A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER BY KEATS 14.09.

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ABOUT THE POET
John Keats was born in London in the year 1795 and died in Rome in 1821 at the young age of 25 due to illness. He is a romantic poet and his
poetry is characterized by sensual imagery in his most popular work which is a series of odes (a lyrical poem which is meant for a particular
subject). Today, his poems are one of the most sought after creations in English literature. The above given poetry is an excerpt from his poem,
‘Endymion : A poetic Romance’(1818), considered to be an epic poem.
BACKGROUND OF THE POEM "A THING OF BEAUTY"
Based on Greek mythology about a shepherd named Endymion, his quest for his love Diana and how in his quest, he falls in love with an
Earthly maiden, who later turns out to be Diana herself.
 EXPLANATION OF "A THING OF BEAUTY"
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever Its loveliness increases, it will never Pass into nothingness;”
The poet says that beauty is eternal, it is forever, never fades away but instead, our love for it enhances with the passage of time. As the saying
‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’, it is the perception of one who looks at something that how he finds it. So, here the poet’s view about
beauty is that it never ends.
“but will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.”
Beauty acts like the soothing, relaxing shade of the trees which helps all the creatures to sleep peacefully and enjoy good health.
“Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth, Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble
natures, of the gloomy days, Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, Some shape of beauty
moves away the pall From our dark spirits.”
Here, he says that at every moment our desire to live further is because we encircle ourselves with our love towards these beautiful things. As
we get wrapped up in the beautiful flowery band, we get a reason to live further. Without beauty, the Earth, is full of gloom and sadness. There
is cruelty all around and lack of good natured people. It is this beauty, creation of God which removes the sadness and darkness from our mind
and soul.
“Such the sun, the moon, Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep; and such are daffodils With the green world they live
in; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make ‘Against the hot season; the mid forest brake, Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk
rose blooms; And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead; All lovely tales that we have heard or read; An
endless fountain of immortal drink, Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.”
The poet names some of the things whose beauty is eternal- the Sun, moon, greenery like trees whose shade is a boon for creatures like the
sheep to rest under it, various flowers like daffodil, rivers full of clear waters which cool everyone in the summers, the thick bushes of forest fern
where beautiful, fragrant musk roses bloom. Other than these things of nature, the poet says that the stories of brave men who sacrificed their
lives are also beautiful. All these beautiful things are like nectar for us, God’s gift to us which help us to live further on this Earth.
NEW WORDS
 Bower- a pleasant shady place under trees or climbing plants.
 Morrow – the following day
 Wreathing – covering or to encircle.
 Spite - desire to offend or annoy someone.
 Despondence – disheartened, hopeless.
 Noble – of superior quality, having high moral principles
 Pall – a cloud, here, a dark cloud of gloom and sadness.
 Spirits – the soul where lie our emotions and character.
 Sprouting – to develop suddenly in large numbers.
 Shady boon – a shade which is helpful to someone.
 Rills – streams of running water.
 Covert – not openly known or displayed.
 Grandeur – so as to impress.
 Dooms – last day of existence.
 Immortal – living forever.                                   
 Heaven’s brink – the door of God’s home.
LIST THE THINGS OF BEAUTY MENTIONED IN THE POEM.
 The Sun  Streams of water
 The Moon  Dense green bushes of forest ferns where fragrant musk roses
 Shady trees grow
 Beautiful daffodil flowers  Tales of heroic men who sacrifice their lives
LIST THE THINGS THAT CAUSE SUFFERING AND PAIN.
 Desire to offend others  Unhappiness
 Hopelessness  Gloom
 Lack of noble men  Darkness
 Bad health
In Greek mythology – a vast component of Romantic-era education – the Aeolian shepherd Endymion, who resided in Olympia, attracted the
attention of the Titan goddess Selene, of the moon. So enamored was she of the mortal that she asked Zeus to make him immortal, so that he
would never leave her as mortals did when they died. Zeus decides to grant her wish, and puts
him into an eternal sleep, which allow Selene to visit him every night. The subject of the story of Endymion has gone through a few variations
over the years, but it was on this that John Keats based his 1818 poem, Endymion.
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 SUMMARY
Although panned by critics, Keats himself was fond of Endymion, and saw it as a necessary evil: for him to progress through the literary
pantheon, and to become acquainted with great writing, he had to write a variety of things that critics did not enjoy. What he did, in hindsight,
regret, was making Endymion public. Critic John Wilson Croker, in the 1818 edition of The Quarterly Review, wrote, ‘Reviewers have been
sometimes accused of not reading the works which they affected to criticise. On the present occasion we shall anticipate the author’s
complaint, and honestly confess that we have not read [Endymion: A Poetic Romance]. Not that we have been wanting in our duty – far from it
– indeed, we have made efforts almost as superhuman as the story itself appears to be, to get through it; but with the fullest stretch of our
perseverance, we are forced to confess that we have not been able to struggle beyond the first of the four books of which this Poetic Romance
consists. We should extremely lament this want of energy, or whatever it may be, on our parts, were it not for one consolation – namely, that
we are no better acquainted with the meaning of the book through which we have so painfully toiled, than we are with that of the three which
we have not looked into. It is not that Mr Keats, (if that be his real name, for we almost doubt that any man in his sense would put his real
name to such a rhapsody,) it is not, we say, that the author has not powers of language, rays of fancy, and gleams of genius – he has all these;
but he is unhappily a disciple of the new school of what has been somewhere called Cockney poetry; which may be defined to consist of the
most incongruous ideas in the most uncouth language….’ Suffice it to say, critics were pleasantly surprised by Keats’ more famous Odes.
