Predominately within Keats poetry one must indeed note the antithetic relationships between reality and ideals, rationality and imagination, physical sensations and logical reasoning.
Predominately within Keats poetry one must indeed note the antithetic relationships between reality and ideals, rationality and imagination, physical sensations and logical reasoning. The conflict between beauty and sensation and the clarity of intellect and reason was felt keenly by Keats, to whom true perception was the purity of sensation, free of any intellectual restrictions. Keat's was not simply a poet who longed for a life of sensation rather than thought, but was a man who desired sensation rather than the factual truth. To Keats the sensual imagination was the core of experience and unlike intellectual analysis, it was the abject imagination that brought intensity to all things; "...the imagination has pleasures more airy and luminous than those of sense, more massive and rapturous than those of the intelligence of the pure intellectuals who hunger after truth." (George Santayana quoted in 'Introduction to Keats' William Walsh 1991, Meuthuen Press, Pg 78) Yet in ordinary life Keats could not be described as a sensual person, content with the privations and life of a hermit he maintained in the world. Keats was a platonic poet to whom ideas and abstractions were his life, having a lucid perception of essences and sensations. Furthermore, Keats concept of imagination as a power closely associated with sensation, intuition and a visionary insight; "apprehended a
"Keats' Odes are obsessed by the imagination's possibilities and limits." Discuss.
"Keats' Odes are obsessed by the imagination's possibilities and limits." Discuss. Keats, throughout his creative career, continually returned to the concept of the imagination. He professed a great belief in the imagination's power to create and recreate the world, famously writing "The imagination can be compared to Adam's dream, he awoke and found it truth."1 The possibilities and limits of the imagination are a recurring theme throughout the major odes as Keats contemplates both the heights which can be achieved "On the viewless wings of Poesy," and also the failings of the "deceiving elf" fancy. The odes employ complex imaginary concepts, building images and worlds in the imagination but they contrast these images with the realities of human existence. Keats therefore creates a conflict between the compelling but elusive fantasies of the imagination and the hard but necessary realities of human existence. The concept of the imagination changes and develops throughout the odes moving from a generally positive endorsement of the imaginative powers in Ode to Psyche to a seeming rejection of imaginative escapism in Ode to Melancholy and finally achieving reconciliation between imagination and reality in To Autumn. as N. F. Ford argues: "Given its different perspective and emphasis each of the odes actively involves us in a process of imaginative intuition that leads to a
Poem Analysis - "Ode to the Confederate Dead"
English IV Honors Erin Maglaque Poem Analysis Feb. 9 "Ode to the Confederate Dead" The lyric poem "Ode to the Confederate Dead" was written by Allen Tate over a period of ten years. "Ode" was published in 1937, and it was the only poem about which Tate wrote an explanatory essay entitled, 'Narcissus as Narcissus."1 The poem is constructed to tell the thoughts of persona as he stops by the gate of a Confederate graveyard. Persona's thoughts and reflections upon the soldiers who died is the subject of the poem; through imagery and diction, the reader is allowed to then unearth the theme of the poem: a combination of two philosophies about the human mind, narcissism and solipsism. However, in order to understand the connection between the soldiers and the abstract theories of narcissism and solipsism, it is crucial to understand persona. The imagery and diction written by Tate but effectually used by persona is the connection between the subject and the theme. While Tate does not make many historical allusions, the one stanza that begins, "Stonewall, Stonewall..."2 makes reference to Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate general, and several battles that took place during the Civil War. Also, two metaphorical allusions are made when Tate writes, "The gray lean spiders come..."3 which is a metaphor for the gray uniforms the Confederates wore, and "The singular
Feelings presented in dreams
DREAMS A. Introduction Every night, every person around the world "watches" a unique movie in the form of interrupted stories, made up partly of memories, with frequent shifts of scenes. The "watcher" may sometimes even take part in the movie. This sort of movie is called a dream. Dreaming is a form of mental activity occurring during sleep that is different from thoughts while one is awake. Even though dreams are imaginary, they are usually related to real experience in the dreamer's life. Dreams can be pleasant, some annoying, and others frightening. The reason why people dream is not fully understood. Some scientists have suggested that biological discoveries about dreaming have made psychological theories false. An excerpt taken from the World Book Encyclopedia states that "dreaming sleep may play a role in restoring the brain's ability to handle such tasks as focused attention, memory, and learning." Dreaming, therefore, can be very meaningful and helpful in life. B. Brain Waves and Different Stages of Sleep In 1953, American sleep researchers Eugene Aserinsky and Nataniel Kleitman have shown that a dream takes place in a biological state of its own. Dreaming, like all mental processes, is a product of the brain and its activity. Regardless of whether a person is awake or asleep, electrical waves are continuously given off from the brain. These waves are
A2 English Literature
A2 English Literature Keats Discuss Keats' depiction of love in the poems 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes' At the centre of Keats's imaginative achievement lie the two narrative poems, 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes' and the ballad 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'. What links these three poems is their attention to the concept of love and relationships between men and women. There are many parallels between 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes', and owing to the fact that 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes' were written within months of one another, one might reasonably expect to find similarities of interest, theme or mood between them, however unique and distinctive each poem may be. Whilst 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes' are both narrative poems, 'La Belle Dame sans Merci's "brief, restrained, ballad-like form" has been said to "raise different questions from those which arise in extended narrative." What is noticeable about Keats's work is that it can be related to inner conflicts, as love is intertwined with pain, and pleasure is intertwined with death, in the three poems 'La Belle Dame sans Merci,' 'Isabella' and 'The Eve of St Agnes'. 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', which translates as 'The beautiful lady without mercy', takes its title from an early 15th Century poem by Alain Chartier and is thought to
What is Keats's attitude towards Love and Philosophy?
