John Keats - Style and poetry

Questo appunto di letteratura inglese per le scuole medie parla del poeta e scrittore John Keats, della sua vita e delle opere che lo hanno reso famoso, con un’analisi dettagliata della sua poetica.

The life of John Keats the poet of beauty

Considered as the poet of art and beauty, John Keats is known not only for his works, but also for being the precursor of aestheticism.

He was born in London in 1795, to a family of modest origins. His father worked in a stable and died of a fall from a horse, while his mother died of tuberculosis a few years later. Little John, soon orphaned, was immediately attracted by his love for books and classical antiquity, but he had to put aside this passion to devote himself to completing his medical studies. He became, in fact, an apprentice surgeon and, like many great poets before him, fueled his love for poetry by reading books. Once qualified as a doctor, Keats decided to devote himself entirely to literature; he became friends with the publisher and poet of Examiner magazine, which encouraged him to pursue this path. In this period, he met some of the well-known names of authors and authors of his time, establishing personal and working relationships with some of them: Percy Shelley and the painter Robert Haydon introduced him for the first time to classical Greek art, much loved by the painter, showing him the sculptures of the British Museum and the remains of ancient Athens. Keats was fascinated by Greek art, which profoundly influenced his poetry and poetic vision.
Thanks to the poet’s close friendships, Keats soon managed to publish some of his writings. Poet traveler Keats traveled a lot in Europe. It was during a trip to Scotland that he contracted an illness and was forced to retire to London, where he found his dying brother. In the meantime, he continued to write poems, publishing verses that openly referred to ancient Greek deities and mythology, such as the poem in couplets Endymion on the love for the goddess Luna, which however did not have great critical success. In 1818 he fell in love with Fanny Brawne, for whom he wrote passionate love letters, but the two never married because of the economic difficulties of the poet and his poor health. 1819 is known as the golden year of John Keats, because the poet composed a series of poems that gave him eternal fame: the narrative poem The Eve of St. Agnes, medieval love story written in free stanzas and many of the most known Odes. In 1820 his health worsened and Keats was forced to move to Rome in search of a milder climate. A year later he died and was buried in the eternal city, just as his verses remained eternal.

Themes of Keats' poems and his poetic conception

John Keats was the greatest exponent of English literary romanticism, in fact, his works belong to the second generation of romantic works. Unlike the poets of his generation, Keats was never drawn to the social and political themes of his time, but remained attached to the abstract ideals of nature, art and beauty that came from classical poetry. In addition, his poetry was greatly influenced by the dramatic events of his life; the poet perceived death as a dark shadow on his life and the only possible consolation was art and poetry, in fact he claimed to "not exist without poetry"which he regarded as something absolute, living eternally even after death. According to the poet, poetry is born from the depths of the soul, it surpasses life and becomes immortal. Poetry is not meant to convey a message to readers, but to ignite the imagination with beauty. Beauty was a source of joy to Keats, something that triggers sensations and involves all the senses.

The Beauty in Poetry

: while physical beauty upsets the senses and arouses joy, spiritual beauty comes precisely from the upheaval of the depths of the soul and leads to immortal artistic forms. Physical and spiritual beauty go hand in hand, but the first is subject to time, the second is eternal. And it is this concept of beauty that makes him a precursor of the Pre-Raphaelite and the Aesthetes, who considered his cult of beauty as the expression of their motto Art for Love of Art.

The negative capability in Keats

Keats formulated a theory he called negative capability, which is the poet’s ability to nullify his identity when he observes an object as an inspiration to him in order to identify with it. In this way he is able to search for sensations and through imagination, which he considers more powerful than reason, he can see the beauty of things and create poetry. This is what Keats did when for hours he observed the Elgin Marbles that inspired one of his most beautiful odes: Ode on a Greek Urn. This poem represents in fact the fundamental theme of his poetics, that is the relationship between life, death and art: Keats reflects on the immortality of art as opposed to the fugacity of life. He addresses a Greek urn as if it were a person and describes the various scenes portrayed on the vase. Try to imagine the story and meaning of each scene you observe.

Per ulteriori approfondimenti su John Keats e il romanticismo vedi anche qua.