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John Keats As a Romantic Poet and negative capability in his Poetry- Part I

Tracing its roots to the philosophic endeavors of Jean Jacques Rousseau that
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains", Romanticism was an
artistic, literary, and intellectual movement. With the publication of "Lyrical
Ballads" in 1798, it sprang in English literature and reached its climax by
1850. It was a revolt against the industrial revolution and excessive
mechanization. It stressed upon strong emotions and influenced visual arts,
music and literature. German painter Caspar David Friedrich stated "the
artist's feeling is his law" while Coleridge pronounced "Poetry is the lava of
imagination". In short "creation from nothingness", is the voice of
Romanticism. Among great romantic poets are Coleridge, Shelley, John Keats,
Byron and Wordsworth. Romantic poetry is famous for the interest of the poet
in Nature and pastoral life while it involves imagination, excessive emotions,
spontaneity, symbolism, antiquity and escape from reality.

John Keats, a passionate romantic, once wrote "if poetry comes not as
naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all". Like all
romantics poets, the poetry of Keats is enriched with keen interest in beauty
and Nature with impeccable sensual imagery. He is Hellenistic and escapist.
In addition to his obsession with beauty, he speculates over death while love,
valor, adventure and pathos have been his major topics with a "Negative
Capability". Keats was overwhelmingly influenced by ancient mythology.
Though romantic in essence, Keats had deep interests in the writings of
Homer, Dante, Virgil, and Shakespeare etc. Nature, with all its beauty and
enrapturing charms, is always there as a perfect setting for the poems of
Keats whether he is speculative and depressed over imminent death or he be
lost in the beauty of ancient art or enchanting like a bird at night.

Passionate and Nature Poet:

John Keats is a passionate romantic who presents all his themes on the
canvas of nature. All his poems are a sheer depiction of the colors and beauty
of Nature. The style of Keats has nothing but passion to capture the beauty of
Nature. If he is anxious to capture "Night's starred face" in "when I Have
Fears", then In "Ode To Autumn", the description of nature is quite realistic
and alluring. Though the overall mood of the poem is filled with the gloom of
the lurking danger of the imminent winter, yet the sparkling rays of the colors
of autumn brighten the horizon for the readers:

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!


Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;"

In September, 1819, Keats wrote a letter to Reynolds from Winchester


describing the beauty of the fields and his intention of writing a poem on the
beautiful landscape. He says "how beautiful the season is now...".

The Concept of Negative Capability and John Keats:

As a true romantic, Keats insists upon the neutrality of the poet. He believes
that a poet must write without any prejudice and the ability to experience a
phenomena free from the bounds of "theory of knowledge" or presupposed
conceptions and beliefs. Keats captures the beauty of Nature without being
influenced by his prior knowledge. For example, autumn is considered the
season of approaching gloom in the shape of winter but the poet is fascinated
with the beauty of the rich and striking scenery about him and is forced to
compose a poem on the beauty of autumn against prior and established
knowledge.

Escapist views of John Keats:

All romantic poets are escapists in essence. They tend to shun reality in the
favor of the ideal. They lose themselves into the realm of poetic fancy and
imagination. For example in "Ode to Nightingale", Keats overpowers the
doubts of his mind and says to the nightingale:

"Away! away! for I will fly to thee"

The escapist idealism forces the poet to leave the painful realism and enter
into ideal life of nightingale. The poet wants to disappear with the joyous
nightingale. He wishes to "fade far away, dissolve and quite forget" the
human miseries and pains; the nightingale has never tasted of such
"weariness" and sings.

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