Thoughts on the poetry, theory, and a poet by Alok Mishra

The world has moved far ahead of the Wordsworthian age. Now, you are not in a position to expect sheer romantic verses romancing with nature from a poet. In fact, even a versatile figure like T. S. Eliot seems out of the context in the present scenario. Why did the circumstances change? To be able to be in a position from where you can ponder about the current developments in English poetry, you have to think certain facts.

In the past, there used to be a parallel line that connected the creation and theory. By theory, I mean the literary theory of a particular age. Several instances are the neo-classical theory, romantic theory, and post-modern theory. For the clarity of thoughts, the romantic theory dominated later eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Poets were producing the works that moved along with it. Keats, Byron, Shelley, and others wrote great romantic poems. However, what is the theory that governs today's poetical canvas? Thinking from another side of the thread, what theory do the poets keep in mind when they compose? Apparently, there is no theory today! I remember to have read in a book of literary theory that the present age, in fact, is a no-theory age. Poets enjoy the liberty to write what suits them.

Getting into the debate to a further level, the social and cultural conditions, that are somehow disordered, add additional pain to the writing of poets. The question of any 'how,' if it arises at any level, may seek an answer in the poem by Harold Pinter - "Modern Love". The poem describes the absence of feeling from the act of love. Moreover, it also shows the disgust of poet for the soulless society.

There is a classic phrase that like gets like. The life of modern people has actually become lifeless. That, a poet is someone from the society is an inevitable truth! Now, what a poet will write will be the same that he feels and observes.

"The hollow eyes,

scrutinizes the hollow apartments

hiding the hollow men

inside."

What else can one expect from a poet? The seeds of this hollowness on the pages of poetry have the roots in ancient times. Matthew Arnold and his 'melancholy roar' depicts the story well. T. S. Eliot further protracted the story by adding his wrath in that roar. Today, the poets are in a quandary over what to write and what to avoid. They have much to write; they have much to avoid!

Do you write such articles on literary theory and poetry? Please submit your articles for publication in the international journal Ashvamegh (ISSN: 2454-4574). The address is http://ashvamegh.net

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Ashvamegh... the literary flight Ashvamegh Journal

Dear authors, poets, writers, Greetings of the season.

We have started a new online international journal Ashvamegh… the literary flight at www.ashvamegh.net

You can submit your articles, poems, essays or whatever you write to us round the year; however, you can have a chance to be featured in the very first issue of the journal to come in February if you submit now!

Like us on http://facebook.com/Ashvamegh

Follow us on http://twitter.com/AshvameghJourn

Visit us at www.ashvamegh.net

(Ashvamegh Journal, Poetry, Journal, Ashvamegh literary flight, February issue, Alok Mishra)

Wordsworth and Nature... Debate. Issue. Poetry of Wordsworth and Nature. Poet Wordsworth and Nature Poetry

CONCLUSION

It is well-known in the world of poetry readers and literary persons that nature and Wordsworth more or less work like synonymous to each other. Without nature, the poetry of Wordsworth is nothing; since the beginning of his poetic career to the end of his poetry, one can easily find the impression that nature marked upon him and his poetry. Nature is the inevitable force when we talk about the poetry of Wordsworth; it works like the central object around which the cobweb of Wordsworth’s poetry is weaved. Nature to Wordsworth means everything in his last stage… however, it was not a sudden ‘flash’, rather it was a gradual process that integrated nature to the poetry and even the life of Wordsworth. Nature in the beginning was only of a ‘secondary pursuit’ to the poet and eventually it became the ‘mistress’ and later ‘mother’ and sustainer of the poet. All the story, Wordsworth records in his celebrated autobiography – The Prelude.

