John Keats was born on October 31st, 1795 in Finsbury Pavement near London.
John Keats was born on October 31st, 1795 in Finsbury Pavement near London. He was the first son of a stable-keeper, with a sister and three brothers. John attended a respectable school where he became familiar with ancient and contemporary literature. In 1810, his mother died leaving all the children to their grandmother. She put them under the care of guardians and made more than enough money for the benefit of the orphans. Under the authority of these guardians, Keats was taken from school as an apprentice to a surgeon. In 1814, before his own completion of his apprenticeship, John left his master after a bitter row to become a student in a London hospital. Under the influence of his friend Cowden Clarke, he devoted himself increasingly to literature. In 1814, Keats finally gave up his medical ambitions to live a literary life. He soon was acquainted with celebrated artists of his time, like Leigh Hunt, Percy B. Shelley and Benjamin Robert Haydon. In May 1816, Hunt helped him publish his first poem in a magazine. A year later Keats published about thirty poems and sonnets printed in the volume "Poems". His poems, be very few are renowned to this day and are enjoyed by many literary figures alongside general avid readers. In this essay, I shall compare two narrative poems by John Keats, 'Isabella' and 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci.' I shall compare and contrast the ways in
Keats wrote Isabella because he wanted to produce a commercial success, but he also thought it was 'too smokeable', i.e. that critics would ridicule it.What do you consider to be the positive aspects of the poem?
Keats wrote Isabella because he wanted to produce a commercial success, but he also thought it was 'too smokeable', i.e. that critics would ridicule it. What do you consider to be the positive aspects of the poem? Why might it also have been susceptible to criticism? 'Isabella; or the pot of basil' was written soon after Keats had attended lectures by a critic. The critic had suggested that a poetic translation of the 14th century works by the Italian writer Boccaccio 'could not fail in the present day'. Keats's poem is based upon the Italians story called the 'Decameron' in which Isabella's love strengthens due to her loss of her true love, Lorenzo, who her brothers were unable to accept into the family and so disposed of him. The fact that the poem is based upon someone else's story may have got the poem ridiculed by critics because it was not original; also Keats was not yet a well established poet (as he was from a humble background) and so he might have been ridiculed for using other authors hard work just for profit and due to the fact that someone else thought it would make money Keats may have been scorned as he couldn't come up with his own inventions. 'Stealing' ideas from another may also have caused mocking at Keats's ability to produce his own works. Another reason that Keats believed that his work was 'too smokeable', in other words his poem would go up in
Imagination; An Endless Vision In the poems "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by Jonathan Keats and "To His Coy Mistress" by Marvell the notion of time is very significant.
Daniel Tavakoli Doctor Gaylord English 101000-25 /03/2003 Imagination; An Endless Vision In the poems "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by Jonathan Keats and "To His Coy Mistress" by Marvell the notion of time is very significant. In "To His Coy Mistress" Marvell discusses a control over time, and this control over time is for the most part a theoretical and imaginative concept that was conjured by the writer. Marvel is also fascinated by the control over what truly exists. In "Ode on a Grecian Urn" Keats is portraying the control of things that are not subject to time. The writer strongly believes in a control of the imagination. These two poems come to teach the reader that although one should physically "seize the day", one should also use his imagination to unleash the true beauty of things. Although these two poems seem very different, especially in their style of writing they are actually quite similar. Both Keats and Marvel are trying to unleash the true beauty of humanity, but each uses its own approach. Keats approach involves using irony and opposites; contrasting things of action (like time) to things of stillness (like the urn). Marvel is interested in a "carpe diem" outlook on life using the ideal if time had no end and contrasting it to the chariot of death that follows each and every person. One can see the control of time as Marvel discusses in "To His Coy
How does "Ode on A Grecian Urn" convey Keats' ideas about the permanence of art and the transience of happiness
JCN Amy Docherty How does "Ode on A Grecian Urn" convey Keats' ideas about the permanence of art and the transience of happiness? The permanence of art is one of Keats' main ideas throughout many of his odes, yet he focuses on it throughout this poem, his main focus being on the scenes that are depicted on the urn. The Grecian urn exists outside of time in the human sense - it does not age, it does not die. In his contemplation, this creates an intriguing paradox for the human figures carved into the side of the urn - they are free from time, but they are simultaneously frozen in time. They do not have to confront ageing and death; their love is "for ever young". To Keats, this urn is more than a piece of art that was at first associated with silence, stillness, quietness, and virginity, by the end the first stanza, it is now associated with sound, passion, and activity. It is in the subsequent stanzas that Keats' ideas about the permanence of art and the transience of happiness are clearly identifiable. In the second stanza, the poet begins to introduce his main subject - the supremacy of art to life. "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter" The unheard melodies of the flute-player depicted on the urn are sweeter than those actually played in our finite world. The idea is platonic: it has to deal with how can we access the ideal world of eternal abstract
Write a detailed critical analysis of “When I have fears that I may cease to be”. Pay Particular attention to what the poem reveals about Keats' preoccupation with death and his writing craft.
