JOHN KEATS ATTITUDES TOWARDS NATURE

Introduction

Among other ingredients of romantic poetry, love for nature is also its significant element.  Every romantic poet finds pleasure in discussing nature.

William Wordsworth found God in nature and asserted its importance;

William Blake also spreads light on its significance;

 S. T. Coleridge blended nature with supernatural elements.

Indeed, every romantic poet either directly or indirectly considers nature an important element of life and poetry.

Cause of famousness

 John Keats is the best romantic poet among all romantics; though the cause of his famousness is not the explanation of nature in poetry yet unending love for nature separates him from all other romantic poets. He does not only discuss its apparent beauty but also is mysterious qualities, therefore, nature is fully mysterious for him. In his early poems, he has praised only the material things of nature

 Later poems reveal his experience of life, where he finds nature an eternal peace of mind. There is no season, which has not impressed John Keats; no bird has left in the world, which has not left an influence on his mind. He is the one who is impressed by landscapes, fishes, animals, birds, forests, trees, plants and seasons.

“Nature has perfection in the eyes of John Keats.”

Keats loves nature for her own sake

There are some poets, novelists, and dramatists, who talk about materialistic qualities of nature, whereas others consider it the human strongest enemy. Thomas Hardy can be referenced in this context. He is among those persons, who are of the view that nature does not leave any chance to harm mankind but for John Keats, nature is human’s best friend. No doubt, nature soothes him; it gives him consolation; peace of mind can only be obtained in the presence of natural objects.

Nature gives him peace

Thus, John Keats, through his poetry, has increased the importance of nature. A poet’s heart always depends on his mood and nature. Nature gives him peace and helps him to forget the fear and frets of life. There is no denying the fact that John Keats, most of the time, remains in his imagination; he is an escapist but when he escapes from this world and goes in imagination, he spends his time with nature, therefore, nature is his close friend.

John Keats sufferings

A detailed study of John Keats’s autography reveals that he has suffered too much; firstly, due to his lover and secondly due to the death of his brother. Hence, solace is the need of the hour for him. To get consolation and peace, he has befriended nature and lives a life with it. Nature, for John Keats, is more than just a physical world. Every poem of John Keats is evident that he loves nature and unconditionally praises it.

Nature is mysterious

Nature is mysterious in the eyes of John Keats. He does not only loves the natural world but also talks about its mysteriousness. He declares it eternal. For John Keats, nature always wears the colors of the spirit. He studies nature, loves nature and stays close to it.

“It is not wrong to say that without nature, poetry is barren.”

There is no harm in it; without it, the poetry becomes unproductive. It can only bore people; nature’s little touch can increase interests. It can soothe not only bodies but souls too. It is beautiful and pleasurable.

Nature as a source of joy  

John Keats truly loves nature; therefore, he finds beauty everywhere. It is the reason behind his famousness regarding the pursuance of beauty. In loneliness, he enjoys nature’s company; a detail illustration of the natural world is the identity of John Keats. He does not only see nature but feels it. Nature lives in his heart; therefore, it is impossible to separate it from him.

For Keats, nature remains a perennial source of poetry and joy.

For what had made the sage or poet, write but this fair paradise of nature's light?

Nature his beloved

Sometimes, John Keats personifies nature and its objects. He creates living beings from it, which makes his poems more interesting. As mentioned supra, he considers the nature of his friend. He talks to nature and also shares his feelings with it. Loneliness is part of John Keats’s life; the only companion, he has in his life, is nature and its objects.

The natural world of imagination

John Keats goes into detail when he talks about nature. It is because he has minutely observed it. While mentioning detail of a natural object, he creates clear imagery. Readers can easily understand what the writer wants to say. In fact, they along with Keats go in the natural world of imagination. His observation is keen. He presents his feelings in his poems, which can seek the attention of readers. Art of creating a pen picture from natural objects can be learned from John Keats. His contribution in this regard is remarkable.

Examples from Keats works 

Some examples can be quoted from his poems. “Hyperion” is worth mentioning. The description of cool wind is outstanding; the imagery of plants and trees is also noteworthy but the most important poem of John Keats, with respect to natural objects, is “Ode to Nightingale”, in which he enjoys the song of the nightingale and considers it eternal peace. It seems that it is the happiest and peaceful day of John Keats’s life. He truly enjoys the song and proves that it is eternal. Nature is everlasting, he says. We must agree with him. He is right in every sense.

“Though not born for death immortal bird”;

 its song was being listened many years ago; John Keats has also listened to it; today we also enjoy the beautiful voice of a nightingale. Similarly, upcoming generations will also hear and praise their voice. Thus, it cannot be denied that nature is immortal unlike men, who are mortal. Admiration of autumn season is also a notable example of it, in which, instead of maligning it has praised it. Instead of negativity, he has presented the positivity and beauty of the autumn season.

