KEATS POEMS
Explore how Keats presents Beauty in Ode to a Grecian Urn and Bright Star
,Grecian urn
P1 - beauty in art
"unravish'd bride" - despite everything else changing the urn remains the same and beautiful -
links to purity
"melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter" - different types of art
"cannot shed your leaves" --> eternal beauty "doth eternity" --> will continue to inspire
generations "a friend to man"
"beauty is truth, truth beauty… that is all ye need to know"
Context:
Plato's ladder of love -->
o "unravish'd art" - physical beauty of art
o melodies unheard is the last rung of beauty that no one has witnessed before - epitome
of beauty is related to art
Negative capability - letter
o Instead of art giving the answer to everything, the truth is all you need to know
o Throughout poem Keats gives questions on the meaning of art and life - instead of giving
an answer to all those questions, he ends with something simple but something which
might also
P2 - beauty in the human spirit / ability to love
"cold pastoral" --> the urn is missing a soul and ability to feel - speaker's realisation that that’s
the most important thing about humans (even if it is suffering emotion)
"bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss" --> always in anticipation - will never feel the good
emotions even tho they cant feel the bad
"for ever panting… all breathing human passion far above… burning forehead and parched
tongue"
o Intense passion / erotic language - but only the humans "far above" feel the passion -
couple on the urn are just "forever young"
Context:
Keats letter - suffering makes the soul - 'vale of tears' = 'vale of soul making'
Bright Star
P1 - beauty of the star
"lone splendour" - Keats almost feels sorry for the star - its so beautiful but is alone
At first envies the star for its beauty and eternity - but realises more beautiful things on earth
o Contrast between the beautiful but cold and unchanging eternal world versus the
mortal world where everything is subject to change and death
Wishes he could actually be with the 'star' and share their love --> wants their love to be
immortal
Solitary grandeur - evokes beauty and sadness - highlighting the costs of what you give up for
religion
sin being covered with the purity of snow - façade --> At the same time, the star is far enough
away it cannot see beneath this mask - can't realise the reality of life on earth --> protected
from the ugliness of earth
P2 - beauty in human connect / romance
, Rejects conventional religion in favour of love --> devoting his life to his lover
Comparison to the beauty of the sublime the speaker determines that beauty and love on earth
is more important
o Semantic field of religion - "sleepless eremite" - "priestlike"
Describes star as "steadfast" "eternal" - but lover has "tender taken breath" and "soft fall and
swell" - "else swoon to death" --> even though it is impermanent it is more important
o Would rather die with love than be immortal and unfeeling like the star
Love described as “tender” “sweet” “soft”, emotional coldness of star in comparison to love
Context
Keats letter on religion - said he didn't understand traditional religion and why priests gave up
life for an unknown God, but understands that devotion now because of love (Fanny)
o 'love is my religion'
Keats letter said he would choose to live 3 days with his lover than a lifetime without her
o 'I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days
with you I could fill with more delight than 50 common years could ever contain'
Explore the way in which Keats portrays the power of poetry in Ode to a Nightingale and one other
poem
Emotive impact of poem
Keats intention - vehicles for his aesthetic
, Both poems explore the emotive and transformative power of poetry
o Nightingale - ability to transport the soul beyond suffering
o Chapman's homer - poetry's revelatory powers
Ode to a nightingale (1819)
Emotive power of the Nightingale
Visionary poet - experience of nature
unsure if it is a dream - mystical intensity --> poetry's power to blur reality and dream (also
syneasthesia)
o "was it a vision or a waking dream?
