Keats 1 of 14

Q.1 General estimate of John Keats as a poet.

Q.2 John Keats as a romantic poet.
John Keats: 1795-1821
Keats was not only the last but also the most perfect of the Romanticists. While Scott
was merely telling stories, and Wordsworth reforming poetry or upholding the moral
law, and Shelley advocating impossible reforms, and Byron voicing his own egoism
and the political discontent of the times, Keats lived apart from men and from all
political measures, worshiping beauty lie a devotee, perfectly content to write what
was in his own heart, or to reflect some splendour of the natural world as he saw or
dreamed it to be. !e had, moreover, the novel idea that poetry e"ists for its own sae,
and suffers loss by being devoted to philosophy or politics or, indeed, to any cause,
however great or small. #s he said in Lamia:
$$$$$..$ %o not all charms fly
#t the mere touch of cold philosophy&
'here was an awful rainbow once in heaven(
We now her woof, her te"ture) she is given
*n the dull catalogue of common things.
+hilosophy will clip an #ngel,s wings,
-on.uer all mysteries by rule and line,
/mpty the haunted air, $$$$$$. 0
1r as he said (
# thing of beauty is a 2oy for ever.)
*ts loveliness increases) it will ever
+ass into nothingness) 3Endymion)
1r 4Beauty is truth, truth beauty5. 3Ode to Grecian Urn)
+artly because of this high ideal of poetry, partly because he studied and
unconsciously imitated the 6rees classics and the best wors of the /li7abethans,
Keats,s last little volume of poetry is une.ualled by the wor of any of his
contemporaries. When we remember that all his wor was published in three short
years 31819:18;<=, and that he died when <nly twenty five, we must 2udge him to be
the most promising figure of the early 1>
th
cen, and one of the most remarable in the
history of literature.
1
Keats,s life was devotion to beauty and to poetry.
Bitter criticism of his Poems in ?uarterly maga7ine. Byron( (Who illed @ohn
Keats& *, says the ?uarterly.5 Shelley,s Adonais. Shelley was the first to
recognise the young genius. A.#rnold( 4Keats had flint and iron in him5 0
man of beautiful and indomitable spirit.
4None but the master shall praise us; and none but the master shall blame
2

