The casual reader of John KeatsO poetry would most certainly be impressed by the
exquisite and abundant detail of itOs verse, the perpetual freshness of itOs phrase and
the extraordinarily rich sensory images scattered throughout itOs lines. But, without a
deeper, more intense reading of his poems as mere parts of a larger whole, the reader may
miss specific themes and ideals which are not as readily apparent as are the obvious
stylistic hallmarks. Through KeatsO eyes, the world is a place full of idealistic beauty,
both artistic and natural, whoOs inherent immortality, is to him a constant reminder of
that man is irrevocably subject to decay and death. This theme is one which dominates a
large portion of his late poetry and is most readily apparent in three of his most famous
Odes: To a Nightingale, To Autumn and on a Grecian Urn. In the Ode to a Nightingale, it
is the ideal beauty of the NightingaleOs song - as permanent as nature itself - in the
Ode on a Grecian Urn, it is the perfection of beauty as art - transfixed and
transfigured forever in the Grecian Urn - and in the Ode to Autumn it is the
exquisiteness of the season - idealised and immortalised as part of the natural cycle -
which symbolise eternal and idealistic images of profound beauty.
In Ode to a Nightingale, Keats uses the central symbol of a bird to exemplify the
perfect beauty in nature. The nightingale sings to the poetOs senses whose ardour for
itOs song makes the bird eternal and thus reminds him of how his own mortality separates
him from this beauty. The poem begins: ?My heart aches, and a drowsey numbness painsO
(Norton 1845). In this first line Keats introduces his own immortality with the aching
heart - a machine of flesh with a fixed number of life-giving beats. He also employs a
common poetic device to indicate a visionary activity is about to follow with the
admission to a state of ?drowsey numbnessO. In this case, the visionary action is the
poet slowly lapsing into the nightingaleOs world, opening his senses to the true nature
of the bird while other ?men sit and hear each other groanO (Norton 1845). This state of
semiconsciousness allows for his understanding that, although it is mid-May, the bird
?singest of summer in full-throated easeO (Norton 1845). The nightingale, whose song so
perfectly embodies a particular season that the poet is unable to be mistaken about itOs
meaning, expresses the beauty of nature in a way which man is incapable. The poet is
also seeing the bird as timeless, for the summer exists within the nightingale regardless
of it being mid-May. In stanza seven the poet reveals the nightingale for what it truly
is: a symbol natureOs immortal beauty. The bird has now entirely escaped the physical
limitations of the poetOs world where all is subject to death and decay, for it ?wast not
born for deathO, and is an ?immortal birdO living in an imaginary realm. It lives outside
of the human world ?where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyesO, yet still affects the
poet so profoundly that he wonders if it was ?a vision or a waking dream?O (Norton 1847).
Keats, in experiencing the song as he describes, idealises the nightingale and elevates
the bird to a singular embodiment of unchanging natural beauty.
Instead of looking to nature for idealised beauty in Ode to a Grecian Urn, Keats turns
his attention to man-made art for inspiration. It is the moment frozen in time on the
side of the urn which constitute the immortality and profound beauty which Keats had
earlier discovered in the nightingale. Keats admits to the simple ease with which the art
is able to express itOs essence in the first stanza when he writes, ?sylvan historian,
who can thus express / a flowery tale more sweetly than the rhmyeO (Norton 1847). He is
suggesting that art has the power to impress upon the viewer ?more sweetlyO than can the
written word impress upon the reader. In the second stanza Keats introduces the idea that
the unheard song, and by extension that all impression experienced through means other
than the physical senses, are more lasting and perfect than those understood through the
?sensual earO, for they are not subject to the imperfections of our dross world: ?heard
melodies are sweet, but those unheard / are sweeter; therefor, ye soft pipes, play on.O
He goes on to reinforced this idea further in the second stanza when he tells of the
?bold loverOwho is frozen, forever anticipating a kiss that will never come, and is thus
spared the invariable let down which accompanies all human experience. The lover is
forever trapped in a state of Rythmos - the climactic moment, an instant before action,
which was viewed by the ancient Greeks as the pinnacle of all experience. In this way the
lover is a symbol of beautiful perfection, not by the expertise of his depiction but by
his perfect exemplification of a single, eternal moment. In this way Keats finds ideal
beauty and immortality in art which is unattainable by physical man, who is destine by
the laws which give him life, to experience the imperfect as well as the perfect.
It is in KeatsO Ode to Autumn that the theme of perfect beauty and eternal existence are
more clearly conveyed than in any of his other works, for it is to nature itself that he
refers for inspiration. The Autumn season is personified and considered a deity as it
conspires with the ?maturing sunO to ?load and blessO and to ?set budding moreO, reliably
offering itOs bounty each successive year. It fills ?all fruit with ripeness to the coreO
and fills the bees ?clammy cellsO with honey till theyOre ?oOer-brimmOdO (Norton 1869).
In this first stanza, the perfection of natureOs purposes and the way in which Keats
indulges in itOs description leaves little doubt as to what he is trying to convey: that
nature itself is the ultimate profound beauty. The very definition of a season implies
eternal life for it is bound by the laws of our universe to return each year and perform
itOs duty as it has always done before. Each of the three stanzas dwell upon a different
human sense and allude to a different point in the natural cycles of a manOs life. The
first stanza uses tactile images, such as heavy apples weighing down a branch, which
relates to the point in a child's life when he feels and tests his new world by touching
and feeling. The second stanza deals predominantly with visual imagery as in the first
line when the poet asks, ?who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?O (Norton 1869). This
dominance of visual sensation reminds the reader of the time in life when man, full
grown, looks forward into the future to see what it has to offer rather than testing
through experience as a child might. The third and final stanza is rife with auditory
sensations, such as the ?lambOs loud bleatO and the cricketOs soft song. The use auditory
sensations to describe the passage of autumn into winter reflect the time in a manOs life
when he becomes complacent and more aware of the preciousness of the moment. It is clear
that in Ode to Autumn Keats has found the perfect beauty, on which is truly eternal and
which emphasises, rather than avoids, the natural cycle of death and decay in the human
world.
After reading three of KeatsO most famous works in sequence, his obsession with ideal
beauty and immortality become apparent. This theme is developed in Ode to a Nightingale
and Ode on a Grecian Urn, both in which he strives to find the perfect everlasting beauty
in art and nature, but is only confused by the true essence of his subjects; for a bird
must die and an urn must crumble and are but symbols of things imagined. Keats however,
does discover his elusive eternal beauty in his Ode to Autumn, realising that it is
mother nature, with her ever recurring seasons and perfection of purpose that is
profoundly beautiful. Growing, maturing and dying are no longer avoided in Ode to autumn,
they are embraced and accepted as necessary for the continuity of the seasons cycle.
Keats, through his poetry, is constantly reminding us that the moment, whether short of
duration or eternally present, is to be savoured; for all things that exist in manOs
world are subject to decay and death because our ability to perceive them is limited. The
world is no longer simply a place of song birds, pleasing art and fruit laden trees, but
a world of profound and everlasting beauty.
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