1. John Keats
● Short biography:
Born in London, England, on October 31, 1795, John Keats devoted his short life to
the perfection of poetry marked by vivid imagery, great sensuous appeal and an
attempt to express a philosophy through classical legend. In 1818 he went on a
walking tour in the Lake District. His exposure and overexertion on that trip brought
on the first symptoms of the tuberculosis, which ended his life.he had many difficult
times in his life- father dying when he was 8, mother dying when he was 14, his
brother dying when he was 23, his guardian stopping him seeing his sister and
keeping his money from him (so he had money worries)
2. ● Romantic features:
● Nature: In nature, the Romantics found inspiration for their poetry, wisdom,
and straight-up happiness. If we went to the Romantics with a diagnosis of
depression, they'd tell us: "Forget meds; take a walk in the park. Hug a tree.
Talk to a bird. All you need is a little green." Part of the Romantics' obsession
with nature had to do with the fact that they were living and writing at the time
of the Industrial Revolution.
● Spiritual/Supernatural Elements
● Idealized Women
● Interest in Past History/Ancient Greek and Roman Elements
● Individuality/Democracy/Personal Freedom
● Analysis:
Stanza 1: What not to do
● Do not forget / Do not suffer -> enjoy
● Don’t let anyone / anywho to tell you melancholy is negative, because it is not.
● Repetition of negative pronouns to emphasize melancholy. Melancholy is not
bad
● “Lethe”: river of forgetfulness
● “Proserpine”: queen of the underworld (hell)
● “Drown the wakeful anguish of the soul”
Death is not an option, do not forget!
Opposite stanzas
Stanza 2: what to do (positive) embrace life
● Melancholy will hit you
● -> what to do when it happens
● “Like a weeping cloud” -> simile
● Accept melancholy -> go through it -> (do not avoid it) -> this is the only way
to feel joy
● Positive nature : full of color and life
○ “April” -> spring
○ “Rainbow”
○ “Droop-headed flowers”
○ “Green hill”
● “Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose” —> metaphor portraying the fact
that even in all the melancholy aspects of life, positiveness can be found
● “Peerless eyes” —> metaphor to express how lonely someone can be when
that person is sad. But we have to accept melancholy in order to be happy
Stanza 3: how melancholy and joy are connected
3. ● You can not enjoy happiness and joy if you haven’t understood melancholy
first
● One need to fully understand and accept melancholy to be able to enjoy the
positive aspects of life.
● One cannot exist without the other
● Very positive stanza
● Enjoy life —> good and bad
● “Beauty that must die” -> related with nature -> when spring is over it will start
later again. Ironic since it won’t die
● “Joy” is personified
● Turn depression into creation
Blog guide
1. What does the title mean? Take a look at the title and reflect (think) on what you think it
means.
The title of the poem is very straightforward as it refers to a song related to sadness, which
is probably the main theme of the poem. When we first read the title, we though Keats would
write a poem about how awful melancholy is. To our surprise, however, he illustrates the fact
that misery and depression are not a cause for grief and ending it all.
Having "melancholy" in the title is very typical of the Romantic movement, the Romantics in
general were all about giving expression to their passions and the intensity of their emotions.
That’s what Keats have done.
2. Put it in your own words:
Read the poem two or three times. You will see something different each time you read the
poem. Write a brief summary of the poem in your own words. Highlight or list some of the
words (nouns, verbs, phrases) that are important to understanding the poem.
The poem goes through three stages, one in each stanza. At first it tells us that when we feel
sad, we have to understand that life will get better and committing suicide is not an option.
Then it tells us that going through a process like this is inevitable and that we should allow
ourselves to live it and not avoid it. Lastly it tells us that joy wouldn't be possible if we didn't
know what sadness was. So Keats is telling us that though melancholy is not as good as joy,
they are connected. Because we have to understand what melancholy is in order to feel joy,
otherwise we would not recognise the difference and we wouldn’t be able to feel happiness.