Claire Gittoes What is Keats's attitude towards Love and Philosophy? From studying Keats poems it is apparent that Keats's has a number of different Philosophies. These philosophies can be defined as his beliefs and assessments on life. As poet this meant that these values and attitudes were conveyed in his writing. However, Keats being a human being his views and opinions about life were constantly changing in tune with his feelings. After all he was young and did not want to be defined by a system and certainly did not want to be tied down by a woman. Ultimately Keats wanted to be free, hence his idea about negative capability. Occasionally, Keats's work does agree with his recorded philosophies and these clashing seems to match Keats's own conflicted views on life and death. One may argue that Keats is somewhat hypocritical in not having the ability to strictly adhere to his theories on poetry, but when you consider Keats's view of poetry to be a larger metaphor for life and mortality, the deviations are justifiable. Keats's poetic philosophy, as explained in his letters and poetry, contains contradictions that are difficult to explain, he has quite strong views and attitudes, which can be seen in his poetry. Nevertheless, "Of all the Romantic poets Keats is in some ways the most amenable to being read for his 'philosophy.'" It could be argued that this is because there
John Keats - Ode on Grecian Urn
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The two poems that I will compare and contrast are "Dover Beach" and "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer".
Compare and Contrast two poems The two poems that I will compare and contrast are "Dover Beach" and "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer". The poem "Dover Beach" written by Mathew Arnold is concerned with presenting the audience with a sublime view of the poet's world. Arnold takes the audience on a fundamental and emotive jaunt through time; this excursion is to portray his lament of the scientific revolution which has altered his perspective on life. Arnold's rudiments have been tainted as all the knowledge that was once certain to him are now pauperized in a "melancholy, long, withdrawing" rumination. The central theme of the poem is propagated through a magnitude of keywords which are utilized to portray the lament of Arnold's new view on life which is one of "sadness" and "human misery", nevertheless Arnold is unprepared to abandon his poem on such a "retreating" note. The poem concludes with an expressive plea for candour and "love" as "love let us be true to one another", love is portrayed as the one true feeling that is left for Arnold to express as it is an unbounded commodity. The tone of the poem is one of descent and poignancy as Arnold is experiencing mental turmoil as what was once fact to him is now a distant memory on the "northern sea". The tone's aim is to emphasise the deep sorrow and mental turmoil that Arnold is indubitably experiencing. The tone of
By close examination of 'On the Sea' and one other poem, discuss the distinctively Romantic characteristics of Keats' poetry Consider - the themes of the poems and their style and tone and the contexts in which the poems were written
Rachel Miller L6T By close examination of 'On the Sea' and one other poem, discuss the distinctively Romantic characteristics of Keats' poetry Consider - the themes of the poems and their style and tone - the contexts in which the poems were written Romanticism is sometimes described as a revolt against the 'Age of Reason' of the 17th century. However changes had already taken place; the French Revolution and the American War of Independence made old certainties seem questionable and new possibilities achievable. They were major factors in the 'revolt'. They inspired a new liberal concept of man and his fate. Romanticism followed on with this, by celebrating human freedom and creativity. Yet Romanticism is hard to define; the changes that stimulated the creation of what we know as the Romantic Period affected the individual in so many different ways that what was created was a range of different voices, not a series of common assumptions. Romantic poetry sprung from the Romantic Period, dating roughly from as early as 1780 - 1830. Although the Romantic poets were all different in political, religious and artistic beliefs, the poetry they wrote shared common characteristics. The poetry valued feeling and emotion over reason, brought in interests in exploring the self and understanding the self through nature, had a focus on imagination, wanted something beyond the
Carefully read the poem 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' by John Keats. Write an essay of not more that 1500 words in which you analyse the poem and comment on the poetic form and language used and the way they contribute to the meaning and effects of the poem.
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