Ode to a Clothes Peg It Hasn't Evolved Much from the Humble Forked Twig

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Ode to a Clothes Peg It hasn’t evolved much from the humble forked twig or a single finger of pine whittled into a split pin that gripped britches and bloomers between its loins to the pair of lightweight plastic opposable thumbs hinged by a fusewire spring, or the toothless baby croc that bites down on a nylon washing line. I’m staging this thought at the rotary dryer trying to conjure Keats, wondering whether he offered his small hands to the salty ropes or coughed stipples of blood on the white sail while the brig’s bowsprit needled for Rome. The pegs in this peg-bag (stitched in the shape of a saucy scullery maid) were handed down like the bony relics of women saints and I’ll guess have never been touched by a man until now; mouthy car-horns summoned a terrace of wives to their doors and out they came, flustered and vexed, extending the wooden props, masting clean sheets into the April air so husbands and feckless sons could nose their Ford Cortinas along the street. The wide afternoon skies were pinned with clouds the colour and shape of death masks and shrouds. Simon Armitage Written to commemorate the bicentenary of the composition of John Keats’ six famous odes, Ode to Psyche, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode on Melancholy, Ode on Indolence, and To Autumn. Among his greatest works, the poems are also some of the most famous in the English Language. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Representation of Natural World in Keats‟S “Ode to a Nightingale”
International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2019 Vol. 3, Issue 11, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 53-61 Published Online March 2019 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com) REPRESENTATION OF NATURAL WORLD IN KEATS‟S “ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE” Lok Raj Sharma Associate Professor of English Head of Faculty of Education Makawanpur Multiple Campus, Hetauda, Nepal Abstract - The prime objective of this article Nature carries a great symbolic significance is to explore the representations of the natural in creative writings. world as presented in one of the famous odes “Ode to a Nightingale" is a romantic poem of Keats‟s “Ode to a Nightingale” published composed by John Keats (1795-1821), who in 1819. This paper seeks to analyze this ode was a great romantic poet. “Ode to a from the Ecocritical Perspective which deals Nightingale" is one of the most highly with the study of man's relationships with his admired regular odes in English literature. It physical environment along with his reveals Keats's keen imaginative faculty, perception and conception of it. This article heightened sensibility and those aesthetic concludes that nature plays a very prominent qualities for which Keats is much well- role to generate sheer pleasure in man. The known. He was one of the greatest lovers and nature is represented as an active force, admirers of nature. His love of nature was whereas persons are represented as positively solely sumptuous and he cherished the beneficialized entities. This article is expected gorgeous sights and scenes of nature. to be significant to those who are involved in The article writer has attempted to teaching and learning ecocriticism.
[Show full text]
Durham E-Theses
Durham E-Theses To see as a God sees : ctions of self in the works of P.B. Shelley and John Keats. Sandy, Mark How to cite: Sandy, Mark (1997) To see as a God sees : ctions of self in the works of P.B. Shelley and John Keats., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1712/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 'To see as a God sees' Fictions of the Self in the Works A thesis submitted in December 1997 for the degree of Ph. D to the University of Durham By Mark Sandy. (Department of English Studies) The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written consent of the author and information derived from it should be acknowledged.