might well be written on the fly leaf of every volume of eats,s poetry) for
never was there a poet more devoted to his ideal, entirely independent of
success or failure.
B
1
Cong W.@., /nglish Citerature
;
Kipling Rudyard. And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame; And no one shall work for money, and no one
shall work for fame; But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the
od of Things as They Are!
Topic: Work
Source: L'Envoi, in "Seven Seas"
B
Cong W @.pg 4;<.
Keats ; of 14
!e new no 6ree) yet 6ree literature absorbed and fascinated him, as he
saw its broen and imperfect reflection in an /nglish translation 3-hapman,s
!omer=. Cie Shaespeare, who also was but poorly educated in the schools,
he had a marvellous faculty of discerning the real spirit of the classics, : a
faculty denied to many great scholars, and to most of the Dclassic, writers of
the preceding century, : and so he set himself to the tas of reflecting in
modern /nglish the spirit of the old 6rees.
!he E"e o# $t.A%nes the most perfect of Keats,s medieval poems, is not a story
after the manner of the metrical romances, but rather vivid paintings of a
romantic mood, such as comes to all men, at times, to glorify a woraday
world. Cie all the wor of Keats and Shelley, it has an element of unreality)
and when we reach at the end( 4And they are %one; aye& %one a%es lon% a%o '
!hese lo"ers #led a(ay into the storm& it is as if we were waing from a
dream.
1des( #utumn, +syche, 6recian Ern and Fightingale 0 these are li)e an
in"itation to a #east
*
. 1f these, Ni%htin%ale may find four things 0 a love of
sensuous beauty, a touch of pessimism, a purely pagan conception of nature,
and a strong individualism 0 which are characteristics of this last of the
romantic poets.
#s Wordsworth,s wor is too often marred by the morali7er, and Byron,s by
the demagogue, and Shelley,s by the reformer, so Keats wor suffers by the
opposite e"treme of aloofness from every human interest) so much so, that he
is often accused of being indifferent to humanity.
'hree things should be remembered about Keats( Girst, that Keats sought to
e"press beauty for its own sae) that beauty is as essential to normal humanity
as government or law) and that the higher man climbs in civili7ation the more
imperative becomes his need of beauty as a reward for his labours. Second,
that Keats,s letters
H
are as much an indication of the man as is his poetry) and
in his letters, which their human sympathy, their eager interest in social
problems, their humour, and their een insight into life, there is no trace of
effeminacy, but rather every indication of a strong and noble manhood. 'he
third thing to remember is that all Keats wor was done in three or four years
0 at ;H his wor was as mature as was 'ennyson,s at H<.
Aost fitly does he close the list of poets of the romantic revival, because in
many respects he was the best worman of them all. !e seems to have studied
words more carefully than did his contemporaries, and so his poetic
e"pression, or the harmony of word and thought is generally more than theirs.
Aore than any other he lived for poetry, as the noblest of the arts. Aore than
any other he emphasised beauty, because to him, as shown by his Grecian
Urn, beauty and truth were one and inseparable.
!e enriched the whole Romantic Aovement by adding to its interest in
common life the spirit, rather than the letter, of the classics and of /li7abethan
poetry. Gor these reasons Keats is, lie Spenser, a poet,s poet) his wor
profoundly influenced 'ennyson and , indeed, most of the poets of the present
era.
4
Cong W @
H
#bout his letters, '.S. /liot calls Ithe most notable and the most important ever written by any /nglish poet.I
Keats B of 14
A.C.Ricet( *ntellectually Keats was strongly in sympathy with Shelley and
Byron. *ndeed in religious philosophy he was really more e"treme, more
wholeheartedly pagan than earlier.
Byron, for all his cynicism, never freed himself entirely from the spell of
-hristianity, and Shelley,s transcendental fervour is far more obvious than his
so 0called atheism. But +eats had no reli%ion sa"e the reli%ion o# beauty,
Where Wordsworth spiritualises, and Shelley intellectualises Fature, Keats is
content to e"press her through the senses( the colour, the scent, the touch, the
pulsating music) these are the things that stir him to his depths) there is not a
mood of /arth he does not love, not a season that will not cheer and inspire
him
J
.
!is genius was not generally perceived during his lifetime or immediately
after his death. Keats, dying, e"pected his poetry to be forgotten, as the
epitaph he wrote for his tombstone indicates( I!ere lies one whose name was
writ in water.I But nineteenth century critics and readers did come to
appreciate him, though, for the most part, they had only a partial
understanding of his wor. 'hey saw Keats as a sensual poet) they focused on
his vivid, concrete imagery) on his portrayal of the physical and the
passionate) and on his immersion in the here and now. 1ne nineteenth century
critic went so far as to assert not merely that Keats had Ia mind
constitutionally inapt for abstract thining,I but that he Ihad no mind.I KeatsKs
much:.uoted outcry, I1 for a life of Sensation rather than of 'houghtsLI
3letter, Fovember ;;, 1819= has been cited to support this view.
With the twentieth century, the perception of KeatsKs poetry e"panded) he was
and is praised for his seriousness and thoughfulness, for his dealing with
difficult human conflicts and artistic issues, and for his impassioned mental
pursuit of truth. Keats advocated living Ithe ripest, fullest e"perience that one
is capable ofI) he believed that what determines truth is e"perience 3Ia"ioms
are not a"ioms until they are proved upon our pulsesI=. 'he publication of
KeatsKs letters, with their een intellectional .uestioning and concern with
moral and artistic problems, contributed to this re:assessment. !is letters
throw light on his own poetic practices and provide insight into writing in
general.
*n a letter to Ben2amin Bailey 0 Fov ;;, 1819( 4* am certain of ,nothing but of
the holiness of the !eart,s affections and the truth of *magination 0 what the
imagination sei7es as Beauty must be truth 0 whether it e"isted before or not :
$5
*n a letter to @ohn 'aylor 0 Geb ;9, 1818( 4'hat if poetry comes not as
naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all$.5
Keats an! Romanticism
Keats belonged to a literary movement called romanticism. Romantic poets,
because of their theories of literature and life, were drawn to lyric poetry) they even
developed a new form of ode, often called the romantic meditative ode.
"itho#t !o#$t% Keats &as one of the most important fi'#res of earl(
nineteenth-cent#r( Romanticism% a mo)ement that espo#se! the sanctit(
of emotion an! ima'ination% an! pri)ile'e! the $ea#t( of the nat#ral
&orl!. *an( of the i!eas an! themes e)i!ent in Keats+s 'reat o!es are
,#intessentiall( Romantic concerns: the $ea#t( of nat#re% the relation
J
#.-.Ricett
Keats 4 of 14
$et&een ima'ination an! creati)it(% the response of the passions to $ea#t(
an! s#fferin'% an! the transience of h#man life in time. -he s#mpt#o#s
sensor( lan'#a'e in &hich the o!es are &ritten% their i!ealistic concern
for $ea#t( an! tr#th% an! their e.pressi)e a'on( in the face of !eath are
all Romantic preocc#pations--tho#'h at the same time% the( are all
#ni,#el( Keats+s.
'he literary critic @ac Stillinger describes the typical movement of the romantic
ode( 'he poet, unhappy with the real world, escapes or attempts to escape into the
ideal. %isappointed in his mental flight, he returns to the real world. Esually he
returns because human beings cannot live in the ideal or because he has not found
what he was seeing. But the e"perience changes his understanding of his situation, of
the world, etc.) his viewsMfeelings at the end of the poem differ significantly from
those he held at the beginning of the poem.
-hemes in Keats+s *a/or 0oems
%ouglas Bush noted that IKeatsKs important poems are related to, or grow directly
out of...inner conflicts.I Gor e"ample, pain and pleasure are intertwined in I1de to a
FightingaleI and I1de on a 6recian ErnI) love is intertwined with pain, and pleasure
is intertwined with death in ICa Belle %ame Sans Aerci,I I'he /ve of St. #gnes,I
and I*sabella) or, the +ot of Basil.I
-leanth Broos defines the parado" that is the theme of I1de to a FightingaleI
somewhat differently( Ithe world of imagination offers a release from the painful
world of actuality, yet at the same time it renders the world of actuality more painful
by contrast.I