A vivid picture of nature

Keats' description of nature is very beautiful and he, in fact, paints the pictures with words. He is greatly impressed by Spenser and especially his "Fairies’ Queen." It has a tremendous effect on him due to its pictorial quality. That is why, in his poetry, Keats describes things with beautiful images and it seems as if he touches them, hears them and even smells them. In the "Ode to Nightingale", he says:

Fast fading violets covered up in leavesAnd mid-May's eldest child

The coming musk-rose, full of dewy, wine

The murmurous haunts of flies on summer eves

Personification of Nature

Another quality of Keats, as a poet of nature, is that he often presents the objects of nature as a living being with a life of their own. He personifies the objects of nature. in "Ode to Autumn" he says:

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store"

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Nature- A source of poetic inspiration

Like the ancient Greeks, Keats often presents the objects of nature as living beings with a life of their own. "He never beholds the Oak Tree without seeing the Dryad." The Moon is Cynthia, the sun is Apollo.

Keats observation of nature is often characterized by minuteness and vividness. Keats's eye observes every little detail and presents it with a mature touch.

Sensuous picture of Nature

To sum up, we can say that Keats is basically a sensuous poet and he loves nature for her own sake, he sought to live in nature and to be incorporated with one beautiful thing after another.

That nature is immortal unlike men, who are mortal

Conclusion

The crux of the whole discussion is that Johns Keats’s main strength is his passionate love for nature. Like every romantic poet, his poetry deals with subjectivity. He expresses his own emotions and thoughts through his poetry. To do this, he uses nature as a medium/symbol. His love is personal. He does not compel readers to love nature instead it is automatically created when readers read the poems. He does not blend any other elements with nature and keeps it pure and proper. His love for nature is for his own sake. If he mixes nature with something, it is sorrows and pains; he has said that melancholy dwells with beauty; nature is the loveliest thing; it is beautiful, therefore, sadness is part and parcel of it. Anyhow, undoubtedly, John Keats creates a natural atmosphere in his poems due to which he can be called a poet of nature.

Romantic Poetry : john keats as a poet of beauty

Romantic Poetry : john keats as a poet of beauty:   JOHN KEATS AS A POET OF BEAUTY   Introduction One of the most important ingredients of romantic poetry is a passionate love for beau...

John Keats as an Escapist

John Keats as an Escapist

introduction

What is Escapism?

Escapism is a mental diversion from unpleasant or boring aspects of daily life, typically through activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism may be used to occupy one's self away from persistent feelings of depression or general sadness.

 John Keats Escapism

 Like all romantic poets, Keats seeks an escape in the past. His imagination is attracted by the ancient Greeks as well as by the glory and splendor of the Middle Ages. He rarely devotes himself to the pressing problems of the present. Hyperion, Endymion, and Lamia are all classical in theme, though romantic in style. Keats this finds an escape into the past from the oppressive realities of the present.

Also Keats’ themes are romantic in nature. Most of his poetry is devoted to the quest of beauty. Love, chivalry, adventure, pathos — these are some of the themes of his poems. Another strain that runs through his poetry is the constant fear of death, which finds very beautiful expression in his sonnet, ‘When I Have Fears’. Another theme of his poetry is disappointment in love, which can be seen in ‘La Belle Dam Sans Merci’.

What does the escapist?

 Escapist does not feel at ease in the world around him.

à He tries to escape by unrealistic imaginative activity.

à A poet escapes into a world of imagination.

à Poets generally live in a world of their own: they feel this world is not fit for them because of conditions and circumstances of life. So they want to escape from the realities of this real world.

Great escapist

® As we find in the poetry of great romantic poets Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats. Like, Coleridge into supernaturalism. Wordsworth found that the world was too much with the people, so he escaped into the world of Nature and Shelley created a dream world of idealism. Keats created a world of Beauty and Truth around him.

Escapism is an English movement Romantic age  

Escapism is the life and soul of romantic poetry.

• ·        In 1798 the Lyrical Ballads were published.
• ·        These poems were composed by Wordsworth and Coleridge.
• ·        These poems were romantic in tone.
• ·        They equalized rustic life.
• ·         Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of 18th century.
• ·        The Romantic Movement started with the publications of the lyrical ballads.
• ·        These poems were characterized by imagination, emotion, subjectivity, love for nature, love and interest in the past, belief in the simplicity, freedom of expression and humanitarianism.
• ·        Romantic poetry is known for the treatment of love, life, and nature.