[Show full text]
The Poetry of John Keats: Lamia, Endymion, Poems 1817, and Poems 1820
Keats’ Poetry: 4 Books The poetry of John Keats: Lamia, Endymion, Poems 1817, and Poems 1820 AN ELECTRONIC CLASSICS SERIES PUBLICATION Keats’ Poetry: 4 Books by John Keats is a publication of The Electronic Classics Series. This Portable Document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind. Any person using this document file, for any purpose, and in any way does so at his or her own risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State University nor Jim Manis, Editor, nor anyone associated with the Pennsylvania State Uni- versity assumes any responsibility for the material con- tained within the document or for the file as an elec- tronic transmission, in any way. Keats’ Poetry: 4 Books by John Keats, The Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Editor, PSU-Hazleton, Hazleton, PA 18202 is a Portable Document File pro- duced as part of an ongoing publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Jim Manis is a faculty member of the English Department of The Pennsylvania State University. This page and any preceding page(s) are restricted by copyright. The text of the following pages are not copyrighted within the United States; however, the fonts used may be. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2010 - 2012 The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. Contents LAMIA .................................................... 6 ENDYMION: ....................................... 27 PREFACE..................................................................28
[Show full text]
The Song of Keats's Nightingale
The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English Volume 10 | Issue 1 Article 3 2008 Catalyst and Inhibitor: The onS g of Keats’s Nightingale Jonathan Krol John Carroll University University Heights, Ohio Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/tor Part of the Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, and the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Krol, Jonathan (2008) "Catalyst and Inhibitor: The onS g of Keats’s Nightingale," The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English: Vol. 10 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/tor/vol10/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The sO wald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Catalyst and Inhibitor: The onS g of Keats’s Nightingale Keywords John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale, Romantic Era literature This article is available in The sO wald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/tor/vol10/iss1/3 1 Catalyst and Inhibitor: The Song of Keats’s Nightingale Jonathan Krol John Carroll University University Heights, Ohio n his poem “Ode to a Nightingale,” John Keats Idemonstrates a desire to leave the earthly world behind in hopes of unifying with the elusive bird in a fleeting, fantastical world.
[Show full text]
Keats Essay Ode to Psyche October 2015 Final
1 Keats, Myth, and the Science of Sympathy Gregory Tate Keywords: Keats, ‘Ode to Psyche’, science, medicine, sympathy, myth Abstract This essay considers the connections between myth and sympathy in Keats’s poetic theory and practice. It argues that the ‘Ode to Psyche’ exemplifies the way in which Keats uses mythological narrative, and the related trope of apostrophe, to promote a restrained form of sympathy, which preserves an objectifying distance between the poet and the feelings that his poetry examines. This model of sympathy is informed by Keats’s medical training: the influential surgeon Astley Cooper and The Hospital Pupil’s Guide (1816) both identify a sensitive but restrained sympathy for patients’ suffering as an essential part of the scientific and professional methods of nineteenth- century medicine. However, while The Hospital Pupil’s Guide claims that mythological superstition has been superseded in medicine by positivist science, Keats’s ode suggests that myth retains a central role in poetry, as the foundation of a poetic method that mediates between imaginative sympathy and objective impartiality. In an 1843 biography of Sir Astley Cooper, one of Cooper’s students, Benjamin Travers, comments of the eminent surgeon that Neither his temperament nor his education had endowed him with a sensitiveness which in any degree disqualified him for the performance of his professional duties on the most trying occasions. In other words, he possessed an insusceptibility, equal to his powers of physical endurance. I mention this to meet the imputation of want of sensitiveness, with which I have heard him 2 reproached. He was not deficient in feeling, although it flowed in a deeper current, out of the reach of ordinary circumstances.1 Travers insists that there was no ‘want of sensitiveness’ in Cooper’s treatment of patients; the professional surgeon was also a man of feeling.
[Show full text]
Dialogical Odes by John Keats: Mythologically Revisited
ISSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 1730-1734, August 2014 © 2014 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.4.8.1730-1734 Dialogical Odes by John Keats: Mythologically Revisited Somayyeh Hashemi Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran Bahram Kazemian Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran Abstract—This paper, using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism tries to investigate the indications of dialogic voice in Odes by John Keats. Indeed this study goes through the dialogic reading of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to Psyche’, and ‘Ode on Melancholy’, considering mythological outlooks. Analyzing Keats’s odes through dialogical perspective may reveal that Keats plays a role of an involved and social poet of his own time. Moreover, Keats embraces the world of fancy and imagination to free himself from sufferings of his society. Keats’ odes are influenced by expression of pain-joy reality by which he builds up a dialogue with readers trying to display his own political and social engagement. Applying various kinds of mythological elements and figures within the odes may disclose Keats’s historical response and reaction toward a conflicted society and human grieves in general. Index Terms—Bakhtinian dialogism, Keats’ Odes, pain, pleasure, mythology I. INTRODUCTION John Keats as one of the major poets of Romanticism, composed multiple popular poems and his odes gained the most attention of them. Going through his odes, it appears to the reader that Keats attempts to deal with different interpretation of pain and pleasure concepts.