ANALYSIS
Of the entire book of Endymion, it is the first stanza, and in particular, the first line, that draws the most attention from scholars and critics
alike. A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever, it starts, a phrase that has since been immortalized in English parlance, and it goes on to explain that,
without beautiful things, the world is a grim, dark place, despondent and full of misery. It is beauty, ultimately, that makes the world go round, or
at least it did for Keats and many of the Romantics (Wordsworth was another nature fanatic who was obsessed with the idea of sublime beauty).
‘Some shape of beauty’, Keats writes, ‘moves away the pall’.
Ultimately, the full epic is based on the tale of Endymion, whose beauty was of such joy to Selene that it immortalized him for the rest of his
days. Likewise, Keats feels as though the beauty of the world immortalizes itself, and us, in some small way. He goes on to describe this
sublime beauty:
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
Spinning forward an image of ripe flowers and greenery, Keats pulls the reader of Endymion in, perhaps without the subtlety of his later Odes,
but with such a delicate touch that it is almost impossible to resist thinking about beauty the way that he refers to it. To Keats, all such beauty –
even stories, and the ‘grandeur of the dooms /we have imagined for the mighty dead’ – leads to immortality. Endymion is thus a reflection of
this: of how lovely things grow more beautiful by the passing years, and how nature, and its beauty, keeps human beings happy and satisfied on
this earth above all other people. Life, although full of problems, provides us with nature to lose ourselves in when we need it.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The term ‘Cockney school of poetry’ arose from a particularly harsh review in Blackburn’s Edinburgh review, which stated ‘ his school has not, I
believe, as yet received any name; but if I may be permitted to have the honour of christening it, it may henceforth be referred to by the
designation of The Cockney School. Its chief Doctor and Professor is Mr Leigh Hunt, a man certainly of some talents, of extravagant pretensions
both in wit, poetry, and politics, and withal of exquisitely bad taste, and extremely vulgar modes of thinking and manners in all respects. He is a
man of little education. He knows absolutely nothing of Greek, almost nothing of Latin, and his knowledge of Italian literature is confined to a few
of the most popular of Petrarch’s sonnets, and an imperfect acquaintance with Ariosto, through the medium of Mr Hoole. As to the French poets,
he dismisses them in the mass as a set of prim, precise, unnatural pretenders. The truth is, he is in a state of happy ignorance about them and
all that they have done. He has never read Zaïre nor Phèdre. To those great German poets who have illuminated the last fifty years with a
splendour to which this country has, for a long time, seen nothing comparable, Mr Hunt is an absolute stranger. Of Spanish books he has read
Don Quixote (in the translation of Motteux), and some poems of Lope de Vega in the imitations of my Lord Holland. Of all the great critical
writers, either of ancient or of modern times, he is utterly ignorant, excepting only Mr Jeffrey among ourselves. With this stock of knowledge, Mr
Hunt presumes to become the founder of a new school of poetry, and throws away entirely the chance which he might have had of gaining
some true poetical fame, had he been less lofty in his pretensions.’ It primarily attacked the backgrounds of the poorer of the poets: Keats, Hunt,
and Hazlitt. Keats was in particular mocked for his poor language; at the time, he was considered to have a low quality of writing.
QUESTION 01
1. What does the line, ‘Therefore are we wreathing a flowery band to bind us to earth’ suggest to you?
2. What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings?
3. Why is ‘grandeur’ associated with the ‘mighty dead’?
4. Do we experience things of beauty only for short moments or do they make a lasting impression on us?
5. What image does the poet use to describe the beautiful bounty of the earth?
QUESTION 02
Read the stanzas given below and answer the questions that follow each:
1.A thing of beauty is a joy forever Its loveliness increases, it will never Pass into nothingness; but will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Questions
(a)Name the poem and the poet of these lines. (b)How is a thing of beauty a joy for ever ? (c)What do you understand by a
‘bower’l (d)What kind of sleep does it provide?
2. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
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Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Questions [All India 2014]
(a)Name the poem and the poet. (b)Why are we despondent? (c)What removes the pall from our dark spirits?
(d) What are we doing every day?
3. Some shape of beauty moves away the pall From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills That for themselves a cooling covert make ‘Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms;
Questions
(а)What removes the pall from our dark spirits? (b)What sprouts a shady boon for sheep and how?
