01 March, 2012

Poet Of The Week: John Keats (1795-1821)


Strange but true: I adore Romantic literature, particularly Romantic poetry. Whether or not this sounds pretentious, I am unsure, though I am being completely honest. I adore the Romantics of the late 18th Century in a way that is both nerdy and probably unheard of for a sixteen year old (If you don’t know about Romantic literature, Google it). I love the way the stanzas are arranged, I love the words and how my mouth might feel honoured to have certain phrases or arrangements of words pass between my lips. Only someone who has read a great poem will understand this adoration and even then, it might sound absurd.

I’ve chosen John Keats, from all the brilliant poets that have written brilliant pieces, for the simple and biased reason that as I was growing up, I read John Keats’ poetry before the others. I read ‘To Autumn’ before ‘Don Juan’, I read ‘To Sleep’ before ‘Adonais’ (some may understand the irony of this). Strangely enough, I read Keats before Wordsworth. Is that unexpected? Perhaps (again, I can’t help but feel that I’m coming across as a pretentious snob who only reads ‘fine literature’ and avoids any other style of writing. This is not the case- there is just something enchanting about Romantic poetry that communicates a profound sense of meaning to my soul).

John Keats was not a perfect poet. Sometimes, his techniques are lacking. Sometimes, the lines are uneven. For me, this gives them a deeper beauty and, as the poet himself states: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Indeed, Keats has written timeless poetry. In his life, he believed he would fade, that his name was 'writ in water' but I can never see Keats’ poetry dying away, let alone any poetry ever written. Call it naive, but I’d like to think that great poetry will survive until the ends of all spoken language.

Would I recommend Romantic poetry? Of course I would. I’d recommend any kind of poetry, whether it is Decadent, Romantic or even Jacobean. Whether you prefer blank verse to villanelles, I’d suggest everyone to ask an English teacher or a librarian about poetry. You might discover something brilliant.

- Steph.

Read Keats if you enjoyed the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson, Wilfred Owen or any contemporary poet. 

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