To Wordsworth, nature does not only mean the object to see and be pleased with; he perceives nature as offering security and protection to the world, to humankind, and acting like an authority to manage the movements of the environment. Writes an author about this unique trait of Wordsworth:

“In Wordsworth’s The River Duddon: A Series of Sonnets (1820), the speaker is again drawn to the thought that nature actively protects – as the stream descends from bare upland, ‘to form a shade / For Thee, green alders have together wound / Their foliage; ashes flung their arms around; / And birch-trees risen in silver colonnade’. In the sequence, individual sonnets present different parts of the landscape, often raising the possibility of an allegorical meaning for them, sometimes making it unmistakable. In this case, the trees are like parents watching over and nurturing the young stream; the course of a life, charted by the stream, has reached childhood and nature’s nursing of the human soul is visible in the trees’ protective efforts and again, a moment later, in the cottage nearby where a ‘mother’s eyes / Carelessly watched’ her children at play (Sonnet 5). This movement of thought is typical of the sonnets and, as here, the fancifulness of Wordsworth’s language draws attention to the mind creating the allegorical sense at the same time as it claims that that sense is genuinely present.” ¹

Indeed, to Wordsworth, ‘human soul is visible in the trees.’ Wordsworth is a unique poet with such blessed eyes that can actually see nature and human so commingling that one without the other cannot exist! When the sister of the poet calls him to stay with her, he composes a poem and writes the first line:

“On Nature’s invitation do I come,” ²

For Wordsworth, it was not merely the call of his sister, rather it was the call of Nature unto him… it was in the habit of Wordsworth, in his poetry and his sensibility to relate everything to Nature. A serious poetry reader can find certainly the quality in the poetry of Wordsworth that mingles human emotions and sufferings with nature – nature that endures all; nature that returns only good; and nature that acts like the guardian to humankind! It is the company of nature that lets Wordsworth listen –

“The still, sad music of humanity,”

And for the asylum, for the peace Wordsworth releases himself in the arms of nature and so he advises to everyone else. Wordsworth is the genuine flag-holder of the romantic revival’s call that advocates ‘return to the nature’.

Wordsworth wished always the development of humankind and the mutual harmony between man and man, and man and nature, ‘By Nature’s kind and ever-present aid’.

At last, to conclude this dissertation, there is no better way than quoting his lines that muse the Nature:

“The spot was made by Nature for herself;

The travellers know it not, and 't will remain

Unknown to them; but it is beautiful;

And if a man should plant his cottage near,

Should sleep beneath the shelter of its trees.

And blend its waters with his daily meal,

He would so love it, that in his death-hour

Its image would survive among his thoughts:” ³

REFERENCES

1.     Stephen Gill, The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. p. 193.

2.     William Wordsworth, The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth (New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919), p. 213.

3.     Ibid. p. 310.

Further Reading

Primary Sources:

1.     Wordsworth, William. The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919.

2.     Wordsworth, William. The Collected Poems of William Wordsworth. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2006.

3.     Wordsworth, William. The Prelude. Agra: Narain, 2007.

4.     Wordsworth, William. Selected Poems. New Delhi: Vimal Prakashan, 2006.

Secondary Sources:

1.     Herford, Charles H. The Age of Wordsworth. Kolkata: Books Way, 2008.

2.     Gill, Stephen. The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth.

3.     Hopkins, Kenneth. English Poetry: A Short History. New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1962.

4.     Legouis, Emily and Louis Cazamian. History of English Literature. Gurgaon: Macmillan, 2012.

5.     EVANS, Ifor. A Short History of English Literature. Noida: Penguin, 1990.

Moments with Oneself: Poem by Alok Mishra: Artist and Art~~ the thought

Moments with Oneself

‘They liked it, but demanded

‘More openness in my art

‘Before I am eligible to be displayed!’

An artist with heavy heart

Closed his eyes, thought and prayed.

‘You will do.’ He commanded

To his soul in dilemma and dismay.

A horrible cry of silence spread…

Accepted the dejected, having no other way

But the only choice for bread.

Dead artist cannot produce art!

Friday, 25 July 2014

Alok Mishra

William Wordsworth and Nature: Poetry of Wordsworth: Role of Nature... A Piece describing the connection of these two

It is well-known in the world of poetry readers and literary persons that nature and Wordsworth more or less work like synonymous to each other. Without nature, the poetry of Wordsworth is nothing; since the beginning of his poetic career to the end of his poetry, one can easily find the impression that nature marked upon him and his poetry. Nature is the inevitable force when we talk about the poetry of Wordsworth; it works like the central object around which the cobweb of Wordsworth’s poetry is weaved. Nature to Wordsworth means everything in his last stage… however, it was not a sudden ‘flash’, rather it was a gradual process that integrated nature to the poetry and even the life of Wordsworth. Nature in the beginning was only of a ‘secondary pursuit’ to the poet and eventually it became the ‘mistress’ and later ‘mother’ and sustainer of the poet. All the story, Wordsworth records in his celebrated autobiography – The Prelude.