(c) How do ‘daffodils’ and ‘rills’ enrich the environment? (d) What makes the mid-forest brake rich?
4. And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
Ml lovely tales that we have heard or read;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink
Questions [Delhi 2014]
(a)Name the poem and the poet of these lines. (b)Explain: ‘the grandeur of the dooms’.
(c)What is the thing of beauty mentioned in these lines’? (d)What image does the poet use in these lines?
QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK
Q1. List the things of beauty mentioned in the poem.
Q2. List the things that cause suffering and pain.
Q3. What does the line, ‘Therefore are we wreathing a flowery band to bind us to earth’ suggest to you?
Q4. What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings?
Q5. Why is ‘grandeur’ associated with the ‘mighty dead’?
Q6. Do we experience things of beauty only for short moments or do they make a lasting impression on us?
Q7, What image does the poet use to describe the beautiful bounty of the earth?
MORE QUESTIONS
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS (Word Limit: 30-40 words)
Q1. How is a thing of beauty a joy forever?
Q2. How does a thing of beauts provide us shelter and comfort?
Q3. How do us bind our self to the earth every morning?
Q4. What are the things that cause miseries, sorrows and sufferings to man ?
Q5. What spreads the pall of despondence over our dark spirits? How is it removed?
Q6. Name the beauties of nature that are constant source of joy and happiness to man.
Q7. Why and how is ‘grandeur associated with the ‘mighty dead’?
Q8. How is a thing of beauty lovelier than all the lovely tales we have heard and read?
Q9. What is the source of the ‘endless fountain’ and what is its effect?
Q10. What is the message for the theme) of the poem ‘A Thing of Beauty’?.
QUESTION 03
Question.1. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms 
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read; 
An endless fountain of immortal drink, 
Pouring unto us from heaven’s brink
(a) Name the poem and the poet. (b) What is the thing of beauty mentioned in these lines? (c) What image does the poet use in these
lines? (d) What is the effect of this ‘immortal drink’ on us?  or
(a) Who are the ‘mighty dead’? How do we know about them? (b) What images does the poet use to convey that beauty is everlasting?
(c) What is the effect of the immortal drink? (d) Write the words from the extract which mean (i) stories  (ii) magnificence
Question.2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth 
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways 
Made for our searching: yes in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits.
(a) Name the poem and the poet. (b) Why are we despondent? (c) What removes “the pall from our dark spirits”?
(d) Explain, “the inhuman dearth of noble natures.” ’ or
(a) What are we doing every day? (b) Which evil things do we possess and suffer from?
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(c) What are the circumstances that contribute towards making humans unhappy and disillusioned with life? (Delhi 2013; Modified, All India
2014; Modified) (d) What removes the pall from our dark spirits?
Question.3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
“Some shape of beauty moves away the pall 
From our dark spirits,”
(a) How does beauty help us when we are burdened with grief?
(b) Explain; “Some shape of beauty.”
(c) Identify the figure of speech in the above lines.
(d) Why are our spirits referred to as ‘dark’?
Question.4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing 
A flowery band to bind us to the Earth, 
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways 
Made for our searching
(a) What are the flowery bands that bind us to the Earth?
(b) What message do the above lines convey? (Delhi 2009)
(c) Why is there an “inhuman dearth of noble natures”?
(d) What do you understand by “unhealthy and o’er-darkened ways”?
Question.5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever 
Its loveliness increases, it will never 
Pass into nothingness; but will keep 
A bower quiet for us and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams and health and quiet breathing
(a) How does a thing of beauty remain a joy forever?
(b) Mention any two sources of joy which a thing, of beauty provides to us.
(All India 2008; Modified)
(c) Explain, “never pass into nothingness.”
(d) What is meant by‘bower’?
Short Answer Type Questions p Marks, 30-40 words)
Question.1. How do beautiful things help us to live a happy life? (Foreign 2014)
Question.2. What does Keats consider an endless fountain of immortal drink and why does he
Question.3. According to Keats, what spreads the pall of despondence over our dark spirits? How
is it removed? (All India 2013)
or
What spreads the pall of despondence over our dark spirits? How is it removed?
Question.4. How does a thing of beauty provide shelter and comfort? (Modified India 2013)
Question.5. How is a thing of beauty a joy forever? (Delhi 2012)
Question.6. What makes human beings love life in spite of troubles and sufferings? .
(Ml India 2012,2010; Delhi 2008)
Question.7. Why is ‘grandeur’ associated with the mighty dead? (Delhi 2011)
Question.8. What is the message of the poem, ‘A thing of beauty’? (Modified India 2011)
Question.9. What is the ‘endless fountain’ and what is its effect? (Foreign 2011)
Question.10.What images does the poet use to describe the beautiful bounty of the Earth? (Delhi 2010)
04.04.2021 (Revised)

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