Poetry provides a means of expressive writing through puzzling phrases and metaphorical references. John Keats, a famous Romantic poet, used these techniques in creating his vivid imagery. Keats heavily focused on the beauty of life and the experiences he encountered with sickness and loss. Because of this the majority of Keats’ poetry reflects the ability of humans to become greatly weakened by their emotions. Keats’ upbringing shaped his poetry and as time went on he learnt the purpose of values. His poetry vividly represents the surroundings Keats placed himself in and what he was exposed to. Three poems that significantly show these effects include his romantic poem “Stanzas to Miss Wylie” and his reflective poems “On Fame” and “When I …show more content…
This poem is about people that try too hard to become famous and how fame is a difficult thing to achieve. The poem’s purpose is to open reader’s eyes to the dangers and difficulties that come with fame for it shows how ignorance can cloud a person’s vision for if one is to simply live then fame will come as they earn it (Lines 13 and 14). This poem is opinionated and stern and aims to open people’s eyes to the harsh realities that await. Keats’ believes that overachieving will only lessen the desired impact for in lines five and six he speaks of how fame is a gypsy and that it will only be there if one learns to accept not having it. This poem is structured with an alternate rhyme scheme so that at the end of each four lines there is a slight pause let the message sink in. By creating strong emotion Keats demonstrates that being blinded by fame only makes people less of themselves and the imagery used within this poem creates a sense of fame being a living being because of Keats’ artistic choice in personifying fame as a gypsy, a wayward girl and other privileged beings. This further shows how people are weakened by their emotions and would ignore the pain of fame for the feeling of being …show more content…
His ideologies about how the human condition of weakness to emotions is clearly evident in each of his poems. This includes the belief that every person will be weakened due to love, fear, admiration or other emotions. Keats’ valued the understanding of how these emotions cloud one’s views and portrayed this in his poetry through imagery and metaphors. These ideologies present themselves relevant to contemporary audiences because emotions and their effects never change and understanding these effects is highly important – without this recognition many people would live by their heart and not their head. Within Australia, readers adopt a very optimistic view of Keats’ poetry and can see that while emotions are important so is knowing how to deal with them and their
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 ...
...agery artistically to creatively examine, whether death really is the end of all humanity or whether life was merely purgatorial, a period of time allocated on earth for the purpose of atoning for our sins just like the ‘purgatorial rails’ in this poem. Alternatively it can be argued that religion is not life affirming and only death reveals, the indoctrinatory nature of religious teachings. For example the ‘sculptured dead’ were ‘imprisoned in black’ connoting everlasting torment. It almost contradictorily argues that faith on one hand is a sufferance gladly taken by citizens so they may reap their rewards in the afterlife but on the other hand Keats is demonstrating how religion is restricted and there is really no life after death. This is interesting because it controversially subverts conventions of the time that he was writing in.
and fame within his self-predicted short lifespan. The majority of Keats’s odes, letters, and poems focus on the theme of death and Keats’s concern of dying before fulfilling his promise, however, “When I Have Fears” paints a more complex, personal, direct and introspective portrait of Keats’ anxiety (Brotter) . The reader should be aware that Keats suffered tragedy after tragedy as he watched his family disappear, some from battling tuberculosis and others for varied causes. On January, 31st of 1818, having already lost his mother and uncle to tuberculosis, caring for his dying brother Tom, and developing symptoms of the disease himself, John Keats writes a letter to his friend J.H Reynolds that includes his sonnet ,“When I Have Fears”. Keats mentions that the letter was meant to be a “serious poetical letter”, however, apologizes to Reynolds and carries on with incessant panic about his condition. Faced with realization of his own mortality, he also includes in his letter a fifty-line toast to golden sunshine, to friendship, and to getting poetically drunk on "the glory and grace of Apollo" (King). Evidently, Keats gets the chilling feeling that his that life, like his mother‘s, father‘s, uncle’s and brother’s, would end soon. In fact, he requested the words, “Here lies one whose name was writ in water” to be in scripted on his tombstone and an engraved broken lyre to symbolize his unfulfilled aspirations (Stillinger 211). With two fears, the fear of his life being cut short and the fear of never receiving love, Keats, boosted with motivation, devo...