Dickens as Social Reformist: Was Dickens a Reformer?

Dickens as a Social Reformist

Victorian age is very important for the English country in many ways. She saw the flourishing of industrial revolution; she saw her people engaged in mechanic development; she saw her great sons Adam Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, J. S. Mill etc. imparting new theories to run the prospering economy of England. Moreover, the inventions in the Victorian period made the life of English people very luxurious and comforting. Some developments were meant for the people in general, while most of them were only meant to serve the ends of the rich. Railways, Electric Telegraph etc. were for the welfare of rich as well as poor. While the others like Telephone, Radio, Electricity were only for the people with good possession. Besides these, some major transformation came in existence is the field of education also. With these developments and transformations, where the English society seemed happy and satisfied, there was a class of the “have-nots” who were in search for their existence in the society growing with fast speed.

Dickens, novelist of the Victorian Period England, was highly unsatisfied with these rapid changes in the society. He did not like the interference of mechanic schedule in the life of people. He did not like the exploitation of the poor classes of the people. He did not like the child labour practice. In his novels, we can have the apparent examples of these disliking and hatred. Oliver Twist is a novel that deals with the problems of child labour. One very popular, Hard Times deals with the problems of education, utilitarianism, and unhappy marriage; it throws good light upon these problems and highlights the effects, indeed bad, that a selfish education can bring in life. Louisa does never realize what the meaning of blushing is! Tom does never know what the real education is. The Stone-Lodge represents the English Society that has become stony in the matters of heart and sentiment. Dickens did never like the society that only has the mind to think and not a heart to feel! He wanted a change; he kept trying for this to happen.

Dickens, as a child, himself has faced the situations that were not favourable. He had to face financial problems too. He had, at the soft age of 12, had to work in a shoe-blacking company. This experience, probably, made the idea of the great work Oliver Twist. Dickens says very much in the short sentence in this book, that is:

“The hardest and best-borne trials are those which are never chronicled in any earthly record, and are suffered every day!”

This simple sentence utters the numberless groans of many thousands of people who suffer the pains without any complaint or claim to be recorded! Dickens has a value and understanding for the problems of common and downtrodden.

In his great work, Hard Times, Dickens takes up the life of the poor circus persons and presents to us an ironic picture. He shows sympathy with the poor clown of the circus, Signor Jupe, who escapes from the troupe only to secure a better future to her daughter. The problems of bearing the expense of education is there reflected. Moreover, with this, Dickens adds the problem, rather a robbery that the circus troupe represents. He presents the commercialization of education, as well as he paints the commercialization of the leisure of the people. The phrase “melancholy elephants” adds to our heart a sympathy for the animals who are targeted brutally for the purpose.

Dickens, except these, takes up the problem of unhappy marriage in the Victorian society. For instance, in Hard Times, the marriage of Stephen Blackpool represents the agony of all the suffering husbands or wives. He is forced to live with or in with the fear of his drunkard wife who now and then comes to disturb his life and house. When Stephen goes for some advice from the master Bounderby, he aids to his pains only with the remark:

“Now I tell you what! (said Mr Bounderby, putting his hands in his pocket.) there is such a law…”

“But it’s not for you at all. It costs money. It costs a mint of money.”

Besides these, Dickens is undoubtedly a social reformist. He takes up the causes of the middle class people, and not as a detached novelist, but as one of those very people. To quote Cazamian, 

“No novelist before dickens has treated the lower middle classes on such broad lines or in so frank a way. He studies them not as a detached, superior kind of observer, but as one on their own level; a sympathy, an immediate community of impressions, and, as it were, an instinctive fraternity, thus impregnate his study.”