1ther conflicts appear in KeatsKs poetry(
transient sensation or passion M enduring art
dream or vision M reality
2oy M melancholy
the ideal M the real
mortal M immortal
life M death
separation M connection
being immersed in passion M desiring to escape passion
Keats often associated love and pain both in his life and in his poetry. !e wrote of
a young woman he found attractive, IWhen she comes into a room she maes an
impression the same as the Beauty of a Ceopardess.... * should lie her to ruin me...I
Cove and death are intertwined in I*sabella) or, the +ot of Basil,I IBright Star,I I'he
/ve of St. #gnes,I and ICa Belle %ame sans Aerci.I 'he Gatal Woman 3the woman
whom it is destructive to love, lie Salome, Cilith, and -leopatra= appears in ICa
Belle %ame sans AerciI and ICamia.I
*dentity is an issue in his view of the poet and for the dreamers in his odes 3e.g.,
I1de to a FightingaleI= and narrative poems. 1f the poetic character, he says, I... it is
not itself::it has no self::it is every thing and nothing::it has no character::it en2oys
light and shade::it lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, right or poor, mean or
elevated...I !e calls the poet Ichameleon.I
!arold Bloom and Cionel 'rilling summari7e KeatsKs world:view succinctly(
Beyond the uncompromising sense that we are completely physical in a physical
world, and the allied reali7ation that we are compelled to imagine more than we can
now or understand, there is a third .uality in Keats more clearly present than in any
other poet since Shaespeare. 'his is the gift of tragic acceptance, which persuades us
Keats H of 14
that Keats was the least solipsistic
9
of poets, the one most able to grasp the
individuality and reality of selves totally distinct from his own, and of an outward
world that would survive his perception of it.
'hey believe that Keats came to accept this world, the here and now, as the ultimate
value.
Keats+s 1!es
'aen together, the odes do not e"actly tell a story::there is no unifying IplotI
and no recurring characters::and there is little evidence that Keats intended
them to stand together as a single wor of art. Fevertheless, the e"traordinary
number of suggestive interrelations between them is impossible to ignore. 'he
odes e"plore and develop the same themes, partae of many of the same
approaches and images, and, ordered in a certain way, e"hibit an unmistaable
psychological development. 'his is not to say that the poems do not stand on
their own::they do, magnificently) one of the greatest felicities of the se.uence
is that it can be entered at any point, viewed wholly or partially from any
perspective, and still prove moving and rewarding to read. 'here has been a
great deal of critical debate over how to treat the voices that spea the poems::
are they meant to be read as though a single person speas them all, or did
Keats invent a different persona for each ode&
'here is no right answer to the .uestion, but it is possible that the .uestion
itself is wrong( 'he consciousness at wor in each of the odes is unmistaably
KeatsKs own. 1f course, the poems are not e"plicitly autobiographical 3it is
unliely that all the events really happened to Keats=, but given their sincerity
and their shared frame of thematic reference, there is no reason to thin that
they do not come from the same part of KeatsKs mind::that is to say, that they
are not all told by the same part of KeatsKs reflected self. *n that sense, there is
no harm in treating the odes a se.uence of utterances told in the same voice.
'he psychological progress from I1de on *ndolenceI to I'o #utumnI is
intimately personal, and a great deal of that intimacy is lost if one begins to
imagine that the odes are spoen by a se.uence of fictional characters. When
you thin of Ithe speaerI of these poems, thin of Keats as he would have
imagined himself while writing them. #s you trace the speaerKs tra2ectory
from the numb drowsiness of I*ndolenceI to the .uiet wisdom of I#utumn,I
try to hear the voice develop and change under the guidance of KeatsKs
e"traordinary language.
#ll written in Aay 181>, I1de to a Fightingale,I I1de on a 6recian Ern,I and
I1de on AelancholyI grew out of a persistent ind of e"perience which dominated
KeatsKs feelings, attitudes, and thoughts during that time. /ach of them is a uni.ue
e"perience, but each of them is also, as it were, a facet of a larger e"perience. 'his
larger e"perience is an intense awareness of both the 2oy and pain, the happiness and
the sorrow, of human life. Keats e"plores the relation between pleasure and pain,
happiness and melancholy, imagination and reality, art and life, with brilliant poetic
force. 'his awareness is feeling and becomes also thought, a ind of brooding as the
poet sees them in others and feels them in himself. 'his awareness is not only feeling)
it becomes also thought, a ind of brooding contemplation of the lot of human beings,
who must satisfy their desire for happiness in a world where 2oy and pain are
9
$elief in self as onl( realit(: the belief that the only thing somebody can be sure of is that he or she
e"ists, and that true nowledge of anything else is impossible
Keats J of 14
inevitably and ine"tricably tied together. 'his union of 2oy and pain is the
fundamental fact of human e"perience that Keats has observed and accepted as true.
Wright 'homas and Stuart 6erry Brown
*n I1de to a FightingaleI and I1de on a 6recian Ern,I Keats tries to free himself
from the world of change by identifying with the nightingale, representing nature, or
the urn, representing art. 'hese odes, as well as I'he 1de to +sycheI and the I1de to
Aelancholy,I present the poet as dreamer) the .uestion in these odes, as well as in ICa
Belle %ame Sans AerciI and I'he /ve of St. #gnes,I is how Keats characteri7es the
dream or vision. *s it a positive e"perience which enriches the dreamer& or is it a
negative e"perience which has the potential to cut off the dreamer from the real world
and destroy him& What happens to the dreamers who do not awaen from the dream
or do not awaen soon enough&
Keats+s 2ma'er(
KeatsKs imagery ranges among all our physical sensations( sight, hearing, taste,
touch, smell, temperature, weight, pressure, hunger, thirst, se"uality, and movement.
Keats repeatedly combines different senses in one image, that is, he attributes the
trait3s= of one sense to another, a practice called synaesthesia. !is synaesthetic
imagery performs two ma2or functions in his poems( it is part of their sensual effect,
and the combining of senses normally e"perienced as separate suggests an underlying
unity of dissimilar happenings, the oneness of all forms of life. Richard !. Gogle calls
these images the product of his Iunrivaled ability to absorb, sympathi7e with, and
humani7e natural ob2ects.I
3.amples of 4(naesthetic 2ma'es
51!e to a 6i'htin'ale5
*n some A/C1%*1ES plot M 1f B//-!/F 6R//F 3stan7a *=
-ombines sound 3ImelodiousI= and sight 3Ibeechen greenI=
'#S'*F6 of Glora and the country green,
%ance, and +rovencal song, and sunburnt mirthL
1 for a beaer of the warm South, 3stan7a **=
!ere the poet '#S'/S the visual 3IGlora and the country greenI=, activity
3I%anceI=, sound 3I+rovencal songI=, and mood or pleasure 3ImirthI=) also the
visual 3IsunburntI= is combined with a pleasurable emotional state 3ImirthI=.
With the beaer there is finally something to taste, but what is being tasted is
temperature 3IwarmI= and a location 3ISouthI=.
But here here is no C*6!',
Save what from heaven is with the BR//N/S BC1WF 3stan7a *O=
-ombines sight 3IlightI= with touchMmovement 3Ibree7es blownI=. 'his image
describes light filtering through leaves moved by the wind.
For what S1G' *F-/FS/ !#F6S upon the boughs 3stan7a O=
-ombines touch 3IsoftI=, weight 3IhangsI=, and smell 3Iincense=.
53)e of 4t. A'nes5
'he S*CO/R, SF#RC*F6 trumpets Kgan to chide
-ombines vision 3Isilver,I the color of the trumpets= and sound 3trumpets
produce a IsilverI sound=.
'hus we can say that Keats is all about(
2oy and suffering, the natural and the ideal, the transient and the eternal, art
and life, sensations and thoughts, emotions and intellect, desire of beauty and
awareness of pain$
Keats 9 of 14
constant endeavour to escape to a world of eternal beauty and 2oy but in this
endeavour he does not always succeed.
Beauty is truth. 'ruth beauty( 'he truth is that Keats,s yearning passion for the
beautiful is not a passion of the sensuous or sentimental poet only. *t is an
intellectual and spiritual passion also.
!ellenism 36ree element=, aestheticism 3love of beauty=, Fature, pictorial
.uality 3imagery=, sensuousness.
6e'ati)e Capa$ilit(