Escapism in Keats’s poems  

è In his poem „on first Looking into Chapman‟s Homer‟,

he discovered a new realm of wonder and beauty. He likes to live in such a realm of gold. He studied Greek myths and legends.

“Much have I travell’d in the realms of goldAnd many goodly states and kingdom seen”

 (on first Looking into Chapman’s Homer)

These lines show his love for Greek art, culture, and literature to such an extent that Shelley called him a Greek.

è His famous poem Endymion‟ is based on a Greek legend where the goddess Moon comes down to earth and falls in love with a mortal. Greek gods and goddesses were his frequent companions. He wandered through the middle ages in search of love and romance.

“A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:Its loveliness increases; it will neverPass into nothingness, but still will keepA bower quiet for us, and asleepFull of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.” ( Endymion)

è Keats is known as escapist. In his poem “Ode to a Nightingale” Keats describes the tendency of escapism. He poured this idea of escape very beautifully. He desired to go away from this real-world in the world of Nightingale because of this real world is full of strife, sadness, and grief. After listening to the sweet song of Nightingale, the poet wants to escape from the miseries and sufferings of the world. He wants to go to the world of the nightingale as the bird knows no human sorrows and sufferings. Poet is not happy with this world as this world is a miserable place and he found sadness only in his life so he wants to go away from here.

“… Fade far away, dissolve and quite forget… The weariness, the fever, and the fret…” (Ode to a Nightingale)

 “Ode to Nightingale”, he wants to “fade far away” and “quite forget” the “weariness, the fever, and the fret”.

è Just as when he saw a beautiful Urn in British Museum, he forgets his conditions, even he elaborates on the pictures depicted on the Urn.

Ah, happy, happy boughs that cannot shedYour leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu.  (Grecian Urn)

Keats longs to escape from the bitter realities. Therefore, we see that Keats is so disgusted with the real-life that heals ways try to escape from it.

The Odeon Grecian Urn is not a dream of unutterable beauty nor is the urn itself the song of an impossible bliss beyond mortality. It has a precious message to mankind, not as a thing of beauty which gives exquisite delight to the senses, but as a symbol and prophecy of a comprehension of human life to which mankind can attain. Keats was not an escapist from life, as he is sometimes supposed to be.

John Keats Romantic Escapist

Keats was a true romantic poet because his attention was not only beauty but also the truth. He saw beauty in truth and truth in beauty.

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, — that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

He persistently endeavored to reconcile the world of imagination with the world of reality. Therefore, Middleton Murray calls Keats “a true romantic.”

“Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?Think not of them, thou hast thy music too.”

At one time he regrets the songs of Spring and but then he sees the beauties of Autumn and involves himself in them. He instantly forgets the pain of losing songs of Spring and starts admiring Autumn.

“Keats was so preoccupied with the beauty that he turned a blind eye to the actualities of life around him.” (Stopeford Brooke)

è In the Ode to Melancholy, he points out how sadness inevitably accompanies joy and beauty. The rose is beautiful indeed but we cannot think about the importance of beauty without its thorn. It is therefore impossible to escape from inevitable pain in life.

Melancholy dwells with beauty, "beauty that must die,"

are thrilled with aching hopelessness. In ‘Ode to Melancholy’, he says,

“dwells with beauty — beauty that must die”

Melancholy arises from the transience of joy and joy are transient by its nature. Therefore Keats accepts life as a whole — with its joys and beauty as well as its sorrows and despair.

To quote the words of Middleton Murray about ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’,

“These lines contain deep wisdom purchase at the full price of deep suffering. They are symbols and prophecy of a comprehension of human life to which mankind can attain.”“There is something of the innermost soul of poetry in almost everything he wrote.” (Tennyson)

The romantic quality in literature has been defined by Peter as,

“The addition of strangeness to the beauty.”

John Keats is the Most Escapist among Romantic Poets:

John Keats has a good power of imagination. He does not find any difficulty in its creation. In that world, he quests for beauty. Several reasons are there due to which he prefers an ideal world to the world of reality. He does so because of he

·        quests for Beauty.

·        wants to forget pains and sorrows.

·        finds peace and harmony in imagination.

·        loves past.

Sorrows and Sufferings Make John Keats an Escapist

è In “Ode to Autumn” he creates a gloomy atmosphere.

 JOHN KEATS AS A POET OF BEAUTY 

Introduction

One of the most important ingredients of romantic poetry is a passionate love for beauty. Every poet in one way or the other is a lover of beauty. John Milton was a good lover of beauty as well as religion. William Wordsworth finds beauty only in nature. However, John Keats is different from them. He does not only like beauty but also quests for it. He also takes interest in Greeks art in order to pursue beauty which is also called John Keats’ Hellenism. Keats is of the view that everything which touches the senses is beautiful. Besides the poet of nature, John Keats is also called the poet of beauty. Art, birds’ songs, forests, clouds, skies, seasons, in fact, every element either natural or unnatural, is beautiful in his eyes. He finds it even in truth, the song of the nightingale and also in a Grecian urn.

