Write a detailed critical analysis of ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’, based upon your study of D’avanzo’s ‘A poem about Poetry and Imagination: La Belle Dame sans Merci’. Consider your own views as well as extracts from the text.
Write a detailed critical analysis of 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', based upon your study of D'avanzo's 'A poem about Poetry and Imagination: La Belle Dame sans Merci'. Consider your own views as well as extracts from the text. The difficult aspect of reading D'avanzo's text was putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. Like a jigsaw, it is only once you manage to fit it all together that you can come to an informed view of the whole picture. Also, each section or point is not able to stand by itself. All the parts interlock and must be thought of as a single entity to understand the analysis made by D'avanzo. However, after several re-readings, I now feel able to tackle a critical analysis of my own, augmented by what he has raised in his article. I will attempt to convey a full understanding of both D'avanzo's article and Keats' poem. I feel the challenge in writing this essay is to do so in a way that is not disjointed. A strangely appealing aspect of 'La Belle Dame' is that Keats began the poem with the end of a story. In this respect is similar to modern "Who done it?" novels, in which one popular technique is to start by revealing the murderer, then working through the book showing the process of the story leading up to that point. This method has a very unique impact to it, and in my opinion strengthens the descriptions in the first stanza. For example, the words
Lamia is a Narrative Poem in Which Keats Seems More Interested in Describing Than Narrating, Do You Agree?
Lamia is a Narrative Poem in Which Keats Seems More Interested in Describing Than Narrating, Do You Agree? In the poem "Lamia" Keats uses a considerable amount of description on Lamia. I agree with the statement that Keats seems more interested in describing than narrating. This poem has a large amount of description in it, with a large proportion of description to Lamia. "Lamia" is a long, complex poem. The title character, Lamia, is as strange as the poem itself. Part I of the poem opens with Hermes, messenger of the Gods, in search of a beautiful nymph for whom he has stolen light from Olympus. Keats uses a lot of description in this poem to create different feelings such as sympathy and sometimes to even make a character seem beautiful on the outside but somewhat mystical and sly on the inside. For example, in the beginning of the poem, Keats describes Lamia the snake as a very striking creature "Vermillion spotted, golden, green, and blue." Here we can see how she is described very beautifully and Keats uses several lines of description on her alone at that point. In this poem Keats seems to be to some extent, obsessed with Lamia. Even when she is a snake he describes her as a wonderful looking creature: "Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue;" This is another example of how Keats seems to be more interested in describing Lamia than narrating. This piece of
How does Keats use language to create contrast?
How does Keats use language to create contrast in stanzas I - XVIII? In Stanza XVIII, Porphyro is described as "burning" when we are told of his strong feelings for Madeline. The reader is told of the very active, alive emotions that Porphyro is experiencing. In Stanza IX, Porphyro is extremely aware of Madeline with his "heart on fire for Madeline". This contrasts with Madeline's cold, dreamy remoteness from everything and everyone around her. Stanzas V-VIII highlight on Madeline's disconnection from the world, since she is so oblivious to everything that is happening around her. "The music, yearning like a God in pain, She scarcely heard....came many a tiptoe...but she saw not: her heart was other where" (Stanza VIII).This stanza indicates the contrast between the awake and lively Porphyro and the sleepy and dreamy Madeline, who is so oblivious to everything that she does not even realise that Porphyro is in her chamber. Keats also uses many images to set up the contrasts between the cold outside the castle and the warmth inside the castle. Keats uses death-related imagery to highlight on the cold. "The sculptur'd dead...seem to freeze..." (Stanza II). By mentioning the dead, Keats is able to draw attention to the extent of the cold, since even the dead seem to be affected by it. Additionally, through the use of repetition Keats is able to create a very tense and chilly
From your reading of 'Sleep and Poetry' what have you learnt about Keats and his ideas about poetry?
From your reading of 'Sleep and Poetry' what have you learnt about Keats and his ideas about poetry? At the time of writing 'Sleep and poetry' Keats had just met Leigh Hunt's writer and journalist associates. This poem is based on the purpose of poetry as Keats saw it, but it's also laced with images from Hunt's library in which Keats stayed over night after meeting his new acquaintances. There were many paintings hung in the library, during 'Sleep and poetry' Keats describes just one of them "the swift bound Of Bacchus from his chariot, when his eye Made Ariadne's cheek look blushingly". This quotation explains a painting called 'Bacchus and Ariadne' by Titian, this is an example of what Keats saw while at Hunts and explained in this poem. The reason for him taking his surroundings into account is a philosophy which Keats followed, it is called negative capability. Negative capability states that poetry should not only come from some influences, the poet should be receptive to everything, even the dark side. The Dark side is a very important theme throughout Keats work but in terms of 'sleep and poetry', there is very little mention of a darker side. The tone is mostly upbeat; the poem is filled with lots of pleasant mythological imagery. An example of the imagery is that of the nymphs. "Whence I may copy many a lovely saying About the leaves and flowers about the
Eternal Love Through Death in John Keats Bright Star
Kwok Kwok Lai Chu, Yukie Prof. Michael O’Sullivan ENGE 2370 8 Oct 2013 Eternal Love Through Death in John Keats’ Bright Star Love, being one of the most debated topics in literature, often serves as a source of inspirations for many of writers and poets, including John Keats. Throughout his life, he wrote countless love poems and letters, addressing his lover – Fanny Brawne. The star, apart from being the symbol of steadfastness and constancy, it is also a metaphor representing Keats himself. Through Keats’ idea of “Mansion of life”, the poem is consisted of two floors where the first floor displays his passionate love for Brawne while the second floor talks about his inner desire for death. Keats first expresses his ideal, however paradoxical love. There are two essential yet conflicting qualities in this poem – the reality verses the ideal and the immortal verses the mortal. On one hand, he would like to be like a star, steadfast and unchanging. On the other, he dislikes the solitude of the star as it has to watch “the moving waters” and “the new soft-fallen mask/Of snow” from afar like a “sleepless Eremite”. He continues to state that if he “has to live ever”, he would rather “pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast”. The ideas to be eternal and to love simultaneously do not go hand in hand. To love, one has to be human
Ode To A Nightingale
Ode To A Nightingale Choose a poem which you think could be described as a "quiet" or "reflective" poem. Show how the poet has achieved this effect and discuss to what extent you find it a suitable way of dealing with the subject matter in the poem. In your answer you must refer closely to the text and to at least two of mood; theme; sound; imagery; rhythm or any other appropriate feature. "Ode To A Nightingale" by John Keats is a poem which Keats wrote when he was dying. Due to this, the poem is extremely reflective on the things Keats considers important to him, namely life, death and his imagination. By using the nightingale to embody these aspects, Keats is effective, in my opinion, in attempting to deal with the matter at hand, and involving me in his struggle between life and death. One of the things which the nightingale represents to Keats is death. This is not surprising as he is near death and so it is influencing the way he thinks. At times Keats welcomes death and at other times is undecided, but always the nightingale is used as a representation for it. "That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim:" He is talking to the nightingale here, telling it that he will go with it, into the forest. Here the nightingale signifies death and Keats is wishing to follow it, to, in effect, die. Keats uses the metaphor of