@ohn Keats 3along with +ercy Shelley and Cord Byron= is referred to as a
4second generation5 Romantic poet. 3Blae, Wordsworth, and -oleridge mae
up the so:called 4first generation.5=
'he second generation writers tend to be more septical and philosophically
ironic. 'hey are more dubious, for e"ample, about a Wordsworthian 4spirit
that rolls through all things.5 *n Keats,s case, this second:generation
septicism also applies to the poet,s ego. Keats felt that Wordsworth was too
4self focused,5 too consumed by the .uest of the sub2ective self trying to wed
with Fature and the 4spirit that rolls through all things.5 Gor Keats, any
4epiphany5 or visionary 4spot of time5 could only come about by way of what
he called 4negative capability,5 which involves the erasure of self to
e"perience the potent otherness of the world.

Keats is not arguing that we should completely discount the self, and never
have personal convictions. !e,s not saying that we should 2ust let ourselves
roam without any direction. !e,s not arguing that we should constantly change
in fundamental ways, such as one wee we believe in 6od, then we become
atheists, then Buddhists, and so on. *nstead, he,s arguing that truth is no longer
fi"ed or universal or absolute. #ll we have is e"perience. #nd for Keats 3and
the Romantics in general= we must continue to be open to e"perience. We
can,t do that if we,ve got all sorts of fi"ed ideas.

