of joy and laments the loss of innocence with the lines,
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk
In the very first stanza of the poem we can see that speaker is in unbearable pain, and to sooth the pain he drinks alcohol. Speaker soon notice the melodies voice of nightingale that comes from nearby. we can observe the immortality of the nightingale, and its enchanting song, and the speaker's desire to escape the harsh realities of life through a connection with nature.
In the poem 'Ode to Grecian Urn' also there is a lines, which talks about the eternal beauty that beauty is nothing more but truth. Moreover, Urn is becomes a symbol of art and artistic figure, which is yet connected with nature. In fact, whole poem depicts the relationship between art and nature.
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
Poetic Philosophy of Keats
Keats's short and tragic life may
explain his extraordinary capacity to perceive beauty and art in all he encountered. Beauty, in his
opinion, is the highest religion and the ultimate goal he has been pursuing throughout his terrible
and tragic life. After delving deeply into Keats' poems, we got to the conclusion that Keats was
not afraid of death rather, death itself had become a non-issue. Keats is a lover of nature as well, but he loves it for its own sake rather than for any
other reason. He writes poetry purely for the sake of writing it. He believes in the value
of art for its own sake. He does not write poetry to promote any tangible design or propaganda.
His primary concern is to please others. He is simply
interested in the natural world's beauty. Keats, for example, thinks the season of fall, whose beauty has been overlooked by the majority of
people, to be a golden season of golden mists and fruitfulness mentioned in his ode to autumn, to
provoke a deep aesthetic delight that overwhelms every single sense, Keats appears to love beauty
in both his early and mature poetry phases, he worships beauty in both phases.
Keats believed that poetry should explore the beauty in life, acknowledge its temporary nature, and be okay with not having all the answers. He liked the idea of Negative Capability, which means being comfortable with uncertainties and mysteries, that we can see in the description of 'Ode to Autumn'.
In his poems, he aimed to capture the extraordinary moments in life and celebrate the beauty found in both nature and the fleeting aspects of human existence. Keats's poems are exquisite blend of nature, human emotion and arts.
Conclusion
In conclusion, John Keats stands as an epitome of Romantic innocence, embodying the spirit and ideals of the Romantic era. Through his poetic expressions, Keats captured the beauty, wonder, and purity inherent in the natural world, human emotions, and the imagination. Keats was the master of the central experience of his age. His profound honesty, his perfect artistic courage will keep him not only among the master of the English poetry, but among the few heroes of English literature.
References
- Bauri, Madhulina. “AN SUMMARY OF JOHN KEATS'S POETIC PHILOSOPHY ON AESTHETICISM AND DEATH.” International Journal of Research in Social Sciences, vol. 8, no. 1January, 2081, pp. 1418-1423, https://www.ijmra.us/project%20doc/2018/IJRSS_JANUARY2018/IJRSSJan18MadhuGr.pdf.
- Grimes, Linda Sue. “Life Sketch of John Keats.” Owlcation, 2 July 2023, https://owlcation.com/humanities/life-sketch-of-john-keats. Accessed 24 November 2023.
- Keats, John. “Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale. Accessed 26 November 2023.
-Keats, John, and Michael Stuhlbarg. “Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-on-a-grecian-urn. Accessed 26 November 2023.
- Long, William J., et al. “English Literature by William J. Long.” Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10609. Accessed 24 November 2023.
- Read, Herbert. “The True Voice of John Keats.” The Hudson Review, vol. 6, no. 1, 1953, pp. 90–105. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3847239. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.
- Tate, Allen. “A Reading of Keats (I).” The American Scholar, vol. 15, no. 1, 1945, pp. 55–63. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41204757. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.
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