John Keatss Negative Capability in his odes:

Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn

Shelley, Byron and Keats belonged to the second generation of romantic poets in
England. Ironically, all three died young and their careers were cut short although the first
generation of romantic poets was still active. John Keats was a poet full of passion and desire,
but shy and reserved. He longed to find beauty in this ugly and terrible world. He was a great
admirer of Shakespeare and in one of his letters to his brothers he described negative capability
when a man is capable of being in uncertainties mysteries, doubts, without any irritable
reaching after fact and reason. For Roberto Unger, negative capability is the denial of whatever
in our contexts delivers us over to a fixed scheme of division and hierarchy and to an enforced
choice between routine and rebellion. To create true poetry, Keats had to be able to remain in a
state of conflict without irritably reaching after facts or reasons. Thats why the negative
capability is an expression of supreme empathy excellently illustrated in two of his odes.

Being in the uncomfortable state of drowsiness in the Ode to a Nightingale, the poet
tried to capture the imagination that he experiences through the song of the nightingale. He is
aware that life is full with pain and the wine he likes to drink is the same as the imagination it
would help him to escape from all the suffering. The song makes him happy, but then he realizes
that life is painful and intolerable. Tasting the happiness in hearing the nightingales song leads
to the bittersweet taste of life. Dying is an escape and its as easy as to fall asleep. According to
Jeffry Baker, the ode is impassioned, reflecting personal anguish but also it insists on the
supreme value of unclouded consciousness. Thats why he gives immortality to the nightingale.
The nightingale is a symbol of poetry which is immortal as well. Richard Harter Fogle has said
that In the ode Keats is affirming the value of the ideal, and this is the primary fact. The
negative capability is represented throughout the poem: images on wings of poetry flying with
bird, images of ease along with images of Death and uncertain gloomy areas of the
consciousness. Also the ecstasy in being drowsy numbness is linked to negative capability.
In Ode on a Grecian Urn, Keats is impressed by an ancient Grecian urn as a symbol of
death and also as a work of art. He examines the dazzling visual details portrayed on it. Through
it, he contemplates immortality, eternal beauty, the value of art and history. The urn survives,
does not die we cannot say that about people and love who face the reality of death and
disappointment. The urn delivers a message that beauty is truth and truth is beauty. And the truth
and beauty can be understood by the negative capability of the artist. The beauty doesnt need to
be explained; no need of justification. As Grant F. Scott points out this line reveals a remarkable
compromise, an attempt not to establish a victor but to highlight and preserve the dynamic
tension between word and image. Comparing the two odes, Jeffry Baker states that The ode to a
Grecian Urn is meditative rather than impassioned but they both form ironic commentaries on
certain cherished doctrines of contemporary humanism.
Keats concept about negative capability shows how some wonderful experience in this
life can be mysterious to us. As a true romantic poet who died young he tried to live and enjoy
the moment, making a wonderful contribution while he is on the earth for the beautys sake. He
believed that the true poet does not have identity. The poet is continually informing and filling
some other body.

SOURCES:
Bloom, Harold. (2007). Blooms Modern Critical Views: John Keats
Updated Edition. New York, Infobase Publishing.
Ou, Li. (2009). Keats and Negative Capability. London, Continuum
International.
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/john-keats-and-negative-
capability
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_capability
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/glossary-
terms/detail/negative-capability