White, Keith D. John Keats And The Loss Of Romantic Innocence.(Costerus NS 107). Minneapolis: Rodopi BV Editions, 1996. Print.
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
Imagery and symbolism merged to express his imagination, he became a unique poet in an evolving world where Romanticism was quickly expanding globally, not into a movement, but a way of thinking. Keats’ mother and brother, and eventually he too, passed away of tuberculosis. At the time of his brother 's passing, he developed ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’. ‘La Belle’ expressed Keats’ intellect and creativity, although at the same time he himself expressed his angst and depression for the loss of his brother. His poem ‘Bright Star’ was written in a part of his life in which a woman had influenced Keats’ greatly, so much in fact that he was driven to write ‘Bright Star’ in appreciation and celebration of the love of his life. These poems reflect Keats’ intellect, originality, creativity, and his ability to merge the contextual aspects of his life and his imagination with the ideals and concepts of Romanticism to create powerful
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 these one in particular appeals to Keats: the warmth of human companionship and the passion of love.
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:
Imagery is a primary literary technique a poet uses to capture the readers or listeners senses. We gain comprehension of the world through the use of our sense. Therefore, how the reader perceives a poem is always the most important aspect every poet considers whilst writhing. The images of a poem have the ability to appeal of each of our senses, taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight can all be heightened by certain aspects of poetry. The imagery of a poem has the ability to transport us into a different place or time, allowing the reader to experience new observations. When used correctly, imagery has the ability to form an understanding of different emotions the poet tries to address through their poetry. The sounds and diction incorporated into a piece also plays a role of major importance. The use of similes, metaphors, alliteration, personification and countless other forms of literary techniques, all add a sensual feeling and experience to poetry in an assortment of ways. In the Odes of John Keats we are witness to an extensive use of literary techniques. Keats uses a variety of approaches in order to evoke the world of senses throughout his poetry. His Odes ‘on Indolence’ and ‘to Psyche’, ’a Nightingale’, ‘To Autumn’ and ‘Ode on Melancholy’ all demonstrate Keats amazing ability to arouse the senses of his readers with his diverse and vast use of literary and poetic techniques.
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.
...inary and the music of his poems, which put in vigorous action their own requiring urgent attention change. However, Keats embraces his poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn with the Romantic emotion over reason, with stating; "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," ( Lawell et al. pg. 760).
So, the attitude of all other romnantics towards nature is complex, but Keats' attitude is simple. He does not try to find any hidden meaning in nature and he describes it as he sees it. He loves nature for its own sake and not for the sake of anything else.
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
Of the five odes written by John Keats, this ode was written to show the beauty of love through a work of art. This work of art is a Grecian Urn, one side adorned with a woman being pursued by a “bold lover” and on the other a priest leading a heifer to be sacrificed. The beauty of this poem is given in five stanzas of iambic pentameter with a two part rhyme scheme, giving the poem a sense of a two part structure and, furthermore, two meanings just as there are two sides of the urn. The manifest meaning is one of the picture being timeless and the love eternal, while the latent meaning is that of silence and how love can be expressed without word or sound.
The second poem I have studied is "Ode on Melancholy." The idea behind this poem is that with any intense feeling of joy and happiness, a sad and melancholy feeling must accompany it. Or to simplify this, what goes up must come down. This poem is an escape from the inevitable pain as to expect a light not to cast shadows. Keats uses personification in this poem. "Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud." And, "Veiled melancholy has her sovran shrine." These two examples use personification to exaggerate the feelings being expressed and to help explain Keat's thoughts. To help explain joys and melancholy's interactions Keats personifies joy to be a male and melancholy to be female. This helps the reader understand how joy and melancholy are contributing factors to each other.