Keats sonnets

On the Sea

Petrachan - about the literal sea and its physical power + a symbolic imagined sea with its own personality - portrayed as mercurial/majestic like Greek figures mentioned

• seen in- size, rhythm, hypnotic effect, change in mood

• becomes a source of restoration from human suffering

On the sea context

• written on the Isle of Wight

• early reviewers were critical of his work saying he was common cockney, he was urged by friends to take a break, the sea was restorative for him

• the sea in ‘King Lear’ and ‘The Tempest’ as inspo

• Many Romantic-era contemporaries also use the sea as a symbol of the imagination/unknown (Coleridge Ancient Mariner) = Rom ideas of nature being restorative

‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’

Petrachan- Written after K read George Chapman’s 1614 translation of ‘The Whole Works of Homer’

• For Keats discovering ‘Homer’ translated by Chapman creates so much joy, enthusiasm and excitement as would an astronomer discovering a new planet or Cortez when he first saw the Pacific ocean

‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ - context

• the most available translation was by Pope who stood for order, rationality + control = Keats hated excessive form bc it reduced natural spontaneity - so Keats goes back to 17th century translation (not Pope’s)

• it uses extended metaphor for travelling = K’s journey in reading → suggests exploration/colonisation are part of the work of a poet

• criticism- the poem ignores the grim reality of colonisation, stealing, enslaving → Cortez contributed to the destruction of the Aztecs

‘O Solitude’

Petrachan- Keat’s first published poem

• in this poem the solitude is personified like a companion, he would rather enjoy isolation away from the city and in the countryside surrounded by nature (Romantic ideal)

‘O Solitude’ context

• facts about the industrial revolution which Keat’s wanted to escape- Coal could produce up to three times more energy than timber

• mid-18th century, about 15 per cent of the English population lived in urban areas; by 1900 this figure had increased to 85 per cent.

When I have fears

Shakespearian sonnet - this poems outlines some of K’s biggest fears inc, death before great: poetry, he may never write romance -fragments of which float through his mind, love (how it will be fleeting)

• there is no clear resolution

• has a rhyming couplet but has rhyme in line 10 + 12 so frustrates the epigrammatic tendencey

When I have fears context

• written three years before his death

• Romantics loved s/s sonnets because of classical influences of feelings + nature seen in the dif settings

• + classical influences → midsummar nights dream and Athens + magic

On sitting down

Mostly Petrachan but with rhyming couplet - this poem is inspired by the Shakespeare tragedy of King Lear which show the tragic nature of the human condition

• Keats empathised with the agony of human suffering (perhaps bc of his familial history and upbringing)

• Keats wants another mode of perception bc Romanticism is very unrealistic - he uses this poem to indicate to turn from stories of love to more serious matters

• he wants to be creatively reborn- once reading s/s he becomes a better person making him a better poet

• Critics- this is turning point for K bc he rejects romance in favour of more realistic visionary experience

• Critics- the struggle of wanting the power/transcendence of romance and to acknowledge the harsh reality of the human condition

On sitting down context

• ‘King Lear’ (eponymous hero), which was one of s/s greatest plays to Keats, is about a man who begins as a mighty king and ends as “a very foolish fond old man”

• Keats said ‘Kind Lear’ had artistic “intensity'“

To Sleep

Shakespearean sonnet - no rhyming couplet

• How Keats wishes to slip into death peacefully

• he subverts expectations of light/dark symbolism - he views light = harsh reality/negative dark = comfort/positive

• he desires sleep as a way to escape the real world, sleep as a kind of death

• night becomes the enemy when he cant sleep (insomnia) = he cant escape

• random rhyme scheme drifting off into sleep conscious/unconscious

To Sleep context

• Romantic link with drugs seen with '“poppy” (opium) → Coledrige believed drugs unleashed creativity (Ancient Mariner)

• sleep is a metaphor to escape suffering linked with his suffering from his own

Bright star!

Shakespearean sonnet- poetic tradition of a star → navigation and constancy

• Keats wants to be as steadfast and unchanging as a star in the sky but he doesn’t want to be isolated and still/passive

• he wants love and to be calm and peaceful and hear his lovers breathing- but even he knows that love isnt constant they will grow old and die eventually

• death is the only way to achieve permanence within the mortal world

• centred around ONE metaphor of a star = the idea of constancy that he yearns for

Bright star! context

• the star is a symbol of the steadfastness he longs for in his relationship with Fanny Brawne

when i have fears form

S/S

allows him to explore three fears over three stanzas

shift from iambic pentameter to trochee in line 11 (stressed - unstressed) = more emphasis on important things

on sitting down

petrachan sonnet + rhyming couplet

rhyme = the change he wants in his creative process = reflect the turning point

on first looking into chapman’s homer form

Petrachan sonnet

the two stanzas offers a problem and solution to human sufferring and di

trochee last line offers a resolution unlike many of keats other unresolved endings

o solitude form

Petrachan

on the sea

petrachan

to sleep

variant shakespearean sonnet

his own rhyme scheme

bright star

S/S

spondee - to ensure both syllables are stressed for bright star

trochee- for steadfast

uses diacope for repetition of “still” = continuing desire for his lover