Write a detailed critical analysis of "When I have fears that I may cease to be". Pay Particular attention to what the poem reveals about Keats' preoccupation with death and his writing craft. I will write a critical analysis of this poem, then come to an informed conclusion on what this poem has shown me, as regards keats' writing craft, and his preoccupation with death. When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain; At the end of the first line we see a case of enjambment, between the words 'be' and 'before'. In my opinion this emphasizes the sense of shock I think Keats felt, when the thought hit him of dieing 'Before [his] pen has gleaned [his] teeming brain'. He tells us that his brain is 'teeming'. This is far from the average declaration made my literarians. He claims to be 'gleaning' this activity in his brain. A simile is used to liken this to a barn that holds full-ripened grain. He is telling us that he is essentially, in a poet's dream at the moment - he has more good ideas than he knows what to do with. When I behold, upon the night's starred face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance; Keats not only describes fears of not getting all his
ode to a nightingale analysis
ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE 'Ode to a nightingale' is, superficially praise for the nightingale's song. But on looking deeper it is about Keats' his search for a way to transcend this world and all the pain associated with it. He probably wrote this ode after he became ill and when he had accepted his sad fate. Keats writes this ode in the first person, which makes this ode almost confessional. Keats first describes the immense joy that bordered on pain that he felt on hearing the nightingale's song. This hints that he wanted the song to help him transcend this world. Keats says that his heart was aching with a 'drowsy', numb pain. The words 'numbness pains' are an oxymoron and a paradox, this hints at Keats' confusion as well as his intoxication. He says that his senses were dulled as though he had drunk the juice of the hemlock- a poisonous plant or as if he had taken 'opiate' or opium or like he was submerged in the 'Lethe' the river of forgetfulness of the past in Greek mythology. He then says this state was brought on not by sadness or envy but happiness at the happiness of the nightingale and its song about summer. He compares it to a 'dryad of the trees' which is a forest sprit in Greek mythology in the form of a young maiden. He says it was in a forest that consists of beech trees and has many shadows ['shadows numberless'] indicating that Keats is describing a night
John Keats and the presentation of "Sleep and Poetry"
Chris Randall Essay - John Keats and the presentation of "Sleep and Poetry" "Sleep and Poetry" is one of the first poems written by Keats and it can be viewed in two different ways, either as a powerful presentation and a spirited and focused piece of writing or a naive, immature poem which does nothing more than idolise Wordsworth. In this essay I will provide points for both of these arguments and decided which one is the strongest at the end. From the beginning you feel the immaturity of the poem come across in Keat's idyllic description of life with these clichéd moments and images. This immaturity only seems to get stronger throughout the poem as this idea of a perfect moment and life are portrayed. In line 81, still relatively near the beginning , Keats talks about being a giant (of literature maybe) and seizing the world and understanding the human race, which is quite simply naive. There is also a fault with his way of using language, a sign that he hasn't been writing that long with some terrible rhyming. An example of this is, again, near the beginning on lines 25/26 when Keats rhymes 'holy' and 'folly' together. It is small incidents like this that show that Keats is far from ready to be next in line of the great writers as he claims he will some day become, which leads onto the next point of my argument. Throughout the whole of 'Sleep and Poetry' there are
Using 'Ode on Melancholy' and one other, examine how Keats uses language to explore his muses
