Romanticism - John Keats
Published on Nov 19, 2015
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Romanticism - John Keats
analysis of La Belle Dame Sans Merci & To Autumn
The Romantic movement espoused the sanctity of emotion and imagination and privileged the beauty of the natural world.
“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” was published in April 1819 and “To Autumn” was published in September 1819
Related text: 'Preface to Lyrical Ballads' by Wordsworth which was published in the second edition of “Lyrical Ballads” (1800)
The Romantic movement espoused the sanctity of emotion and imagination and privileged the beauty of the natural world.
“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” was published in April 1819 and “To Autumn” was published in September 1819
-Related text: 'Preface to lyrical Ballads' by Wordsworth which was published in the second edition of “Lyrical Ballads” (1800)
“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” was published in April 1819 and “To Autumn” was published in September 1819
-Related text: 'Preface to lyrical Ballads' by Wordsworth which was published in the second edition of “Lyrical Ballads” (1800)
Photo by ~Brenda-Starr~
Keats's aestheticism consists of his passion for beauty. "What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth." Thus
beauty becomes a 'supreme truth'
Keats lacked the philosophical backgrounds like that of Coleridge and Wordsworth and wrote by association and the pursued “content[ment] with half knowledge” of negative capability.
Keat's aestheticism consists of his passion for beauty."What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth. "Thus
beauty becomes a 'supreme truth'
Keats lacked the philosophical backgrounds like that of Coleridge and Wordsworth and wrote by association and the pursued “content[ment] with half knowledge” of negative capability.
beauty becomes a 'supreme truth'
Keats lacked the philosophical backgrounds like that of Coleridge and Wordsworth and wrote by association and the pursued “content[ment] with half knowledge” of negative capability.
Photo by ~Brenda-Starr~
The ballad
- Traditionally in narrative form
- The french title resonates exoticism and medievalism
- Sense of the mystic grandeur and supernatural forces
THE BALLAD
Photo by David Ortmann
Dramatic narrative take the form of a ballad- connecting to Wordsworth's intention to use - "incidents and situations from common life" outlined in the 'Preface to lyrical ballads'
Traditionally ballads are folk songs and tell simple tales in a bare, almost ascetic style.
Dramatic narrative take the form of a ballad- connecting to Wordsworth's intention to use - " incidents and situations from common life"- that is the experiences that concern the common person like a knight but not of the nobility or of a divinity- outlined in the 'Preface to lyrical ballads'
Traditionally ballads are folk songs and tell simple tales in a bare, almost ascetic style.
Traditionally ballads are folk songs and tell simple tales in a bare, almost ascetic style.
Keats uses to tradition, the four lined quatrain rhyming abcd, and in addition, shortens the last line of each stanza to deliberately slow the movement.
This enhances the mysticism element of the poem, as Keats revives the medieval, and Shakespearean influence- using language like "ail", "thee", "woe", "begone"
Keats uses to tradition, the four lined quatrain rhyming abcd, and in addition, shortens the last line of each stanza to deliberately slow the movement and give an abrupt sense of disconcerting absence.
This enhances the mysticism element of the poem, as Keats revives the medieval, and Shakespearean influence- using language like "ail", "thee", "woe", "begone"
This enhances the mysticism element of the poem, as Keats revives the medieval, and Shakespearean influence- using language like "ail", "thee", "woe", "begone"
- La Belle Dame Sans Merci- maybe read as an archetype for the femme fatale
- "The latest dream i ever dreamt/ on the cold hill side" is suggestive of the Knight's inability to restore his original self as the woman has left his dreams unfulfilled and thus "alone and palely loitering"
- the intense sadness of the knight "the sedge... and no birds sing" also reveals limitations of Romanticism genre where imagination expressed in such an intensity, condemns the reality of an individual.
- La Belle Dame Sans Merci- maybe read as an archetype for the femme fatale- a seductive woman that leads to the destruction of man, by tempting them from reality.
"The latest dream i ever dreamt/ on the cold hill side" is suggestive of the Knight's inability to restore his original self as the woman has left his dreams unfulfilled and thus "alone and palely loitering"
- the intense sadness of the knight "the sedge... and no birds sing" also reveals limitations of Romanticism genre where imagination expressed in such an intensity, condemns the reality of an individual.
"The latest dream i ever dreamt/ on the cold hill side" is suggestive of the Knight's inability to restore his original self as the woman has left his dreams unfulfilled and thus "alone and palely loitering"
- the intense sadness of the knight "the sedge... and no birds sing" also reveals limitations of Romanticism genre where imagination expressed in such an intensity, condemns the reality of an individual.