And further,

“… Such is the permanent foundation of his realism. But below it, in in the inner realms of consciousness, we feel the quivering image, the anguish of soul- debasing poverty.”

Therefore, on our own and upon the studies of these great scholars, we see that Dickens, whole his life, has devotedly worked as a writer whose works are always busy in solving or at least trying to solve the problems of the society. 

Hard Times: A Study of the Theme, Characters, and the Motive

 

Tennyson in his In Memoriam taught the Victorian world the lesson of Soul and tried successfully to pacify his own aching heart. So did the great scholar of that age, Arnold. He escaped with his gypsy and left the world exposed to material pursuits and selfishness. However, Dickens only could do what they could not do; Dickens showed the world the truth- the real figure of life. He tried to bring in what was expelled out from the mechanic life of the Victorian people.

Hard Times, one of the many masterpieces by Dickens, torches the growing utilitarianism in the Victorian society. Moreover, Dickens exposes the commercialization of education, manpower and even the leisure of people in the form circus. However, Dickens, the one ranked next only to Shakespeare in appeal, does not leave the world astray in the dry world of mechanism; he shows the way towards a better life with all the virtues of heart instead of the facts and figures world. For this purpose, Dickens draws the three noble and humble character in his novel- Louisa, Sissy, and the poor fated Rachael. These three ladies are tender heated, affectionate towards goodness and the aesthetic values in life and abhors the selfish people who are in the guise of goodness and welfare. On the other side, there are characters like Mr Gradgrind, Bounderby, M’Choakumchild, Tom and Harthouse. These characters, when unified together, take a pose of storm and are ready to slay the noble and gentle souls, crush them within an eye’s blink with the imposing education, loveless affection, ingratitude and faithlessness, and selfish ends.

When we examine from the beginning, where the innocents are being murdered, we can point that all attempts of blowing the little candles are in vain. Gradgrind, as a man as his name is, is always ready to crush the rose buds under his legs. In his school, in Stone-Lodge, everywhere he is reinforcing the facts and figures theory upon his children Tom and Louisa. His doctrine, however, cannot hold the knots of restriction upon the hearts of children fastened; very soon he finds Tom and Louisa ‘peeping with all might’ the circus act. His facts taste the first defeat:

“Thomas, though I have the fact before me, I find it difficult to believe…”

The tiny hole in the circus camp represents a ray of hope in the life of Louisa, as she very soon finds Sissy in her home to accompany her in the loneliness. Now, the stone man of Stone-Lodge, Gradgrind attempts every possible way to poison the heart of Sissy with facts and figures. Sissy, however, with a single ray of hope in life that a day her father would return, bears everything but keeps herself unchanged. She does not let the venom of dry facts and colourless figures enter inside her heart.

“… to the question, “What is the first principle of this science?” the absurd answer, “To do unto others as I would that they should do unto me.”

Sissy returns the golden rule from the Bible for the questions of science. She only accepts education and does not welcome the ugly selfish knowledge to grind one’s own axe. Here also, the little candle inside the heart of Sissy cannot be blown dark by Gradgrind and Choakumchild. Later, with only hope that Tom can get better position, Louisa, despite her all broken dreams, accepts the bully, Bounderby as her husband. She loves Tom and sacrifices her life almost for his good only! However, during the conversation of marriage proposal by Bounderby, when Gradgrind asks Louisa if she had some secret proposal from anyone else, she very humbly utters:

“… What other proposal can have been made to me? Whom have I seen? Where have I been? What are my heart’s experiences?”

This reply from Louisa exposes all about the dry and emotionless life of the girl at Stone-Lodge. Yet, the ray of hope that her brother could do well, wins over the virgin heart of this innocent lady…

Loveless marriage, wooing of a countryman, Harthouse and the faithlessness of Tom, the brother whom she loves, aids to the growing morbidity of Louisa. She returns back to Stone-Lodge, but only to change the once tender heart of the now stone man to softness once again. Moreover, the ray of hope again comes from the tiny hole, conspicuous in the discourse of Gradgrind and Bounderby.

“… The enlightenment has been painfully forced upon me, and discovery is not mine…”

“I-I had intended to recommend, my dear Bounderby, that you should allow Louisa to remain here on a visit, and be attended by Sissy, who understands her, and in whom she trusts.”

