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The Complete Poems
by John Keats
by John Keats
John Keats... lovely as his writings were, achieved fame only posthumously. Posthumous fame has to be one of the saddest things for an artist, especially for John Keats, whose situation never really got any happier. The poor lad died at the age of 29 after struggling with tuberculosis for years. As if this were not bad enough, critics of his time were very harsh on him... they disliked him because he did not derive from a wealthy family, and claimed that an farm boy like John Keats cannot possibly write such poetry, and that he probably plagiarized it. Were not the same claims made about William Shakespeare?
John Keats' poetry was much more morbid than his fellow Romantic and poet laureate William Wordsworth. Keats' poetry was nevertheless beautiful and focused on the power of imagination, whereas Wordsworth's poetry emphasized more on the deification of nature and the innocence of childhood. Back in my Polyanna days I admired William Wordsworth more than any of the Romantics. That happiness and sense of bliss that permeates his poetry greatly appealed to me. My admiration for him reached its peak when I was about 19, then slowly it waned. Perhaps it is partly due to cynicism, and partly to have read other more critical writers like William Blake... but suddenly John Keats is the guy.
How can anyone not be touched with poems like, "When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be," "Ode To Melancholy," "Ode To A Nightingale," or "Ode To A Grecian Urn?" How can any poetic soul not be but gay when relishing in the allusions to Greek mythology that are typical of Keats or reflect melancholically on the brevity of all that is beautiful? Such characteristics are typical of Romantic Poetry, and in my opinion, John Keats is the best one of the Romantics when it comes to conveying such things.
That is too bad Keats did not achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a famous writer. If only he knew what my generation knows now! If only he knew his works are part of the literary canon and have become basic required reading for English majors!
John Keats' poetry was much more morbid than his fellow Romantic and poet laureate William Wordsworth. Keats' poetry was nevertheless beautiful and focused on the power of imagination, whereas Wordsworth's poetry emphasized more on the deification of nature and the innocence of childhood. Back in my Polyanna days I admired William Wordsworth more than any of the Romantics. That happiness and sense of bliss that permeates his poetry greatly appealed to me. My admiration for him reached its peak when I was about 19, then slowly it waned. Perhaps it is partly due to cynicism, and partly to have read other more critical writers like William Blake... but suddenly John Keats is the guy.
How can anyone not be touched with poems like, "When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be," "Ode To Melancholy," "Ode To A Nightingale," or "Ode To A Grecian Urn?" How can any poetic soul not be but gay when relishing in the allusions to Greek mythology that are typical of Keats or reflect melancholically on the brevity of all that is beautiful? Such characteristics are typical of Romantic Poetry, and in my opinion, John Keats is the best one of the Romantics when it comes to conveying such things.
That is too bad Keats did not achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a famous writer. If only he knew what my generation knows now! If only he knew his works are part of the literary canon and have become basic required reading for English majors!
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