JOHN KEATS
Personal context
• Born 31st October 1795 (18th Century)
• Lived in London, but he was unhappy thus moving away to live with his brothers. All of who suffered from tuberculosis.
• As he found out he was developing serious symptoms of Tuberculosis, he moved away from London to Italy with his friend Joseph Severn.
• Keats wrote his final version of Bright Star aboard the ship.
• Died on 23rd February 1821
Artistic Context (The Lamp: Externalizing their feelings/ emotions)
• ROMANTICISM: Inspired by wild, untrammeled and ‘pure’ nature.
• Revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of he Age of Enlightenment.
• Experience the sublimity of untamed nature and it’s picturesque qualities. Elevated folk art and custom to something noble and argued or a ‘natural’ epistemology of human activities as conditioned by nature in the form of language custom and usage.
• His work reflects other Romantic themes such as ‘medievalism’ (Gothic revival, outdated attitudes), the heroic isolation of the narrator (Ode to a Nightingale), folklore (The Eve of St. Agnes), classical myth (Lamia or Hyperion), and primacy of freedom and feeling (Ode on Melancholy).
• Often grounded in intense physical reality, focusing in on tiny details (EG: beaded bubbles winking at the brim)
Poem: Ode to the Nightingale (‘Ode’ means tribute)
Genre: Romanticism
The Research paper on Nature Writing, and the Problem of Canonical Elision
The research paper is quite possibly the most common assignment in English courses at CGU. For tips on how to approach your research papers, see our brochure on Writing in English Courses. The Paper| The struggle now being waged in the professoriate over which writers deserve canonical status is not just a struggle over the relative merits of literary geniuses; it is a struggle among contending ...
Themes: Death, Immortality, Things beyond
Purpose: Exploring the idea of death – that it must be better than his suffering
Main Techniques: Extended metaphors, structured rhythm and rhyme, pacing, rhetorical devices
Structure
– 8 stanzas
– Each stanza contains a quartet and a sextet as shown with rhyme scheme ABABCDECDE
– Written in iambic pentameters except 8th line of each stanza which is written in iambic tritameter
– *Structured rhythm and rhyme imitate the song of a nightingale to bring a lyrical, fantastic beauty to the idea of death
Theme of Death
– Outlined explicitly in stanza 8, “I have been half in love with easeful Death”
– In 1st part of the poem- we feel his melancholy and sadness about his sickness. But ‘negative capability’ is introduced- ‘ That I might drink, and leave the world unseen…’: accepting his fate, accepting that there is nothing he can do.
– Death is personified in the symbol of the nightingale to introduce the idea that death would be a good thing as the nightingale is a positive image. The nightingale can be seen as a symbol of death because Keats talks about death using a poem that address a nightingale, “thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees”
– ‘Thou was not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown’: 61- 64. Narrator feels like he has lived the highlight of his life, hence feels no need to live- and wants to die and join the nightingale.
Imagery
– Natural imagery (“deep-delved earth”, “Tasting of Flora and the country green”) conforms to romantic conventions of nature holding meaning and communicates his idea that upon dying, his happiness is comparable to being one with nature.
– Nature is coming alive through personification, e.g. “mid-May’s eldest child, / The coming musk-rose”, shows Keats finds meaning in nature, as it is given raised status, shown to be a completely new world. It also shows how much Keats wants to have the peace that nature possesses, “being too happy in thine happiness”.
The Term Paper on Emily Dickinson Poem Death Nature
Emily Holt Mrs. Meehan English 10, Pd. 61 May 2005 Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, was born on December 10, 1830 in the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Emily was born into a wealthy and well-known family. Living with her father, mother, sister, and brother, Emily went through emotional problems as a child. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a lawyer, treasurer of Amherst College, ...
– Juxtaposition of positive and negative images (“men sit and hear each other groan” versus “The grass, the thicket and the fruit-tree wild; / White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;”) juxtaposes his current painful situation with his hope of a peaceful, free future when he dies and becomes one with nature.
– Flying, e.g. “Away! Away! for I will fly to thee”, has connotations of freedom which symbolizes Keats dying and being freed from suffering
Pacing
– Changing pace throughout poem as a result of uses of caesura
– Begins with slow pace in first 2 stanzas as few caesura are used which means long phrases, e.g. “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains / My sense…” This shows him calm, thoughtful and unhappy. Long phrases also emphasize the pain of his suffering from his illness.
– Pace picks up with uses of caesura and rhetorical devices like triplets to give a stronger rhythm, e.g. “The weariness, the fever, and the fret”, when he contemplates dying, when his suffering would end.
– Juxtaposition of the different pacing contrasts Keats’ painful sufferings with his peaceful, euphoric idea of death. He feels hopeless considering the present, but is excited when considering what awaits him – becoming one with nature.
Useful Definitions:
– Hemlock: poison
– Opiate: a drug
– Provencal: of Southern France
– Sunburnt mirth: Jollity, excitement
– Hippocrene: Greek mythology, a sacred fountain to muses, regarded as a source of poetic inspiration.
– Palsy: paralysis
– Poesy: poetry
– Fays: fairies
– Verdurous: lush vegetation
– Boughs: Branches
– Embalmed: preserved
– Eglantine: rose
– Requiem: a song about death, usually sung at funerals