At last, we see that the pride-pyramid of Gradgrind’s facts and figures falls down and accepts its loss near faith, hope and charity. Another, one Rachael, I’d like to quote at last, nurses the mad wife of the thorn and thorn won Stephen Blackpool. Rachael becomes the friend to Sissy. Louisa is nurtured and loved by Sissy and her children grant Louisa the tender love that she lacked. Tom, the faithless brother is forgiven and sent away by the clever Sissy to save the cap of Gradgrind. It is Sissy, the sole solace, who pardons the refuge to everyone trapped in the world of facts and figures. Thus, the candle light horns the triumph over storms and keeps the world warm with a ray of hope from the tiny hole. 

The Lion in Love

Aesop’s Fable (47)

Love slays the mightiest heart; it does.

The barbarous jaws, eager paws,

And eyes with tremendous fire,

A lion ties no calendar or laws,

He kills in East and wounds in Shire!

Once ages ago, a lion fell in love

And demanded woodcutter’s daughter.

Ah! but the love was not any above

Of mere infatuation for the slaughter.

‘I want your girl as my wife’

Said the blind lion to the poor man,

For whom it was on his life

To deny the proposal of mighty insane!

‘Lust like glutton dies.’

The witty woodcutter found a way.

With humble guise in voice, he said:

‘O lion, my daughter fears the play

‘Of your sharp teeth and claws, so made

‘A pleading- you let me take out

‘The agents of fear- the teeth and claws

‘And she will end her fearful bout

‘To swear with you the marriage vows.’

The wanton, the lewd, without any delay,

Was ready for his Pride and Life

To be very easily taken away,

For nothing but a ‘mere’ wife!

Losing thus the pearl, the clam went

Without guessing the certain loss

That fate for him would invent.

Days passed, the lion came

Back with his demand with pride,

Alas! He returned with guilt and shame

Instead of smiles, gain and ‘mere’ bride!

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Mighty and the Weak, A poem by Alok Mishra

Mighty and the Weak

Difficile est proprie communia dicere.

In solace of night, two tormented fought

Over the issue of right to exist,

It is though accepted, anticipated and sought,

Weaker for the stronger is always a feast!

Poor candle with her tender light,

In the dense dark, served a sight.

Mighty wind with his bloody eager sword

Was ready to slay the sweet poor chord.

‘Pardon me, my frail existence, show mercy

‘O broad chested, O devouring wind

‘Omit me of your morsel, set free

‘I beg you… my life, not you grind!’

Pleaded thus, she stood calm, and did wait

For the reply of her piranha, her fate,

And he, the swollen might, in anger tried

To make her afraid, he thus replied:

‘I’m mighty; I love mighty; you be mighty

‘Or I slay you, you feeble poor creature!

‘To do you justice, to endure propriety

‘Are for the mighty like me just a torture!

‘To maintain peace, you weaker must die

‘And with peace and hope in grave lie!’

The gentle flame, the thin spirit, the brave soul

Boldly stood but in calm pose she listened his whole.

‘For the perils like you, might is right.

‘In His abode, where justice happens always,

‘Still the echoes say that right is might,

‘There devils are imprisoned and put in cage.’

The candle, true and upright, but weak,

Said these in her tender voice, so meek.

Arrogant and wild, the mighty wind lost sense,

For the thirsty of blood, nothing is offense!

With a blow, he collected some dry leaves

And pushed the innocent flame over them.

Pathetic! How one of her life he bereaves

With no regret, no mercy, and no shame!

The melting candle, dying of enormous pain,

Thought she how her stronger sisters grew insane!

‘How your beautiful earth will survive?

‘Shall you see with silence, or thrive?

‘If your world is for the might and power,

‘Why do you make creepers sans bower?’

With these words, she melted; she did die!

But she left questions to God, to be done.

The God who sits and watches all from high

The world that with same Moon and Sun,

To escape from these questions always does try…

Alok Mishra

28-07-2013

Greek Effect on the Poetry of John Keats or Keats Hellenism or The Hellenistic Approach of Keats or The Greek Note in Keats

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