Topics: Three Poems by John Keats
Questions:
1. What are the most stimulating images, metaphors, or expressions in
these three poems? Explain your selection.
2. How do the ancient Greek heritage have profound impact on John
Keats' poems?
3. What are the equivalent terms for autumn in Keats' poems?
John Keats
John Keats (/ˈkiːts/; 31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic
poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets
along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his work only having been in
publication for four years before his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keats
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Homer
Standing aloof in giant ignorance,
Of thee I hear and of the Cyclades,
As one who sits ashore and longs perchance
To visit dolphin-coral in deep seas.
So thou wast blind;--but then the veil was rent,
For Jove uncurtain'd Heaven to let thee live,
And Neptune made for thee a spumy tent,
And Pan made sing for thee his forest-hive;
Aye on the shores of darkness there is light,
And precipices show untrodden green,
There is a budding morrow in midnight,
There is a triple sight in blindness keen;
Such seeing hadst thou, as it once befel
To Dian, Queen of Earth, and Heaven, and Hell.
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Ode on a Grecian Urn
listen and read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWHC4AbCRm4
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a poem written by the English Romantic poet John Keats in
May 1819 and published in January 1820 (see 1820 in poetry). It is one of his "Great
Odes of 1819", which include "Ode on Indolence", "Ode on Melancholy", "Ode to a
Nightingale", and "Ode to Psyche". Keats found earlier forms of poetry unsatisfactory
for his purpose, and the collection represented a new development of the ode form.
He was inspired to write the poem after reading two articles by English artist and
writer Benjamin Haydon. Keats was aware of other works on classical Greek art, and
had first-hand exposure to the Elgin Marbles, all of which reinforced his belief that
classical Greek art was idealistic and captured Greek virtues, which forms the basis of
the poem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_on_a_Grecian_Urn
Written in 1819, 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' was the third of the five 'great odes' of 1819,
which are generally believed to have been written in the following order - Psyche,
Nightingale, Grecian Urn, Melancholy, and Autumn. Of the five, Grecian Urn and
Melancholy are merely dated '1819'. Critics have used vague references in Keats's
letters as well as thematic progression to assign order. ('Ode on Indolence', though
written in March 1819, perhaps before Grecian Urn, is not considered one of the
'great odes'.)
This ode contains the most discussed two lines in all of Keats's poetry - '"Beauty is
truth, truth beauty," - that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.' The
exact meaning of those lines is disputed by everyone; no less a critic than TS Eliot
considered them a blight upon an otherwise beautiful poem. Scholars have been
unable to agree to whom the last thirteen lines of the poem are addressed.
Arguments can be made for any of the four most obvious possibilities, -poet to
reader, urn to reader, poet to urn, poet to figures on the urn. The issue is further
confused by the change in quotation marks between the original manuscript copy of
the ode and the 1820 published edition. (This issue is further discussed at the
bottom of this page.)
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunt about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
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In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
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Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/odeonagrecianurn.html
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To Autumn
Listen and read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKhX_DP1knU
"To Autumn" is a poem by English Romantic poet John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23
February 1821). The work was composed on 19 September 1819 and published in
1820 in a volume of Keats's poetry that included Lamia and The Eve of Saint Agnes.
"To Autumn" is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats's "1819 odes".
Although personal problems left him little time to devote to poetry in 1819, he
composed "To Autumn" after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening. The
work marks the end of his poetic career, as he needed to earn money and could no
longer devote himself to the lifestyle of a poet. A little over a year following the
publication of "To Autumn", Keats died in Rome.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
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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;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Autumn
http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/toautumn.html
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More References
 The Last Journey of John Keats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-KrzsMfn7w
 Alice's Blog: http://etwonderland.blogspot.tw/
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