Earlier Poems Vs. Later Poems of John Keats: 

John Keats in his earlier poems found beauty only in natural objects such as clouds, skies, forests, etc. In later poems, his approach is something extraordinary. The recent poetry of John Keats seems mature. He talks about universal beauty. For instance, the autumn season is beautiful for him. Similarly, the song of the nightingale is joyful. Greek art also gives him pleasure. He also mentions beauty in immortality. When other poets criticize the autumn season, John Keats seeks beauty in it. Everything is joyful for him though it depends on his mood. It is because he appreciates beauty and finds beauty in everything even in melancholy. Thus, his attitude is entirely different in his later poems.

John Keats as Poet of Sensuous Beauty:

Another important thing about John Keats is that he always talks about sensuous beauty. His poetry touches the senses of readers. Song of nightingale can listen; Grecian urn can be seen; the autumn season can be felt; flowers can be smelled. Readers do not only read the poetry of John Keats but also feel it.

Being a pure and romantic poet, John Keats considers his duty to pursue beauty. That’s why Shelly calls him the best romantic poet of his era. He is the last romantic poet but best among them because of his attitude towards sensuous beauty.

Comparison Between Melancholy and Beauty:

Art is beautiful and is everlasting in the eyes of John Keats. He takes the example of a sculpture and proves that its beauty will never fade. Furthermore, he is famous for putting melancholy and beauty in juxtaposition. He provides evidence to prove that melancholy dwells with beauty. He experienced sufferings of life and also felt every pain because he lived a had and short life. As a result, he gained experience. He acknowledged that beauty could never be separated from melancholy.

Many examples are there in his work, from which, readers witness appreciation of beauty. Hyperion is the best example of it. It is full of gloomy atmosphere even then John Keats being a poet of beauty does not leave any chance to appreciate it. His famous poem “Ode to Nightingale” has been referred many times. This poem can be used to exemplify any element of romantic poetry but for this purpose its significance is praiseworthy. Likewise, starting lines of “Endymion” strengthen the assertion that poet John Keats is a passionate lover of beauty. He writes: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. In fact, every poem of John Keats proves that he is a passionate lover of allurement.

John Keats was a pure poet, therefore, beauty was a good subject for him to write poetry. He chooses it because he feels it. He finds it in everything.

Keats ‘Beauty is Truth; Truth Beauty’

Keats was considerably influenced by Spenser and was, like Spenser, a passionate lover of beauty in all its forms and manifestations. The passion for beauty constitutes his aestheticism. Beauty was his pole star, beauty in nature, in a woman and in art. For him, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’.

When we think of Keats, ‘Beauty’ comes to our mind. Keats and Beauty have become almost synonymous. We cannot think of Keats without thinking of Beauty. Beauty is an abstraction, it does not give out its meaning easily. For Keats, it is not so. He sees Beauty everywhere. Keats made Beauty his object of wonder and admiration and he became the greatest poet of Beauty. All the Romantic poets had a passion for one thing or the other. Wordsworth was the worshipper of Nature and Coleridge was a poet of the supernatural. Shelley stood for ideals and Byron loved liberty. With Keats, the passion for Beauty was the greatest, rather the only consideration. In the letters of Keats, we frequently read about his own ideas about Beauty. In one of his letters to George and Tom, he wrote:

            “With a great poet, the sense of Beauty overcomes every other    consideration, or rather obliterates another consideration.”

He writes and identifies beauty with truth. Of all the contemporary poets Keats is one of the most inevitably associated with the love of beauty. He was the most passionate lover of the world as the career of beautiful images and of many imaginative associations of an object or word with a heightened emotional appeal. Poetry, according to Keats, should be the incarnation of beauty, not a medium for the expression of religious or social philosophy. Keats loved ‘the mighty abstract idea of Beauty in all things’. He could see Beauty everywhere and in every object. The beauty appeared to him in various forms and shapes—in the flowers and in the clouds, in the hills and rills, in the song of a bird and in the face of a woman, in a great book and in the legends of old. Beauty was there in the pieces of stone with carvings thereon. He hated didacticism in poetry. For the poetry itself was a beauty so he wrote, “We hate poetry that has a palpable design upon us.”  ’The lines of his poem ‘Endymion’ have become a maxim:

            “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:            Its loveliness increases; it will never            Pass into nothingness”