'hat is what Keats means by 4negative capability.5 We do need philosophies,

codes, world viewsPwe have to have those things to survive. But we also
have to be able to suspend them, because they are filtering models. 'hey can
only tell us what we put into them to begin with. 'hey can therefore eep us,
according to Keats, from seeing something new.

So Keats,s ideal of 4negative capability5 has to do with suspending the ego,

the sub2ective identity, and becoming something else. 'hat,s a process, and
process is a watchword for the Romantics.

Gor Keats, the truest way of life is one that is elastic and process:based. !e is
trying to get away from system, because system will limit information and
therefore limit understanding. Gor Keats, we have to suspend whatever it is
that maes us a self or an ego. 'hat,s why, for Keats, the poet is the most
4unpoetical5 of all things. !e has no self. !e is always becoming another
beingPa nightingale, a 6recian urn. /liot was in many ways a Keatsian poet
of negative capability. !e eschewed the overly personal or confessional in
poetry. !e suspended the self, the personalPfiltering it through figures lie
+rufroc.
Keats 8 of 14

'his world, according to Keats, is not a vale of tears, a valley of suffering

before the final redemption through -hrist or through nature or through some
Wordsworthian spirit that rolls through all things. 'hat,s wrong, as far as
Keats is concerned. Rather, human e"istence is a 4vale of soul:maing.5 Cife
can,t redeem us. We can redeem life. Fature doesn,t have the answer. Fature
becomes the occasion for understanding that the answer lies within us.

'he second generation poets are finding ways of letting go of 6od, which the
first generation weren,t ready to do. 'ae a loo at @. !illis Ailler,s boo !he
-isappearance o# God Pthe 4disappearance5 begins here in the second:
generation Romantics. Wordsworth still has the hope that the landscape can be
divine. When we get to Oictorians lie Aatthew #rnold and #lfred Cord
'ennyson, we see that they can,t believe this any longer. Gor them, nature
symboli7es the peace and beauty possible in human e"istence, but it has no
metaphysical implication or higher significance. #rnold writes 4where nature
ends, man begins.5 Byron, Keats and Shelley fall in between the first
generation Romantics 3Blae, Wordsworth, and -oleridge= and the ma2or
Oictorians 3'ennyson, #rnold, and Browning=. 'hese second:generation
Romantics can,t believe in a 4genius loci,5 a spirit of the place. Gor Keats,
nature is beauty, a reminder of a classical world that once was, but Fature is
not divine, as it is for Wordsworth. Qet Keats has not yet reached the sort of
social or more e"istential vision that #rnold, 'ennyson, and Browning e"hibit.

# despair about the fleetingness of visionary e"perience and beauty is found in

the first:generation poets, but not with .uite the same degree of septicism or
even pessimism that we see in the second:generation poets. Qou can find
evidence in Wordsworth,s poetry of Romantic irony and doubt, but his wors
are not ultimately septical. *t,s .uite the contrary with Shelley and Keats and
Byron. *t is tough to thin of three poets more different than Byron, Shelley,
and Keats in terms of their basic temperaments. 'hey are lined by the
Neitgeist, by septicism, and therefore by the notion that process and
aspiration are of central importance, rather than some central truth that can be
pronounced. But in terms of their individual temperaments and personalities,
the three are e"tremely different.