[Show full text]
John Keats 1 John Keats
John Keats 1 John Keats John Keats Portrait of John Keats by William Hilton. National Portrait Gallery, London Born 31 October 1795 Moorgate, London, England Died 23 February 1821 (aged 25) Rome, Italy Occupation Poet Alma mater King's College London Literary movement Romanticism John Keats (/ˈkiːts/; 31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his work only having been in publication for four years before his death.[1] Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his life, his reputation grew after his death, so that by the end of the 19th century he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. Jorge Luis Borges stated that his first encounter with Keats was the most significant literary experience of his life.[2] The poetry of Keats is characterised by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analysed in English literature. Biography Early life John Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on 31 October 1795, to Thomas and Frances Jennings Keats. There is no clear evidence of his exact birthplace.[3] Although Keats and his family seem to have marked his birthday on 29 October, baptism records give the date as the 31st.[4] He was the eldest of four surviving children; his younger siblings were George (1797–1841), Thomas (1799–1818), and Frances Mary "Fanny" (1803–1889) who eventually married Spanish author Valentín Llanos Gutiérrez.[5] Another son was lost in infancy.
[Show full text]
236201457.Pdf
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE ź ±·±± ź ɷ˂ʎɁŽ í ù ± ¸ ± ¹ ô å í ð å ò žɥɔȣȶȹª Ode on Indolence ᝲ ᴥȰɁ̝ᴦ ࠞюඩˢ ᴥ੪Ұᴦ ᴥ˧ᴦ ˹Ode on Indolence ఊጶᣵɂǾႆȁȪȗ޴ͶȻԇȪȲ˧ᐐɥѓɆЫɁ۫Ɂ ȾߨȫȦɔɞǾমᰅᇒȗɁᠲɥ࢛ɆȹȗɞǿͽֿȾўȨɟȲ΍ɁᐥբᴥŽÔèåù ôïéì îïô¬ îåéôèåò äï ôèåù óðéî®žᴦɂǾȦɁЕࣻɥ਽ӎɋ߳Ȣ឴ቺȻɕ᛻țɞǿ Óï¬ ùå ôèòåå çèïóôó¬ áäéåõ¡ Ùå ãáîîïô òáéóå Íù èåáä ãïïìâåääåä éî ôèå æìï÷åòù çòáóó» Æïò É ÷ïõìä îïô âå äéåôåä ÷éôè ðòáéóå¬ Á ðåôìáíâ éî á óåîôéíåîôáì æáòãå¡ Æáäå óïæôìù æòïí íù åùåó¬ áîä âå ïîãå íïòå Éî íáóñõåìéëå æéçõòåó ïî ôèå äòåáíù õòî» Æáòå÷åìì¡ É ùåô èáöå öéóéïîó æïò ôèå îéçèô¬ Áîä æïò ôèå äáù æáéîô öéóéïîó ôèåòå éó óôïòå» Öáîéóè¬ ùå ðèáîôïíó¬ æòïí íù éäìå óðòéçèô¬ Éîôï ôèå ãìïõäó¬ áîä îåöåò íïòå òåôõòî¡ ¨Ode on Indolence¬ìì®µ±¶°© ᴥ±ᴦ ź ±·±² ź Ȉ˧̷Ɂ̪᫜ȉɥ۫ȾᩐȫȦɔɞᚐའɂǾ˧ᐐɥȈɮʽʓʶʽʃɁ᫒ȉᴥì® ±¶º ŽÔèå âìéóóæõì ãìïõä ïæ óõííåòéîäïìåîãåž» ì® ¶°ºŽôèå ãìïõäóžᴦȺӿɒᣅ ɒǾፅɔ՘ɞȦȻȺɕȕɞǿȦɁ஽ Ode on Indolence Ɂɸʴʁɬ᭛Ɂ۫ᴥì® µº ੔ᴻȻȪȹ۫ట఼ۃŽá íáòâìå