John Keats: A Romantic poet

Course: B.A. English Hons. Part I Paper: I , Group A Title of e-content: - John Keats: A Romantic poet e-content by Dr Dhrub Narayan Sinha (HOD) Department of English, P.U.

‘poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity’ John Keats John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of second generation of Romantic poets. He died at a very young age of twenty- six. He produced many enduring poetries. He is remembered for writing sensuous poetry. He was devoted to poetry. For him, the proper role of poetry is ‘‘ to be a friend to sooth the cares, and lift the thoughts of men’’, and the real poet is that ‘‘to whom the miseries of the world are misery, and will not let him rest’’. His poems are full of richness and colour. He was a poet of high ideals. Critics charged him for being escapist, but he was not an escapist in real sense. He did not escape from the harsh realities of life. His Endymion opened with the following memorable lines: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever; Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us; and sleep Full of sweet dreams, and healthy, and quiet breathing.

Keats’ letter to P.B.Shelley Hampsted August 16 1820 My dear Shelley, I received a copy of the ‘Cenci’ An artist must serve Mammon-he must have ‘‘ self-centration’’ selfishness perhaps. I am sure you will forgive me for sincerity remarking that you might curb your magnanimity and be more of an artist, and ‘load every rift of your subject with ore.’

Major works: ode on a Grecian Urn Ode on Indolence Ode on Melancholy Ode to a Nightingale Ode to Psyche To Autumn The Eve of St. Agnes Isabella,or the Pot of Basil is a narrative poem. Keats adapted from a story in Boccaccio’s Decameron Endymion is a poem by Keats. It begins with the line ‘‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.’’ It is written in heroic couplets. ( rhyming couplets in Iambic pentameter) . this poem is dedicated to Thomas Chatterton. Lamia is a narrative poem. The poem tells how the God Hermes hears of a nymph who is more beautiful than all. The story was taken from Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. La Belle Dame Sans Merci is a Ballad by Keats. The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream is subtitled A Vision. It is an epic poem. The plot and structure of The Fall of Hyperion has been greatly influenced by three previous epic works, Virgil’s Aeneid, Milton paradise Lost and Dante’s Divine Comedy. The Eve of St. Agnes by Keats is a long poem (42 stanzas). Written in 1819 Published in 1820 The poem is in Spenserian stanza. On first Looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats is a Sonnet. This poem is a Petrarchan sonnet also known as Italian Sonnet, divided into an Octave and a sestet. It tells of the author’s astonishment while reading the works of the ancient Greek poet Homer as freely translated by the Elizabeth playwright George Chapman. ‘my heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk….. Fled is that music- Do I wake or sleep?

Nightingale through her song tries to elaborate her pain In the sweet song of Nightingale tinge of sorrow is hidden. The nightingale is a part of an imagined world through the glass of a window. Keats tells us that such a place should be sought after in order to escape the ‘drowsy numbness’ of the real world. Real world doesnot produce anything worth like the song of Nightingale. Ode on a Grecian Urn is a poem by Keats. The idea of the poem is idea of superiority of art over ordinary life is propagated. ‘‘Heard Melodies are Sweet, but those unheard Are Sweeter’’. Keats arguing that the power of thought, the imagination is often greater than act itself. Keats believed in imagination. He believed imagining is always perfect thing. He believed imagining brings fulfilment and contentment in our life. He believed, we live in imperfect world and a perfect world only exists in imagination not in reality.