John keats intro etc

1. PRESENTATION
GLOBAL POETRY
SAMEER MUNIR
20103009-005
BS ENGLISH BLUE 5TH

2. ODE ON MELANCHOLY BY JOHN KEATS
• Introduction
John Keats was an English Romantic lyric poet whose
verse is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous
appeal. His reputation grew after his early death, and he
was greatly admired in the Victorian Age. His influence
can be seen in the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and
the Pre-Raphaelites, among others.

3. THEME OF ODE ON MELANCHOLY
The transience of beauty, human emotions, and melancholy
are
the major themes underlined in this poem. Throughout the
poem,
the speaker develops the idea that pain and sadness are
unavoidable.

4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• The “Ode to Melancholy” belongs to a class of eighteenth-century poems that have some form of
melancholy as their theme. Such poetry came to be called the “Graveyard School of Poetry” and the
best-known example of it is Thomas Gray’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard.” The romantic poets
inherited this tradition. One of the effects of this somber poetry about death, graveyards, the brevity of
pleasure and of life was a pleasing feeling of melancholy.
• Keats’ special variation on the theme was to make the claim that the keenest experience
of melancholy was to be obtained not from death but from the contemplation of beautiful objects
because they were fated to die. Therefore the most sensuous man, the man who can “burst Joy’s grape
against his palate fine,” as Keats put it in a striking image, is capable of the liveliest response to
melancholy. Keats’ own experience of life and his individual temperament made him acutely aware of
the close relationship between joy and sorrow. His happiness was constantly being chipped away by
frustration. He was himself a very sensuous individual. In the “Ode to Melancholy,” Keats, instead of
rejecting melancholy, shows a healthy attraction toward it, for unless one keenly experiences it, he
cannot appreciate joy.

5. WHEN I HAVE FEARS BY JOHN KEATS
John Keats was an English Romantic lyric poet whose.
verse is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous
appeal. His reputation grew after his early death, and he
was greatly admired in the Victorian Age. His influence
can be seen in the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and
the Pre-Raphaelites, among others.

6. THEME
Major Themes in “When I Have Fears”:
Fear of death, love, and nature are some
of the significant themes layered of this
sonnet.
The poet uses literary elements and plenty
of
images to develop these themes.

7. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• In “When I Have Fears,” was written after Keats made a close study of Shakespeare’s
songs and sonnets and, in its development, it imitates closely one of Shakespeare s
own sonnet patterns. The three quatrains are subordinate clauses dependent on the
word “when”; the concluding couplet is introduced by the word “then.” The sonnet,
like “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” is constructed with care. Like
“Chapman’s Homer,” it is concerned with the subject of poetry, to which Keats adds
another favorite theme, that of love.
• The sonnet is distinguished by Keats’ characteristic melodiousness and by
his very distinctive style, which is marked by the presence of archaic words borrowed
from the Elizabethan poets. The first line, “When I have fears that I may cease to be,”
appeals at once to the ear and is a compelling invitation to the reader to go on with
the poem.