"a complex mind -one that is imaginative and at the same time careful of its fruits"
Saturday 22 Nov. 1817
To Benjamin Bailey. [On the Authenticity of the Imagination]
"a complex mind -one that is imaginative and at the same time careful of its fruits"
Saturday 22 Nov. 1817
To Benjamin Bailey. [On the Authenticity of the Imagination]
explicitly Keats mentions the mislead temptations of the idealistic imagination
Saturday 22 Nov. 1817
To Benjamin Bailey. [On the Authenticity of the Imagination]
explicitly Keats mentions the mislead temptations of the idealistic imagination
"La Belle Dame Sans has thee in'thrall" /"starved lips" / "horrid warning gaped wide"
The dreams and illusions of Kings and princes "death-pale" signals the influences of the Gothic and Medieval and communicates the superiority of imagined beauty to percieved beauty
"La Belle Dame Sans has thee in'thrall" /"starved lips" / "horrid warning gaped wide"
The dreams and illusions of Kings and princes "death-pale" signals the influences of the Gothic and Medieval that communicates the seductive potential of imagination that entails an undesirable reality
The dreams and illusions of Kings and princes "death-pale" signals the influences of the Gothic and Medieval that communicates the seductive potential of imagination that entails an undesirable reality
Themes of escapism into the natural world "elfin grot," "meads" emphasizes the privilege of imagination over reasoning- also evident though Keats' regression into the medieval past, and the yearning for the glory of the antique world.
Themes of escapism emphasizes on privileging imagination over reasoning though Keats regression into the medieval past, and the yearning for the glory of the antique world.
"eyes mere wild"- coincides with the romantic preoccupation with pleasure, wilderness, passion and sexuality.
"kisses four" imagery of the Romantic sublime overlapping with the interest of sexuality in celebration of the erotic
"eyes mere wild"- coincides with the romantic preoccupation with pleasure, wilderness, passion and sexuality.
"kisses four" imagery of the Romantic sublime overlapping with the interest of sexuality in celebration of the erotic
"kisses four" imagery of the Romantic sublime overlapping with the interest of sexuality in celebration of the erotic
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
has an ethereal appearance "Faerie's child","light footed."
At first the knight seems to dominate the poem with “I met”, “I made”, “I set her” and then the woman begins to overtakes his dominance with “she found,” “she took me,” "She lulled me asleep” – representing the decline of man but also the impermanence of life
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
has an ethereal appearance "Faerie's child","light footed," surely she is not human but apart of the supernatural.
At first the knight seems to dominate the poem with “I met”, “I made”, “I set her” and then the woman begins to overtake his dominance with “she found,” “she took me,” She lulled me asleep” – represent the decline of man and also the mutability of the human experience also in which agency is lost due to the intensity of the imagination.
has an ethereal appearance "Faerie's child","light footed," surely she is not human but apart of the supernatural.
At first the knight seems to dominate the poem with “I met”, “I made”, “I set her” and then the woman begins to overtake his dominance with “she found,” “she took me,” She lulled me asleep” – represent the decline of man and also the mutability of the human experience also in which agency is lost due to the intensity of the imagination.
The ode
- For Keats, odes become the voice for human recourse
- He expresses the idealistic concerns for Beauty and Truth
- persona's questions are answered by the sights, sounds and activity
- He longs to identify permanence in the transitory state
- paradoxically there is an acceptance of progress and change
THE ODES
Photo by irisb477
There are three distinct parts of the poem;
1. The commence of autumn
2. The reaping of the season
3. And the anticipation for winter’s desolation
The tactile imagery of "mellow fruitfulness," "bend with apples" revels simply, in the powers of nature- that is sustaining and sublime. Keats further accentuates the abundance of life, by employing an eleventh line after a couplet
There are three distinct parts of the poem;
1. The commence of autumn
2. The harvest of the season
3. And the anticipation for winter’s desolation
The tactile imagery of "mellow fruitfulness," "bend with apples" revels simply, in the powers of nature- that is sustaining and sublime. Keats further accentuates the abundance of life, by employing an eleventh line to after a couplet that traditionally signals the closure of an idea.
1. The commence of autumn
2. The harvest of the season
3. And the anticipation for winter’s desolation
The tactile imagery of "mellow fruitfulness," "bend with apples" revels simply, in the powers of nature- that is sustaining and sublime. Keats further accentuates the abundance of life, by employing an eleventh line to after a couplet that traditionally signals the closure of an idea.
- Apostrophe of Autumn allows the persona's questions to be answered by sound, sight and feeling
The sensory images contained in the stanzas have tactile imagery, visual imagery and auditory imagery.
