Poets of the Romantic Age

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Poets of the Romantic Age

• John Keats
• 1795-1821

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Biographical Information

• Keats was born in London on October 31st 1745.
• He became a freedom writer of sorts and wrote
  in hopes of changing the world.
• Keats used a number of Greek themes in his
  poetry.
• He did not believe in using poetry for political
  statements.
• In 1818, Endymion was published and received
  harsh critique.

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• After he died of tuberculosis, Keats friends did
  as much damage to him as his enemies.
• He found beauty to be the highest value our world
  could offer.
• For Keats, striving for what can never be
  attained was perhaps the true poetic task.
• He was profoundly sensitive to the deep
  contradictions of life.
• His brother died the same year he met the love of
  his life which inspired his poetry.

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Ode to a NightingaleSummary

• The speaker begins the poem expressing how
  disoriented he feels when listening to a
  nightingale sing. He wishes to drink the richest
  wine available and fade away into the forest with
  the nightingale. He describes how he wants to
  wander away from worries and concerns of life,
  age, and time.
• The poet begins to explain that the
  nightingale is immortal because many different
  generations of people have heard the song of the
  bird.
• The poet is brought back to reality when
  the bird flies away, he feels abandoned and
  disappointed that his imagination cant create
  his own reality. He is left confused now knowing
  the difference between reality and dreams.

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Ode to a Grecian UrnSummary

• The speaker is talking to an urn.
• He goes from picture to picture questioning what
  is going on.
• He tells us that everything on the urn is frozen
  in time and will last forever.
• Beauty is truth, truth beauty

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On First Looking summary

• Keats says in this poem that he knew Homer was a
  great poet but was not amazed by it until he read
  Chapmans translation.

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When I Have Fears that I May Cease to be summary

• Keats reflects in this poem about death and all
  the things that he has not done and will not be
  able to do once he dies. It is a very dismal poem.

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Consensus

• We as a group preferred Ode on a Grecian Urn
  Because it made a good point and made us think
  about art in a way none of us had before. Keats
  describes the art on the urn in a way that brings
  it to life. The trees are alive and the people
  have feelings. It is truly a fine piece of
  literature.

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Ode on a Grecian Urn images
The author describes the urn as a historian who
tells a story of ancient time but can never speak.
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are
sweeter.
He tells of a young pipe player and how his music
is more beautiful than any music he ever head
because its beauty will never fade.
Sylvan historian ,who canst thus express
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Ode to a Nightingale images
Tis not through envy of the happy lot.
A depiction of Keats in the mood of the poem.
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Themes

• Human mortality- Ode to a Nightingale
• The inevitability of death- Ode to a Grecian
  Urn
• The contemplation of beauty- Ode to a Grecian
  Urn