John Keats as a Romantic Poet || Keats as a poet of Sensuousness, Beauty, Nature || Romanticism

 

JOHN KEATS AS A ROMANTIC POET

INTRODUCTION:

The period from 1798 to 1830 is popularly known as the age of Romantic Revival or the period of Romanticism. The poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron and others were the gems of English poetry during this period who took the spirit of Romanticism to its height. Among all the romantic poets, the name of John Keats (1795-1821) has been written with golden letters in the history of English literature. Though he lived a very short life, he has contributed a host of memorable romantic poems.

MAJOR POETICAL WORKS OF KEATS:

1.   ‘Intimation of Spenser’ (1813)

2.   ‘Endymion’ (1818)

3.   ‘Isabelle’ or ‘The Pot of Basil’ (1818)

4.   ‘Hyperion’ (1818-19)

5.   ‘Lamina’ (1819)

6.   ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ (1819)

7.   ‘Ode to a Gracian Urn’ (1819)

8.   ‘Ode to Autumn’ (1820)

9.   ‘Eve of St. Agnes’ (1820)

Some common features of romantic poetry are:

1.   PURE POETRY

2.   ESCAPISM

3.   LOVE FOR BEAUTY

4.   LOVE OF PAST

5.   LOVE FOR NATURE

6.   SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS

All these important elements of romantic poetry are found in John Keats’s poetry which makes him a great romantic poet. Let’s examine these features in his poetry.

JOHN KEATS AS A PURE ROMANTIC POET:

Q. What does pure poetry mean? 

Ans. It is a common opinion of the modern critics that the primary purpose of poetry is not to raise a voice against problems in society. There may be poets who consider themselves duty-bound to talk about wrong-doings of society. But it is believed that pure poetry aims at giving pleasure to the senses.

Every poem of John Keats deals with problems of his own. He gives neither any message nor advice to his readers. His poetry lacks morality. His words are not sarcastic. He does poetry for the sake of poetry only. John Keats, hence, is considered the purest poet in the history of English literature.

ESCAPISM IN JOHN KEATS’ POETRY:

Keats’ holds a wonderful power of imagination. With his power of imagination John Keats escapes to the past and middle ages.  He escapes from the harsh realities of life and finds pleasure in his imagination, where he creates a world of his own. He enjoys the company of birds, flowers, landscapes, mountains and rivers in his imagination. For example, in one of his romantic poems ‘Ode to Nightingale’, he creates his imaginative world where he enjoys the sweet eternal song of the nightingale which provides peace to his mind and harmony to his soul.

“Far far away, and quite forget

What thou amongst the leaves hast never known,

The wariness, the fever, and the fret”

In his eyes, the world is cruel and the only option we have is escapism. According to him, the world is dull, drab and barren It is through his imagination that he forgets worries of life travels farther in the world of middle ages. This escape to past makes him a true romantic poet.

KEATS’ LOVE FOR BEAUTY:

Keats like Shelley was a passionate lover of beauty. Beauty is the religion of John Keats. According to him, beauty is everlasting and it always affects all five senses. He writes:

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

In his early life, his appreciation of beauty was purely physical. He was interested in the beauty of woman and nature. It provided him joy. Keats describes the beauty of a woman in the following words:

“Light feet, dark violet eyes, and parted hair

Soft dimpled hands, white neck, and creamy breast.”

But later in his life, Keats advanced to a philosophic concept of beauty. In ‘Ode to a Gracian Urn’ he identified truth with beauty. He writes:

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all

Ye, know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

KEATS’ LOVE FOR GREEK AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE:

KEATS’ HELLENISM:

Love for the past is another important element of all romantic poetry. Keats had an attraction for the ancient Greeks and their myths. In many of his poems, he talks about the Greeks’ spirits and culture. Viewing the love of John Keats for Greeks, Shelly said: “Keats was a Greek”.

For themes and stories of poetry, Keats often goes to Greek mythologies. The themes of his major works like ‘Endymion’, ‘Hyperion’, ‘Lamia’, ‘Ode to a Gracian Urn’ are taken from Greek mythical stories. In his poetry, the Greek gods and goddesses like Diana, Neptune, Venus, Cupid etc are invariable mentioned.

KEATS LOVES NATURE:

Keats was one of the greatest lover and admirer of nature. His love for nature is highly sensuous; nature appeals his senses. Crompton and Rickett observe:

“Whereas Wordsworth spiritualizes and Shelley intellectualizes Nature, Keats is content to express her through the senses. The color, the sound, the touch, the pulsating music – these are the things that stir him to his depths.”

For Keats, nature remained the ultimate source of poetry and joy. He writes:

“For what had made the sage or poet,

write But this fair paradise of Nature’s light.”

SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN KEATS’ POETRY:

Among the Romantic poets, S. T. Coleridge and John Keats are very fond of using ‘supernatural elements’ in their poetry. S. T. Coleridge’s poem “Kubla Khan”  and John Keats’s “ La Belle Dame Sans Merci”, “Isabella or the Pot of Basil” are examples.  In La Belle  Dame Sans Merci’, supernatural elements are very skillfully used by  the poet.

In his another poem ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ there are references to religion, magic and supernatural elements throughout. The use of gothic imagery based on the old folk tale, creates a dark and mysterious atmosphere that could be used to describe the supernatural events In the end of the poem, the theme of the supernatural is evident as there are descriptions of phantoms and ghosts’

CONCLUSION:

Saintsbury once commented:

“Keats’ spoke of his name as ‘writ in water’. Posterity has agreed with him that it is – but in the water of life.”

Hence, the critics and historians of English literature have unanimously announced that John Keats has left indelible mark on the hearts of the lovers of English poetry. His sensuousness, his Hellenism, his love for the past, his love for nature, his love for beauty, his supernaturalism and lyrical qualities of his poetry make him an extraordinary romantic poet of the 19^th century.

Keats will always be remembered, admired and adored for his romanticism and for his perpetual contribution to English poetry.

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