Yearning for transcendence
o Synaesthesia - his fantasy world is dark "embalmed in darkness" --> this helps
imagination flourish
Poetry matches the rapture of the nightingale's music - links nature to poetry to art (nature as
art and beauty) - romantic ideal
Poetry as an escape from suffering
Uses poetry as a vehicle to transcend suffering
o Fly away on the "viewless wings of poesy"
o Instead of being taken to the ideal world of the Nightingale by "Bacchus" (revelry)
"immortal bird" - nature will survive man - so will poetry
Context
Seen a lot of suffering in Guys Hospital - (Hampstead museum) - orphan at 15, brother died of
TB
Romanticism - nature and beauty --> sublime
Keats predicted he would be a great poet one day
On first looking into Chapman's Homer (1816)
Context
Read Chapman's Homer from his friend (Cowden Clarke - son of headmaster) - wrote this late
1816 after reading it
Transformative power - inspiration
Keats awakening
Uses imagery of exploration and discovery --> poetry expands the mind
o Cortez - vast new lands
o "felt like some watcher of the skies"
o "new planet"
Intellectual revelation
Poetry as a gateway to the sublime
Experience of reading Homer is likened to standing on the edge of the unknown - reader is
awestruck
o "silent, upon a peak in Darien"
Poetry has ability to unlock hidden beauty and meaning in the world
How does Keats explore the theme of solitude in 'O solitude' and one other poem
Explore how Keats presents Beauty in Ode to a Grecian Urn and Bright Star
,Grecian urn
P1 - beauty in art
"unravish'd bride" - despite everything else changing the urn remains the same and beautiful -
links to purity
"melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter" - different types of art
"cannot shed your leaves" --> eternal beauty "doth eternity" --> will continue to inspire
generations "a friend to man"
"beauty is truth, truth beauty… that is all ye need to know"
Context:
Plato's ladder of love -->
o "unravish'd art" - physical beauty of art
o melodies unheard is the last rung of beauty that no one has witnessed before - epitome
of beauty is related to art
Negative capability - letter
o Instead of art giving the answer to everything, the truth is all you need to know
o Throughout poem Keats gives questions on the meaning of art and life - instead of giving
an answer to all those questions, he ends with something simple but something which
might also
P2 - beauty in the human spirit / ability to love
"cold pastoral" --> the urn is missing a soul and ability to feel - speaker's realisation that that’s
the most important thing about humans (even if it is suffering emotion)
"bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss" --> always in anticipation - will never feel the good
emotions even tho they cant feel the bad
"for ever panting… all breathing human passion far above… burning forehead and parched
tongue"
o Intense passion / erotic language - but only the humans "far above" feel the passion -
couple on the urn are just "forever young"
Context:
Keats letter - suffering makes the soul - 'vale of tears' = 'vale of soul making'
Bright Star
P1 - beauty of the star
"lone splendour" - Keats almost feels sorry for the star - its so beautiful but is alone
At first envies the star for its beauty and eternity - but realises more beautiful things on earth
o Contrast between the beautiful but cold and unchanging eternal world versus the
mortal world where everything is subject to change and death
Wishes he could actually be with the 'star' and share their love --> wants their love to be
immortal
Solitary grandeur - evokes beauty and sadness - highlighting the costs of what you give up for
religion
sin being covered with the purity of snow - façade --> At the same time, the star is far enough
away it cannot see beneath this mask - can't realise the reality of life on earth --> protected
from the ugliness of earth
P2 - beauty in human connect / romance
, Rejects conventional religion in favour of love --> devoting his life to his lover
Comparison to the beauty of the sublime the speaker determines that beauty and love on earth
is more important
o Semantic field of religion - "sleepless eremite" - "priestlike"
Describes star as "steadfast" "eternal" - but lover has "tender taken breath" and "soft fall and
swell" - "else swoon to death" --> even though it is impermanent it is more important
o Would rather die with love than be immortal and unfeeling like the star
Love described as “tender” “sweet” “soft”, emotional coldness of star in comparison to love
Context
Keats letter on religion - said he didn't understand traditional religion and why priests gave up
life for an unknown God, but understands that devotion now because of love (Fanny)
o 'love is my religion'
Keats letter said he would choose to live 3 days with his lover than a lifetime without her
o 'I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days
with you I could fill with more delight than 50 common years could ever contain'
Explore the way in which Keats portrays the power of poetry in Ode to a Nightingale and one other
poem
Emotive impact of poem
Keats intention - vehicles for his aesthetic
, Both poems explore the emotive and transformative power of poetry
o Nightingale - ability to transport the soul beyond suffering
o Chapman's homer - poetry's revelatory powers
Ode to a nightingale (1819)
Emotive power of the Nightingale
Visionary poet - experience of nature
unsure if it is a dream - mystical intensity --> poetry's power to blur reality and dream (also
syneasthesia)
o "was it a vision or a waking dream?
Yearning for transcendence
o Synaesthesia - his fantasy world is dark "embalmed in darkness" --> this helps
imagination flourish
Poetry matches the rapture of the nightingale's music - links nature to poetry to art (nature as
art and beauty) - romantic ideal
Poetry as an escape from suffering
Uses poetry as a vehicle to transcend suffering
o Fly away on the "viewless wings of poesy"
o Instead of being taken to the ideal world of the Nightingale by "Bacchus" (revelry)
"immortal bird" - nature will survive man - so will poetry
Context
Seen a lot of suffering in Guys Hospital - (Hampstead museum) - orphan at 15, brother died of
TB
Romanticism - nature and beauty --> sublime
Keats predicted he would be a great poet one day
On first looking into Chapman's Homer (1816)
Context
Read Chapman's Homer from his friend (Cowden Clarke - son of headmaster) - wrote this late
1816 after reading it
Transformative power - inspiration
Keats awakening
Uses imagery of exploration and discovery --> poetry expands the mind
o Cortez - vast new lands
o "felt like some watcher of the skies"
o "new planet"
Intellectual revelation
Poetry as a gateway to the sublime
Experience of reading Homer is likened to standing on the edge of the unknown - reader is
awestruck
o "silent, upon a peak in Darien"
Poetry has ability to unlock hidden beauty and meaning in the world
How does Keats explore the theme of solitude in 'O solitude' and one other poem
