Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition
The subject of John Keats "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition" has to do with the opposition of religion and what people do to seek their "religious enlightenment". It seems more as if the theme is based on his personal dislike of religion and the things people do for religion. Keats suggestion that a preachers sermon tears you from "Fireside joys" and "Lydian airs" makes it seem as if the people in church do not want to be there, which is most likely not the case. He is trying to make his point about what he is speaking of by trying to make the reader agree with him. Which might work with some people, but as for me I already have a fixated belief about religion, one that will not change even if I read some writers perturbed opinions.
Images are used very well by Keats to present his opinion or feelings about the subject. On lines two and three of "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition" Keats says "calling the people to some other prayers, some other gloominess, more dreadful cares." This image of people flocking to prayers so that their heads can be filled with nonsense (dreadful cares) which they do not need is the initial bash on church by Keats. From these two lines, it is obvious right away that the writer is no too fond of religion and the morals it preaches. He apparently feels as if church is a bunch of superstitious people trying to implant these ideas into public minds about how to live their life. Before you even begin to read his poem it is obvious of his dislike for something by the title "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition", you can not tell exactly what his dislike is for until you begin reading. Then the images on lines two and three make you start thinking that his "disgust of superstition" could be a disgust of religious superstition. I feel that it is those images that set the tone for the rest of the poem.
"A chill as from a tomb". Those are pretty strong words to be used in opposition of religion. Tomb seems to be the word that best symbolizes what appears to be John Keats theme of the entire poem. To me it seems like the tomb is used by Keats to describe how the people are trapped by church and its messages. If you are in a tomb then you are dead, you are trapped within eternity, there is no escape. This is the message that I feel Keats is trying to get across, that being religion is a way to trap the mind and not let it experience reality, presenting somewhat of a false world. That is why I feel the symbol of the tomb is an important factor in reading and understanding this poem.
Keats also has thrown in symbols that oppose what I feel his message is in this work. Symbols like "The church bells toll a melancholy round" and "That fresh flowers will grow" present a rather humorous sense of irony in the poem. Here he is talking about "gloominess" and "More hearkening to the sermon's horrid sound" when he throws in melancholy round bells and fresh flowers, that is irony at its best. I find it funny that he describes how church rips you away form fireside joys and lydian airs and that the mind of man must be bound in some black spell and yet to start of the poem he uses a positive note, "The church bells toll a melancholy round", and to help end it he uses a positive note, "That fresh flower will grow". Both of these quotes seem out of place considering how Keats has described other things in his poem but that is what makes them ironic.
The speaker's tone is a reflection of the subject matter being spoken of. With a redundancy of images created through the description of an anti-religious person like " the sermons horrid sound" and "they are going like an outburnt lamp", the tone can only be one of dislike. The speaker obviously dislikes the idea of religion and explains to us why he dislikes it so much through descriptive lines and phrases. He doesn't just tell us his opinion but he shows it to us as well. No better can you sum up the speaker's words than these three lines of his:
"Calling the people to some other prayers,
Some other gloominess, more dreadful cares,
More hearkening to the sermon's horrid sound."
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