õòîžᴦɂǾ˧ᐐɥᖃɞᴹᯏ۫ᴻȕɞȗɂᴹ ɁमҾɥ౓ȲȬȦȻȾȽɞǿ²± ȦȦȺǾɸʴʁɬ᭛Ɂ۫Ⱦ૫ȞɟȲ̷࿎ЅȻȗ șպሗɁɮʫ˂ʂɥႊȗɞ OdeonaGrecianUrnȻ Ode on Indolence ȻɁ ᩖɁ᪨ȳȶȲᄾᤏཟȾႡ৙ȪȲȗǿҰᐐȾȝȗȹɂǾᝂ̷ɂ৊Ѕӌɥႊȗȹ۫ Ɂ̷࿎ɥႆᐐȨȽȟɜᅓҰȾ֣ɆҋȪǾयɜɁ˰ႜɋɁՎоɥ᭐șǿȳȟǾ˨ ऻᐐȺɂǾᝂ̷ᴥɁျॴᴦɂᅓҰȾးɟҋȲ̷࿎ȻɁպԇɥઑɒǾ˧ᐐɥѯȲ ȗᆀɁधЅȻȪȹᖃɝՍɠșȻȬɞǿOde on a Grecian Urn Ɂᝂ̷ɁᝁɒɂǾ ᄠᐼȽȦȻȾǾ̷࿎ȲȴȟЫɁᆀɁ˰ႜȾᣝԵȬɞȦȻȺ༆țȹȪɑșᴥìì® ´´´µºŽÔèïõ¬ óéìåîô æïòí¬ äïóô ôåáóå õó ïõô ïæ ôèïõçèô ¯ Áó äïôè åôåòîéôùº Ãïìä Ðáóôïòáì¡žᴦǿȦɟȾߦȪȹǾ˧ᐐɥ۫˨ɋᣜȗᣌȰșȻȬɞ Ode on ઔȽমᰅᇒȗɁ᜘ᕹȾɕȞȞɢɜȭᴥìì® µ¹ږIndolence Ɂᝂ̷Ɂ᭐ȗɂǾयɁ ¶°ºŽÖáîéóè¬ ùå ðèáîôïíó¬ æòïí íù éäìå óðòéçèô¬ ¯ Éîôï ôèå ãìïõäó¬ áîä îåöåò íïòå òåôõòî¡žᴦǾȰșዊԨȾկțɜɟȰșȾɂ᛻țȽȗǿ²² ȽȯȽɜǾ ᝂ̷ɂ˧ᐐɋɁ๡ȪȟȲȗঢ়ᅔȾસțɜɟȹɕȗɞȞɜȺȕɞᴥìì® ³³³´
[Show full text]
THE RELATION BETWEEN HUMAN and NATURE in JOHN Keats' Odes
The relation between human and nature in John KeatS’ oDeS: an expReSSive StuDy Agung Nalendra Janiswara Christinawati ABSTRACT This study attempts to discuss the relation between human and nature in John Keats’ Odes as the representation of Keats’ awareness in nature and the changing of nature in the era of industrialization, especially in England. This study will discuss three odes, “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode to Psyche”, and “To Autumn” released during the English Romantic Period. The main concern of this study is to analyze Keats’ awareness of nature and the relation between human and nature which presented in these three odes written by John Keats. To analyze the topic of discussion, this study applies Expressive theory suggested by Abrams. This study finds out that Keats expresses nature as the source and the core of this world. He emphasizes that the nature must be protected and conserved to sustain human’s life and also the world. This relation between human and nature affects Keats in writing his odes as the portrayal of his feeling toward nature and social condition in his period. Keywords: Awareness; Industrialization; Nature; Ode; Environment; World 1. Introduction The beauty of nature is a very special theme in English Romantic period, when nature was neglected by people because of industrialization. John Keats brought different perspective about beauty in his odes. It is assumed that this study portrays the condition of human and nature that is affected by industrialization and disappearance of the nature as the important part of life in this world. John Keats brings his odes to the reader and society to remind that the environment is very important for human being.