- Autumn is personified as a goddess- “thee sitting careless... thy hair... sound asleep” reveals Keats’s interest of the past especially in the Greek traditions that personify the powers of nature, as well as celebrate the spirituality of nature
- particularly through the auditory imagery of the final stanza “crickets sing.../red breast whistle.../ swallows twitter"
- Apostrophe of Autumn as well as its personification of a goddess- “thee sitting careless... thy hair... sound asleep”reveals Keats’s interest of the past especially in the Greek traditions that personify the powers of nature, as well as celebrate the spirituality of nature
- particularly through the auditory imagery of the final stanza “crickets sing.../red breast whistle.../ swallows twitter"- a sensuous triumph of the Romantic preoccupations with nature
- particularly through the auditory imagery of the final stanza “crickets sing.../red breast whistle.../ swallows twitter"- a sensuous triumph of the Romantic preoccupations with nature
- Keats attempts to identify something which is permanent though the dynamic pictorial and concrete images of nature which juxtaposes the mutability of human existence like the cycle of seasons
- Keats had a much simpler sentiment of nature, opting not to intellectualize nature “where are the songs of Spring?... Think not of them, thou hast thy music too” but to enjoy the reflections of passion and life that nature encompasses in the Romantic tradition.
- Keats attempts to identify something which is permanent though the dynamic pictorial and concrete images of nature which juxtaposes the mutability of human existence like the cycle of seasons
- The sensory images contained in the stanzas have tactile imagery, visual imagery and auditory imagery respectively.
- Keats had a much simpler sentiment of nature, opting not to intellectualize nature “where are the songs of Spring?... Think not of them, thou hast thy music too” but to enjoy the reflections of passion and life that nature encompasses in the Romantic tradition. Also reveals Keats’s appreciative and meditative approach to natural phenomena, as a passionate transcription of experience rather than an attempt to connect it to the human soul like Wordsworth.
- The sensory images contained in the stanzas have tactile imagery, visual imagery and auditory imagery respectively.
- Keats had a much simpler sentiment of nature, opting not to intellectualize nature “where are the songs of Spring?... Think not of them, thou hast thy music too” but to enjoy the reflections of passion and life that nature encompasses in the Romantic tradition. Also reveals Keats’s appreciative and meditative approach to natural phenomena, as a passionate transcription of experience rather than an attempt to connect it to the human soul like Wordsworth.
-Elements of the supernatural are infused in images of dynamic nature through the high level of movement which emulates life “until they think warm days will never cease”- and alleviates the inevitable decay of the season and the mutability of humanity reflected in the barren images of "stubble- plains" and "soft-dying days” of winter.
-Though the tone is mournful, the poem climaxes with a return to the liveliness of autumn which encourages an defiant summation of the entire human condition.
-Elements of the supernatural are infused in images of dynamic nature through the high level of movement which emulates life “until they think warm days will never cease”- and alleviates the inevitable decay of the season and the mutability of humanity reflected in the barren images of "stubble- plains" and "soft-dying days” of winter.
-Though the tone is mournful, the poem climaxes with a return to the liveliness of autumn which encourages an defiant summation of the entire human condition.
-Though the tone is mournful, the poem climaxes with a return to the liveliness of autumn which encourages an defiant summation of the entire human condition.
Wordsworth similarly takes the subject of seemingly mundane human incidents and:
“throw over them a certain coloring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them the primary laws of our nature.”
-He utilities imagination to ornate ordinary experience as much as Keats brings vivid life to ordinary sensibility through an imaginative contact with beauty through nature.
Wordsworth similarly takes the subject of seemingly mundane human incidents and:
“throw over them a certain coloring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them the primary laws of our nature.”
-He utilities imagination to ornate ordinary experience as Keats brings vivid life to ordinary sensibility through an imaginative contact with beauty through nature.
“throw over them a certain coloring of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect, to make these incidents and situations interesting by tracing in them the primary laws of our nature.”
-He utilities imagination to ornate ordinary experience as Keats brings vivid life to ordinary sensibility through an imaginative contact with beauty through nature.
CONCLUSION
- It is clear in the profound differences of Keats and Wordsworth, that Romanticism was not a movement of defined principles and characteristics but rather a diverging set of preoccupations and interests
- To Autumn and La Belle. focuses on nature and the imagination
- Keats and Wordsworth share in common a great love for Nature and the living, waking world.
- Wordsworth draws from Nature learning of wisdom and philosophy where as Keats beholds it only with reverence and awe
CONCLUSION
- It is clear in the profound differences of Keats and Wordsworth, that Romanticism was not a movement of defined principles and characteristics but rather a diverging set of preoccupations and interests
- To Autumn and La Belle. focuses on nature and the imagination
- Keats and Wordsworth share in common a great love for Nature and the living, waking world.
- Wordsworth draws from Nature learning of wisdom and philosophy where as Keats beholds it only with reverence and awe
- It is clear in the profound differences of Keats and Wordsworth, that Romanticism was not a movement of defined principles and characteristics but rather a diverging set of preoccupations and interests
- To Autumn and La Belle. focuses on nature and the imagination
- Keats and Wordsworth share in common a great love for Nature and the living, waking world.
- Wordsworth draws from Nature learning of wisdom and philosophy where as Keats beholds it only with reverence and awe
Photo by modernowl
