Keats is a Romantic poet

 

Consider Keats as a Romantic poet.

                                  Or,

What are the major romantic traits in Keats's Odes?

                                 Or,

Comment on Keats as a romantic poet in the context of some of his major "Odes".

Ans. Romanticism is generally identified as a movement in 19th century by a group of poets who brought about a significant change in attitude, in art and literature. Though a precise definition of Romanticism' is hard to come by, it is generally identified by a few characteristics. Surprisingly, the Romantic poets, of which prominent are Wordsworth, Coleridge. Shelley, Byron and Keats, have few characteristics common in their poems. They vitally differ from one another in their attitude to life, art and nature, yet they are labelled so as their attitude showed a significant deviation from their predecessors. John Keats, one of the pioneers of the Romantic Movement, is regarded by many as the most romantic of all Romantic poets,

 

Dissatisfaction with life and the real world and a continuous search for an ideal are at the core of romanticism. Hence, the tendency to seek an escape from the grim realities of life is common with all the Romantic poets. With a view to finding relief from the weariness, the fever, and the fret of the real world, the Romantic poets have created the world of dreams and imagination in their poetry. Keats is the most romantic in this regard. In his Odes, Keats has created a world of imagination beyond the world of harsh realities of life the inhabitants of which are not subject to pains and sufferings, pangs and sorrows, decay and death. In "Ode to a Nightingale", Keats keenly desires to 'fade far away. dissolve and quite forget what the nightingale living among the leaves hast never known'. In "Ode on a Grecian Urn", the poet creates an ideal world in which it is eternal spring and creatures there are immune from the negative aspects of time. They are ever happy and warm as they do not undergo changes of time.

 

Romantics are famous for their pessimistic vision of life. They were fond of art and have established the pre-eminence of art in their poems. The transience of life is contrasted with the permanence of art. The real life that is presented in the Odes is full of negative elements. In the real world, 'Beauty must die' and Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes', 'new love pine at them beyond tomorrow and love "leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed, / A burning forehead, and a parching tongue". Life, characterized by its weariness, the fever and the fret', is short-lived. In contrast, art represented by the nightingale or the Grecian urn is permanent. The bird is Immortal and the urn is 'unravished bride of quietness' and foster child of silence and slow time'. In stark contrast to the human beings who have 'leaden-eyed despairs', the nightingale is a happy bird and the figures on the urn are always happy and warm.

 

Nature is a dominant theme in romantic poetry. Keats is no exception. His poetry is replete with sensuous description of nature. In "To Autumn". Keats enters fully into the life of nature and gives a graphically sensuous description of the season with all its tastes, sounds and sights. "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Um" and "Ode on Melancholy" are also full of natural images which appeal to our senses.

 

Other characteristics of romanticism that Keats incorporate in his poetry are his love for the past and fascination for the classical elements, worship for beauty and subjective as well as emotional response to worldly affairs. He is a great romantic poet. His poetry bears the high stamp of romanticism.