We found the following phrase relevant.
“when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud
...
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose”
4. Through this metaphorical simile Keats portrays the fact that melancholy is inevitable and we
think this is very important in order to understand the poem. Because this is basically the
whole message of it. Melancholy is inevitable, but we are the ones who can decide not to
suffer. We have to understand it, accept it and move on. We have to go through it instead of
avoiding it, in order to feel joy.
3. What do you think the poem means?
Now think about the meaning of the poem. Remember that some poems have a deeper
meaning.
Try to answer these questions. Your poem may not need all of these questions.
• Who is the subject of the poem?
There is not an explicit subject, it appears that Keats is addressing the reader.
• What are they talking about? The voice is talking about how melancholy can be either a
“poisonous wine” or just as bad as hell. He is saying that melancholy can be dreadful but it is
inevitable. So he suggests that we (readers) should not avoid this feeling but accept it. We
must do this in order to move on and feel joy.
• Why do you think the author wrote the poem? John Keats went through many difficult times
during his life, mostly the passing away of his loved ones, therefore he must have probably
been melancholic several times during his life. So he wrote this poem to tell people that life
goes on, no matter what tragedies life has brought to you. He is encouraging people not to
suffer, nor to commit suicide and to accept that there is evilness in our life, but we can not do
anything about it, expect accepting it.
• When is the poem happening? - Where is the poem happening? - How does the poem shift
from person to person or between different times or places?
It was written in the spring of 1819. At that time, the melancholy was seen as a mental
illness, as depression, but Keats differs from that point of view and tells the reader to enjoy
melancholy.
Though the poem is not set in time or place, nature is constantly repeated: “April”,
“Rainbow”, “Droop-headed flowers”, “Green hill”. So we believe that the setting of the poem
is not relevant with what Keats have to say, since he is giving an advice to everyone. That's’
why he refers to nature rather than material objects, because nature is something we all see
or have seen. It doesn't matter where the people live or where born, because Keats is not
addressing people, he is addressing feelings.
• What is the poet’s attitude?
The poet is interested on the people’s life, as he is giving another solution rather than death
for very sorrow and melancholic moments: acceptance. The poet has a positive attitude as
he is giving people another opportunity of what to do when one feels that way. He suggests
to confront the issue, accept it in order to move on, so that luckily one day, one can feel joy
once again.
5. 4.Poetic devices: Tools of the poet. Identify different poetic devices in your poem.
Your poem may only have some of these items.
● Repetition of negative: “no”, “nor”
● Metaphor:
○ the voice refears melancholy as the “wakeful anguish of the
soul”
○ “glut thy sorrow on a morning rose” metaphor portraying the fact
that even in all the melancholy aspects of life, positiveness can
be found
○ “ His soul shall taste the sadness of her might”
● Simile: “like a weeping cloud”
● Imagery:
○ Visual:
■ “green hill”
■ “on the rainbow”
○ Tactile:
■ “And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips”
■ “His soul shall taste the sadness of her might”
■ “poisonous wine”
● hyperbaton: “ if thy mistress some rich anger shows”
● Personification:
○ of anger: “ Imprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.”
○ of joy: “And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips” I
5. Theme. Identify the theme (central idea) of the poem. How does the theme convey
the poem’s message?
Keats wrote the poem through a sorrowful and dreadful theme. He outlines how to embrace
melancholy and depression and how to make the most of it. According to the speaker,
melancholy and sadness are part of the natural human range of emotion, and in order to
really experience joy, you have to allow yourself to experience sorrow, as well. One need to
fully understand and accept melancholy to be able to enjoy the positive aspects of life.
6. Now look at the title again. Do you now have a different interpretation of the title?
Yes, we have a different interpretation of the title. Because firstly we thought the poem was
going to be about melancholic things and how dreadful it is. However, we understand now
that melancholy is positive, since without it we would not be able to enjoy happiness.