Keats Using 'Ode on Melancholy' and one other, examine how Keats uses language to explore his muses In 'Ode on Melancholy' Keats accepts the truth he sees: joy and pain are inseparable and to experience joy fully we must experience sadness or melancholy fully. The first stanza urges us not to try and escape pain; stanza two tells us what to do instead - embrace the transient beauty and joy of the nature and human experience, which contain pain and death. Stanza three makes clear that in order to experience joy we must experience the sorrow that beauty dies and joy evaporates. The more intensely we feel happiness, the more subject we are to melancholy. The poet's passionate outcry not to reject melancholy is presented negatively - "no," "not," "neither," "nor." The degree of pain that melancholy may cause is implied by the ways to avoid it, for example "go to Lethe" and "suffer thy pale forehead to be kissed by nightshade..." The first two words, "No, no," are both accented, emphasising them; their forcefulness expresses convincingly the speaker's passionate state. In the first stanza, the language used presents "the wakeful anguish of the soul". Keats speaks of "yew-berries" which are generally associated with mourning; the mood of the stanza is joyless which mirrors the subject it speaks of. However, Keats describes the "anguish" as "wakeful" because the sufferer still
What similarities and differences are there between the way women are represented in La Belle Dame sans Merci and The Lady of Shallot?
Jonathan Green March 2002 What similarities and differences are there between the way women are represented in La Belle Dame sans Merci and The Lady of Shallot? Both of these poems are about mysterious, yet very interesting and beautiful women, 'Full beautiful- a faery's child', this is the opening description of La Belle Dame, in The Lady of Shalott it describes her as a fairy, 'Tis the fairy'. There are many similarities between the two poems: Both of the poems are set in a medieval world with knights and other symbols of the old historical period, 'To many- tower'd Camelot', 'Four gray walls, four gray towers'. The Lady of Shalott is based in a tower overlooking the medieval town of Camelot. In La Belle Dame the poem involves a sad knight who is taken to a cave by the woman, 'O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms'. Both of these poems have been inspired by something that had happened the writer for them to write it. John Keats, the writer of La Bell Dame sans merci, had had a dream about a beautiful woman meeting him in a magic place which turned out to be filled with enslaved lovers. Lord Tennyson had read the story of his poem in a book, but he adapted it and included the curse, the mirror, the song and her weaving a tapestry. In both poems, the women are romantic figures and they experience strong
Keats Connects With Beauty, in
Keats Connects With Beauty John Keats, in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ode to a Nightingale" attempts to connect with two objects of immortality to escape from the rigors of human life. In "Ode to a Nightingale", Keats attempts to connect with a bird's song because the music knows nothing of aging and mortality. Keats has the same motivation in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" while trying to connect with three separate images on a mysterious urn. Connecting in this sense means to either fully understand the object or become the object itself. For example, when Keats attempts to "connect" with an image on the urn, he attempts to fully understand the origin of the image. While his attempts to connect with the two objects fall short, he nevertheless makes an interesting conclusion about the ideals of beauty and truth. Keats begins the "Ode to a Nightingale" in pain, before hearing the melody of the nightingale. After hearing this music, he wishes to join the bird and leave the human world. He first attempts to connect with the bird using a "draught of vintage" (11), but upon further thinking, decides that he will "not (be) charioted by Bacchus and his pards" (32). (Bacchus is god of wine and revelry.) Keats finally joins the bird on the "viewless wings of Poesy." Though able to imagine his flight with the nightingale, the narrator is can't actually see anything. Keats can imagine the