1ne way to find one,s humanity and to fulfill desire is to surrender to passion,
to some ind of Blaean daemonic energy, to the ecstatic sublime. 'hat,s what
Keats,s poetry is often about. Keats once wrote( 41h for a life of sensations,
rather than thought.5 'hen there is also Keats the aesthete, a tutelary genius for
the pre:Raphaelite poets. 'hose who founded the 4art for art,s sae5
movementPthe Rossettis, +ater, SwinburnePlooed to Keats as their model.
Fegation of the self is only the first step for Keats, however( you negate those
things that mae you an ego. But the crucial ne"t step is that then you become
aware that these sorts of e"periences are mysteries and uncertainties. Gor
Keats, if we deal with life e"periences and the ob2ects and beings of the world
using fact and reason, then we distort them. Keats once said that he got inside
a billiard ball to such an e"tent that he could actually feel its roundness. Gor
Keats it,s all about sensual and ecstatic identification.

Keats > of 14

Gor Keats, we have to have agilityPwe have to be able to see it both ways.
1ne could argue that people who don,t do so because of the fear of perple"ity
and parado". But there,s also the possibility that they don,t embrace ambiguity
because they are so 3problematically= confident about who and what they are.

-learly, we have to have models to function and live. But models can only tell
us what we program them to tell us. Keats,s point is that there is no model that
can be programmed in an imaginative way that will allow us to understand the
inds of .uestions he wants to e"plore. So we have to suspend those models,
so that we can be completely open to e"perience in all of its intensity, richness,
comple"ity, and ambiguity. When it,s over, we,ve got to put the model bac on
and act. But that,s at the end. What he,s often left with is not the answer but
the .uestion.

*n his letters on negative capability, Keats claims something similar to /liot,s

point in 4'radition and the *ndividual 'alent.5 /liot is arguing against
personality, and saying that the personality of the poet is certainly involved but
it,s involved primarily as a catalyst. *f you loo at the residue of the chemical
interaction that taes place, it,s the poem) you don,t find any trace of the
poet,s personality there because he,s found an 4ob2ective correlative5Pan
image or scene or figure that stands in and 4correlates5 to the poet,s
personality or feelings or ideas. 'he poet,s 4real,5 everyday personality never
gets represented directly. Keats,s point seems to be very similar here because
he goes on to say that writers of genius don,t have any individuality. /ven in
early letters Keats is thining about personality, individuality and the way in
which that is very different from the .uality of mind that goes to mae up a
genius imagination.

What,s he,s trying to do is become one with the thing he contemplates, to

imaginatively enter into its life, rather than to thin about what he thins about
it. So that,s the first part of negative capability( negating one,s own ego,
personality, identity, in order to see things from the perspective of the other
person or thing or situation. #ccording to Keats, geniuses don,t use their
strong identity in a moment of creation) they,re more lie the 4chameleon.5

/verything in Wordsworth, everything, is filtered through his personality, his

needs, his memories, his feelings. Keats has a different vision of the poet,s
character or self( 4it is not itself, it has no self, it is everything and nothing. *t
has no character.5

Wordsworth, in Keats,s mind, is also the 4virtuous philosopher5 poet. Keats,s

ideal is the chameleon poet, becoming what we imagine, taing on the
character of someone else or some situation. Keats admires a philosophical
disinterestedness. 'hat,s really what he,s taling aboutPdisinterestedness,
open:ended speculation without a priori moral 2udgments or e"planatory
models. #gain, he writes, 4# poet is the most unpoetical of anything in
e"istence.5

Keats 1< of 14
*n his letters about the chameleon poet, Keats begins to develop his idea of
negative capability. But he,s still only at the beginningPnegating his own
personality, with the e"ception of his advocacy of speculation. But then the
negative capability letter itself 3'o 6eorge and 'om Keats, %ec. ;1:;9, 1819=
he says that 4it struc me, what .uality went to form a Aan of #chievement
especially in Citerature R which Shaespeare possessed so enormouslyP*
mean Fegative -apability, that is when man is capable of being in
uncertainties, Aysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact R
reason . . .
So here is the proper model for KeatsPnot Wordsworth or -oleridge, but
Shaespeare. Keats is taing Shaespeare as his great ideal. Eltimately, Keats
begins to want to combine what he values of the poetry of the pastP!omer,
Oirgil, Shaespeare, which is poetry that has great power and scopePwith
what he admires in his contemporary poets, their inwardness and
psychological e"plorations. /ventually, too, he starts to rethin Wordsworth,
and he tries to decide who was the greater poet, Wordsworth or Ailton.

*n looing at Keats,s famous 41des,5 try to thin about imaginative ascent and
descent. 'he scholar @ac Stillinger claims that the Keatsian speaer always
begins in the world of actuality, taes off on a flight of imagination, but thenP
either because there,s something lacing in the ob2ect he,s meditating on, or
because there,s some problem in maintaining the meditationPthe flight
returns to earth and again with .uestions.

Walter @acson Bate maintains that what these poems dramati7e is the
4greeting of the spirit with its ob2ect.5 Aany readers see Romanticism being
about an attempt to overcome the split between sub2ect and ob2ect through
meditation.

