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Recommended: Literary Analysis
John Keats' "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" is a sonnet written upon visiting the British Museum, subsequent to the country's purchase of marble statues that had originally been part of the Parthenon in Athens. The poem contains a web of underlying tensions and conflicts that are evident in both the words and imagery of the poem. However, unlike other sonnets in which conflict is often resolved by the end, this sonnet leaves a lasting feeling of despair which sheds light on the internal strife embodied within the speaker himself. The conflict contained in this poem is reflected first and foremost in its theme. Much controversy surrounds the purchase of these ancient works of art. The lawfulness of the removal of these statues from the Parthenon is under review still to this day. The question remains, was Lord Elgin justified in removing the collection, and if not, should it be returned to Athens. While Lord Byron criticized its removal in his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" stating that "Dull is the eye that will not weep to see / Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed / By British hands" (Canto II line 129-131), Keats was deeply inspired by them and supported the efforts of Haydon who wished to have the collection preserved in the museum to be displayed before the country. Keats went as far as to compose another sonnet upon viewing the marbles, which is addressed directly to Haydon in an attempt to express his indebtedness towards him for this inspiration. The writing of this second sonnet suggests that Keats feels his abilities are lacking, in that he allows for his greatness to be attributed to another. Aside from the controversy surrounding the statues, the collection itself represents the ideas of conflict and ... ... middle of paper ... ... bruised by the poor reception of his poetry. The realizations that we all "must die", and that attempts to attain immortality through art are in vain, leave this sonnet with a lasting and overriding sense of despair. Works Cited Keats, John. "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles." Ed. Abrams H. M. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2 The Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century. New York: W. W. Norton, 1986. Print. Lord Byron, George Gordon. “Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.” 1818 Rovee, Christopher. "Trashing Keats." ELH: English Language History 74.4 (Winter 2008): 993-1022. Project MUSE. Web. "Volta." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Print. White, Keith D. John Keats And The Loss Of Romantic Innocence.(Costerus NS 107). Minneapolis: Rodopi BV Editions, 1996. Print. Yost, George. "Keats's Tonal Development." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Keats, John. “The Eve of St. Agnes”. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic
Ezra Jack Keats: A Virtual Exhibit. The University of Southern Mississippi De Grummond Children's Literature Collection. Web. 19 July 2010. .
"John Keats." British Literature 1780-1830. Comp. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1996. 1254-56. Print.
The concept of “mortality” (l. 1) is immediately foregrounded in the sonnet, with a significant enjambment on the word itself. So, from the outset, the speaker draws attention to his mortal state, which implies both life, an existence, and an eventual absence of that life. By then concretizing the abstract “mortality,” combining it with the word “[w]eighs” (2), the speaker produces a reification of mortality as an object weighing down on him; thus, a concept implying an absence, mortality, becomes an entity which affects him. The existence of an eventual absence of life, death, produces his turmoil.
Keats, John. “The Eve of St. Agnes.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol II, Ed. MH Abrams, et al. New York; Norton 2000. Pg 834-844.
Yeats, W.B. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2nd revised ed. Ed. Richard J. Finneran.
Keats, John. Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne. New
Keats, John. Letter dated Dec.21st, 1817. Cited in The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (1991) by J.A. Cuddon. New York: Penguin.
In the sonnets “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be”, by John Keats, and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, by Wilfred Owen, the poets’ use of formal elements create distinctions to mark the speakers’ thoughts and build upon the situation. Although the two sonnets differ in their general structure, the formal elements making up that structure are just as crucial for both of them to organize and contrast the themes and ideas present throughout the
“Keats, John - La belle dame sans merci - a ballad” 2001, April 1st 2011
While Lord Byron's poem enhances the beauty of love, Keats' does the opposite by showing the detriments of love. In “She Walks in Beauty,” the speaker asides about a beautiful angel with “a heart whose love is innocent” (3, 6). The first two lines in the first stanza portray a defining image:
power.” The English Review 13.1 (2002): 17+. General OneFile. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. Shmoop Editorial Team. “John Keats: Biography.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, 11 Nov.
John Keats was one of the greatest poets of the Romantic Era. He wrote poetry of great sensual beauty and had a unique passion for details. In his lifetime he was not recognized with the senior poets. He didn’t receive the respect he deserved. He didn’t fit into the respected group because of his age, nor in the younger group because he was neither a lord nor in the upper class. He was in the middle class and at that time people were treated differently because of their social status.
Keats, John. “Letters: To George and Thomas Keats.” The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ninth Edition. Stephen Greenblatt, eds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 967-968. Print.
“His first mature poem is the sonnet On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer (1816), which was inspired by his excited reading of George Chapman’s classic 17th-century translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey” (“John”). Charles Clarke introduced Keats to Leigh Hunt, the publisher of the “Examiner”. Keats's first book, Poems, was published in March 1817, the most interesting poem in ...