John Keats (1795–1821)

JOHN KEATS (1795–1821)

A THING OF BEAUTY IS A
JOY FOREVER
Endymion Book 1
Life
Time
Changes
Finite Love
Decay- Death
Desperation
Despondence
Inhuman
Gloomy
Unhealthy
Dark
Pall of suffering, sorrow
Nature
Eternal
Changeless
Perfection
Beautiful
Enjoyable
Truth
Happiness
Boundless
Heavenly
HUMAN LIFE is Nature: Art =
characterized by Eternity
TIME = Changeless
CHANGES: Happiness
FINITE LOVE Beauty=Truth
DECAY
DEATH
A thing of beauty.....

Nature is an expression of BEAUTY

BEAUTY is TRUTH and TRUTH

BEAUTY
Nature has an Aesthetic function
Is a balm on for all human problems
Brings in cheer
Can be found all around us

Hence, man tries his best to

connect with that, which provides
him happiness even in his sorrow
An Assessment
Keats belonged to a literary
movement called Romanticism.
( wrote about the transience of life and contrasted it with the
permanence of nature)

"Keats's important poems are

related
to, or grow directly out of...inner
conflicts."
Imagery
 Drew his images from among all our physical sensations:
sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, and movement.
 Repeatedly combines different senses in one image, that is, he
attributes the trait(s) of one sense to another, a practice called
synaesthesia.
 His synaesthetic imagery performs two major
functions in his poems:
creates a sensual effect,
this combining of senses normally experienced as
separate suggests an underlying unity of dissimilar
happenings, the oneness of all forms of life.
“…. Fair musk- rose blooms;
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead…”
Contemporary criticism
They
• saw Keats as a sensual poet;
• focused on his vivid, concrete imagery;
• on his portrayal of the physical and the
• passionate;
• and on his preoccupation of the here
and now.
Keats today..
Keats is praised for his seriousness
and thoughtfulness, for his dealing with
difficult human conflicts and artistic
issues, and for his impassioned mental
pursuit of truth.... All in the face of
tremendous physical and mental
suffering.
They will explain themselves - as all
poems should do without any
comment.

John Keats to his brother George, 1818

Thank you