Paper on the Greek Effect on the
Poetry of John Keats
The German knowledge
voracious exclaims after the covetable first glimpse of the eternal beauty of
Helen:
“Was this the face that
launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium…”
In this utterance,
though a paradoxical truth, we have conspicuous evidence of a passion for
beauty. Again, when we pay attention to one closing paradoxical and many a time
anthologised:
“‘Beauty is truth,
truth beauty,’ that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Here we find the same
passion for beauty, beauty that is truth. John Keats, whose span of literary
career was too short to be another Shakespeare, owed much of his poetry to the ancient
Greeks. That is why Shelley was compelled to remark, “John Keats is a Greek.”
John Keats suffered a passion for beauty that ended only with his death.
Though, we must remember that this passion was not infatuation; Keats knew the
truth; Keats knew the beauty! It is a sure truth that Keats followed the ancient
Greeks and the mythology created by them. My paper is dedicated to the ‘ever-unfortunate-and-sad’
poet John Keats and his Hellenism.
John Keats was
acquainted to the wondrous world of ancient Greek through the translations and
the dictionaries only; it means clearly that, then what knowledge he gained
about the Greek world was scanty. John Keats, however, read, liked, and owed
much of his Hellenism to Chapman. His sonnet, “On First Looking into the
Chapman’s Homer” is an example of that.
Though clumsy were the
sources, yet Keats’ imagination was phenomenal and he pierced deep into the
world of ancient Greeks. A Pagan, for whom the only truth was beauty, be that beauty
in ugliest creature like the serpent, or in the wonderful ‘Grecian Urn’, he
started seeing every possible personification in the nature. It was the effect
of his Greek reading that Keats saw the image of ‘Selene’ each time Keats saw
the moon. He saw the nymphs dancing and ‘Dryads’ when he saw forest or a tree.
Often we find Keats listening to Orpheus in his verses, giving a divine shape
to ‘Autumn’, making a Goddess of human ‘Psyche’ and doing all sort of acts that
force us to go in a state of nostalgia and live in the world of ancient Greeks!
Apart from his view of
Gods present everywhere in nature, we find another Greek effect on his poetry
in the form of his deep interest in Greek mythology. Keats was such fascinated
with the myths of Greek that rare are his protracted verses those are orphan of
Greek myths! The beauty of ‘Endymion’ and the act of ‘Selene’ we find in his first
composed long and loosely handled narrative romance “Endymion.” This long poem
is very famous for the opening line that strikes every bosom with the enormous
beauty and a solace:
“A thing of beauty is a
joy forever.”
“Endymion” throughout
moves in the setting of ancient Greek myths and amid the Greek Gods. Other
poems of Keats that ploy with the Greek myths are “Lamia”, “Hyperion”, and the “Fall
of Hyperion” majorly in the lengthy poems. As the very titles of these pieces
evoke, these deal with and lull ancient Greek mythology with painting of Keats’
imagination and his gifted gift of powerful lyricism! Among these, “Lamia”
again countersigns the revival of ancient Paganism of Greeks in John Keats. Keats,
in “Lamia” tries to favour the beauty even in the ugliest creature like serpent.
The beauty, for a poet of beauty in pure sense, does never end, and in this
poem, Keats presents the resemblance of grand opening line of “Endymion”:
“And soon his eyes had
drunk her beauty up,
Leaving no drop in the bewildering cup,
And still the cup was full…”
Here, amid the setting
of nymphs, monsters, and ancient Greek, Keats also carries the Greek hoisting
flag of beauty with full swing.
Apart from the long
narratives, the shorter poems of Keats also display conspicuous Greekness. The best
known of them is perhaps “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. This ode sings of an ancient
urn that displays the marvellous beauty to the eyes of the poet Keats. However,
with beauty, Keats love is bare for the ancient Greek arts and once again, he
displays it in the “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. Keats speaks of his love for the
beauty for ancient Greek Urn in a manner like this:
“Heard melodies are sweet,
but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play
on:
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone…”
The lines reflect the
apparent passion of Keats for the ancient Greeks, their art, their creation,
and everything about Greek! Keats, in short, suggests in his ode that art is
superior to experience and men must realize it and not underestimate the value
of ancient art.
He paints the war amid
Greek Gods in “Hyperion” without any secure knowledge save some scanty readings
and his imagination. Keats delights in the world of ancient Greeks and in the ‘vales’
where he finds nymphs, and trees raising their hands and dancing; he finds the
sea Goddess in water, God Bacchus in wine, and the life in everything sought!
Keats is a true Greek in his poems, in his imagination, in his perception, in
his Paganism, and by birth! He found the truth in beauty, and beauty in the
ancient ruins of the once glorious Greeks; therefore, he followed the footsteps
of the ancient Greek masters and mixed his fancy and lustre of dazzling
imagination to produce the poetry that was meant to lead the modern poets and
fulfil the wish of young poet to remain in the list of English Poets after his death.
At last, to deduce the
argument about the Greek effect on the poetry of John Keats, I have to add that
a young learner, who was sad about the decaying virtue- beauty, found no other
way than escaping the age and remain in the nostalgia of ancient glory. His
poetry, that is fulgent with meaning and a pure Greek adoration of beauty, will
ever be a landmark for the newcomers. However, some critics and poets, even one
like Byron, claims the passion of Keats in the vulgar phrase: “Poetic
masturbation.” It is nothing but only the pain of not realizing the truth!
Keats is a pure poet who has indeed a passion for beauty. His art, his poetry
is for the sake of poetry and nothing else. He is an English Greek…
An Apology for Keats
and His Greekness
On Keats being a Greek
Let
him live in solace, in nostalgia
Where
he finds his Truth- beauty,
To
adore that truth is his duty,
Whither
shalt thou or they judge?
He
remains the sole to glean
The
myriad beauty so calm and clean,
And
present the pure painted reminiscence
To
the ignorant eyes of unknown immense!
Paper by Alok Mishra
(Author and Poet)
Pursuing MA in English from Nalanda College Biharsharif