Keats,s approach to a symbol in a poem reveals his desire to see if that symbol
is commensurate with the imagination in its 4stepping towards a truth5 3that,s
Keats,s phrase=. Esing negative capability, Keats causes the ob2ect to become
an ob2ective correlativePa correlate to a specific emotional or psychological
state. Keats is different from Wordsworth, who is more sub2ective and
personality driven. Keats is trying to find an ob2ective correlative, and so he
negates his own personality 3whatever it is in his personally that,s driving him
Pwhether it,s tuberculosis, the death of his brother, his own worries, and so
on=. !e tries to negate that and sympathetically approach the symbol, the
ob2ect. !e tries to capture something in all of its concreteness, particularity,
ambiguity, and he uses the symbol as a field in which opposing attitudes can
engage.

What Keats affirms at the end is the spirit, the symbol, the process. !e doesn,t
want to dissolve the mysteries, the uncertainties that are crucial to that
e"perience, process, and symbol. !e is always being septical, open:ended,
contemplating the variety of ways of looing at an ob2ect. *n the 41de on a
6recian Ern5 the entire poem focuses on the urn. *t,s almost as if Keats is
holding an urn in his hands and turning it) it,s there from beginning to end.
'here is a drama between perception and ob2ect, but that,s the controlling
form of the whole poem. *n the case of the urn, he starts with the wor of art
Keats 11 of 14
itself, and his .uestion is( -an art provide some system of salvation& !e,s
never sure.

Keats,s letters are remarable. 'hey capture someone debating with himself.
What does it mean to be a poet, writing at this particular time in the history of
the world& !e tals about the advance of the age. !e has something of a sense
of an aesthetic revolution. !e,s grappling, debating with all sorts of notions
about where he,s going to go as a poet. #nd he is shadowed by thoughts of
mortality, a sense of nowing that he is going to die 3Keats died at an early age
from tuberculosis=.

*n Keats, there is still the possibility of a world in which imagination, feeling