[Show full text]
This Essay Takes As Its Basis Four Odes by John Keats and Treats Them As A
“BURSTING JOY’S GRAPE” IN KEATS’ ODES DANIEL BRASS This essay takes as its basis four odes by John Keats and treats them as a sequence of poems in which he develops, discusses and elaborates the themes of permanence and transience, both at the level of an individual human life and in a larger, transgenerational, cosmic view of time. Underlying the four poems – “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode on Melancholy”, “To Autumn” and “Ode to a Nightingale” – is the idea of fullness or satisfaction, an intense climax of experience preceding the melancholia that inevitably attends the decline from such a heightened moment of experience. The pattern, I suggest, is founded on the sexual experience: increasing excitement and stimulation leading to a climax followed by a post-coital decline which Keats describes in various guises in each of the poems. In addition to this appearance of the orgasm in their structure, sexual imagery is prevalent throughout the odes. While the deployment of devices and images in poetry may be a deliberate choice on the poet’s part, analysis of a collection of works by an author reveals underlying structural features that recur throughout the work. The orgasm is one such feature prominent in Keats’ imagination. Individual sexual images may be intentional, but the structure of the odes points to a less overt occurrence of these sexual structures. Keats wrote the four odes I will be considering during 1818, the year after he met Fanny Brawne, with whom he immediately fell in love. Moreover, some critics have suggested it was during this time that Keats became aware that he was suffering from tuberculosis and that he would not live very much longer.1 Biographical interpretation of these poems does not, in itself, offer much insight into them, but Keats’ emotional life and his experience of illness must have influenced his psyche and may have produced the fascination with questions of presence and absence, 1 Don Colburn, “A Feeling for Light and Shade: John Keats and His ‘Ode to a Nightingale’”, Gettysburg Review, 5 (1992), 217.
[Show full text]
A Discussion of John Keats's Ode to a Nightingale
A DISCUSSION OF JOHN KEATS’S ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE Kul Bahadur Khadka * Abstract John Keats passes away at an early age but leaves many outstanding works behind. In his Ode to a Nightingale, the poet sees suffering on the earth and highly appreciates a nightingale’s marvelous music. This article discusses the pain - pleasure contrast and association in terms of the poet and the nightingale. It also explores the use of time and space in the poem. It is important to know where and when the bird is singing and the poet is sitting, listening to the bird’s music. The use of imagery ad symbols in the poem is very significant to connect the poet’s world with that of the bird. Art, death and life can be drawn as major themes in the poem. In order to strengthen the discussion, various books and critics’ opinions concerning Keats, the respective poe m and Romanticism have been consulted. The discussion reveals the poet’s ugly and painful world which is real and the nightingale’s beautiful and pleasurable world which is ideal. The real contrasts from the ideal and sometimes they get associated with eac h other. In exclusion of the ideal, the real suffers and gets confused. Keywords: negative capability, setting, theme, symbols and imagery, real and ideal. John Keats, a renowned poet of the second - generation Romantic poets, was born in London in 1795. H is father, a head hostler at a London livery stable, had four children - three sons (John, the first - born) and a daughter.
[Show full text]
A Dialogical Nature of Structure in Keats's Odes As a Circular Escape from Pain to Pleasure: a Bakhtinian Perspective
International Journal of Linguistics and Literature (IJLL)) ISSN(P): 2319-3956; ISSN(E): 2319-3964 Vol. 3, Issue 2, Mar 2014, 63-74 © IASET A DIALOGICAL NATURE OF STRUCTURE IN KEATS’S ODES AS A CIRCULAR ESCAPE FROM PAIN TO PLEASURE: A BAKHTINIAN PERSPECTIVE SOMAYYEH HASHEMI & BAHRAM KAZEMIAN Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran ABSTRACT Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism as a theoretical starting point, this thesis investigates the manifestations of dialogic voice in Odes by John Keats. In fact, this study attempts to examine the dialogic reading of “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on Grecian urn”, “Ode on Indolence”, “Ode to Psyche”, “To Autumn” and “Ode to Melancholy”, through structural viewpoints. A scrutiny upon Keats's odes through dialogical perspective may reveal that Keats is a social and an involved poet of his time. Moreover, Keats as an escapist poet chooses the world of fancy and imagination to free himself from conflicts of his society. His odes are associated with expression of joy-pain reality through which Keats in a close dialogue with readers tries to display his own social and political engagement. Examining allusions, ironies and paradoxes, all the elements of structure, may show Keats’s historical response toward a troubled society. KEYWORDS: Dialogism, Dialogue, Keats`s Odes, Pain, Pleasure, Structure INTRODUCTION John Keats wrote many poems but his five odes are his prominent works. In his odes, he tries to convey a multiple meaning of pleasure and pain to the reader. His continuous and circular swinging from joy and pleasure to grief and pain highlights an emphasis on a need for a negotiation and communication with the reader.
[Show full text]