and love can bring renewal. #nd that is what Romantic art in one sense is all
about.
-he 3)e of 4t. A'nes $( Keates
# great wor of romance offers an environment that is amenable to the mysterious
and the miraculous. Keats uses images of mystery, adventure, and of the unnown to
enhance the romantic feel of his poem 'he /ve of St. #gnes.
*n the second line of the poem, Keats uses the image of the owl to set a tone of the
mysterious and unnown. We all have associations of the owl with wisdom or
mysticism. 'he owl is a nocturnal bird of prey that has held manindKs curiosity for
thousands of years. We are two lines into the poem and we already feel that there is
something supernatural and romantic about the setting.
'he use of the words Ifro7en grass, numb fingers,I and Ifrosted breath,I place us
deeper into the unnown romantic world. We get the impression that we should be
home) huddled around a fire. 1nly a hero or a villain would be out on a night lie this.
Since we feel this way, the story is starting in a .uiet, but a foreboding way. 'his
improved the romantic feel of the poem.
'he image of the beadsman praying for the virgin is a strange, romantic idea to us as
well. 'he thought of someone being paid to pray for someone long dead is foreign to
us. Since this is something that does not happen very much anymore, we are pulled
into the past) a romantic past, with which we associate castles, dragons, nights, and
magic. 'he adventurous and therefore the romantic feel of the poem is amplified.
'he word virgin itself brings up feelings of curiosity and
romance. Oirgins have been sacrificed, guarded by dragons,
and ept in tall towers in romance stories. # feel for the
type of poem is beginning to be formed in our minds. 'he
romantic feel of the poem is reinforced because now we are
e"pecting a wondrous tale of adventure and heroism.
*n the chapel, the beadsman feels that Ithe sculptured dead
seem to free7e.I !e senses that the statues that line the
sides of the chapel are somehow alive, but fro7en. #lthough
at first * passed over this line, it left an impression of
darness and unnown details. 'his magnified the mysticism
Keats 1; of 14
and the romance of the poem.
#s we approach midnight, Keats improves the romantic feel
of the poem by using the phrase, Ithe hallowed hour was
near at hand.I 'his pi.ues our interest. Something is going
to happen at that Ihallowed hour,I but e"actly what, we
donKt now. 'he fact that the hour we are waiting for is
midnight also adds to the occult sentiments we are already
feeling. Aidnight is the witching hour) the hour when our
coach turns bac into a pumpin. Something magical is going
to happen. 'he romantic feel of the poem is intensified.
'he author also uses the phrase I!e cursed thee and thine,
both house and land.I 'his leaves the impression that a
mystical spell has been cast. Oisions of witches and evil
surface, and we begin to thin that our hero may be in for
a bit more than he bargained for. 'he supernatural forces
him to handle. 'he adventurous feel of romance is
heightened.
'he romantic feel is emphasi7ed further when the hero is
trying to find Aadeline) his love. !e ass #ngela to tell
him Iby the holy loom which none but secret sisterhood may
see,I where she is. !e is referring to the custom of
leaving lambs wool on the alter for nuns to weave into
garments for themselves. We feel there is some ind of
secret organi7ation that has e"isted for untold ages. 'his
adds to the romantic feel of the poem.
*n the fourteenth stan7a the romantic feel is developed
further by the use of the words I'hou must hold water in a
witches sieve, and be liege:lord of all the /lves and
Gays.I 'his entire line is full of wonder and mystery. We
should also note that the words I/lves and GaysI are
capitali7ed. 'his is KeatsK way of putting even more
emphasis on the mystical idea of elves and fairies. 'his
arouses our feelings of adventure) which is part of romance.
'he fact that the old crone ept a closed wondrous boo of
riddles also fortifies the romantic feel of the poem.
Girstly, riddles are .uestions or statements testing
ingenuity. 'his itself is curious enough, but the fact that
the boo is closed places this statement off the scale. We
cannot now the riddles now or ever because the boo is
closed. 'he romantic feel of the poem has been augmented.
'he romantic feel of the poem ,I 'he /ve of Saint #gnesI,
is enhanced by the use of images of mystery and the
unnown. 'hese types of images cause us to thin about far
away lands, dragons, witches and other magical wonders.
Keats 1B of 14
Since one of our aims when we read romance is to escape,
these images are very effective.
*e!ie)al Atmosphere:
Aedieval superstition that a maiden might win sight of her would:be husband in a
dream by going to bed supper:less and sleeping on her bac on the eve of St. #gnes.
S Reference to plume, tiara, carved angels, splendid 6othic window.
S Keats concentrates upon the passion rather than the adventurous action.
4ens#o#sness:
description of feast spread by +orphyro by the side of his sleeping mistress in
richly sensuous. 3stan7a ;>:B<=
Sense of sight and smell are also gratified when the poet refers to the wintry
moon throwing light on Aadeline,s fair breast and the rose:bloom falling on
her hands(
4Gull on this casement shone the wintry moon,
#nd threw warm gules on AadelineKs fair breast,
#s down she nelt for heavenKs grace and boon)
Rose:bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
#nd on her silver cross soft amethyst,
#nd on her hair a glory, lie a saint(
She seemed a splendid angel, newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven(P+orphyro grew faint(
She nelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint. 3Stan7a ;H=
#non his heart revives( her vespers done,
1f all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees)
Enclasps her warmed 2ewels one by one)
Coosens her fragrant boddice) by degrees
!er rich attire creeps rustling to her nees(
!alf:hidden, lie a mermaid in sea:weed,
+ensive awhile she dreams awae, and sees,
*n fancy, fair St. #gnes in her bed,
But dares not loo behind, or all the charm is fled. 3stan7a ;J=
Beyond a mortal man impassioned far
#t these voluptuous accents, he arose,
/thereal, flushed, and lie a throbbing star
Seen mid the sapphire heavenKs deep repose)
*nto her dream he melted, as the rose
Blendeth its odour with the violet,P
Solution sweet( meantime the frost:wind blows
Cie CoveKs alarum pattering the sharp sleet
#gainst the window:panes) St. #gnesK moon hath set. 3Stan7a BJ=
Contrast $et&een spirit#alit( an! sens#alit(:
Keats 14 of 14
Beadsman and #ngela represent religious orthodo"y.
Aadeline,s position is midway between -hristianity and paganism. #lthough she
remembers St. #gnes and her saintly care, and prays with all the appearance of devout
-hristianity, her very belief in superstition is non:christian.
Symbol of Rose(
Rose has been symbol of beauty both heavenly and earthly, both spiritually and
sensuously.
DRose bloom feel in her hands$
#s though a rose should shut$
3see rose in te"t$=
'he end of the poem is suggestive( death of #ngela and Beadsman, her flying away
with +orphyro from the castle$ sensuality win over spirituality.
Aerits of the poem(
its atmosphere, its glow of passionate colour and music, decorative images,
ornamental style, beautiful phrases.
Gew poets succeeded in creating an atmosphere so dreamy, so magical, so full
of beauty, so removed from the common world of everyday e"periences.
Oarious interpretations of the poem( 3@ac Stillinger in 2.
th
cen interpretation o# +eats
Odes=
it is Da monody of dreamy richness,, one long sensuous utterance, D an
e"pression of lyrical emotion,, Dun.uestioning rapture,.
*ndividual,s ascent towards spirituali7ation.
-astle is allegorical representation of life( +orphyro,s passing through it and
reaching Aadeline,s bed:chambers is pilgrim,s progress towards heaven.
+orphyro as villainous seducer.