Keats Poems and Letters GradeSaver ClassicNote

ClassicNote on Keats’ Poems and Letters
Table of Contents
Biography of John Keats (1795–1821) ....................................................................................................... 1
Keats' Poems and Letters Study Guide ....................................................................................................... 3
Keats' Poems and Letters Summary............................................................................................................ 5
Keats' Poems and Letters Characters .......................................................................................................... 7

The Beadsman.................................................................................................................................... 7
Madeline............................................................................................................................................. 7
Porphyro............................................................................................................................................. 7
Angela ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Psyche ................................................................................................................................................ 7
La Belle Dame Sans Merci ................................................................................................................ 7
Love, Ambition, and Poesy................................................................................................................ 8
Nightingale......................................................................................................................................... 8
Fanny Brawne .................................................................................................................................... 8
Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary ............................................................................................................. 9

Anaphora ............................................................................................................................................ 9
Andromeda......................................................................................................................................... 9
Apostrophe ......................................................................................................................................... 9
Aurorean............................................................................................................................................. 9
Beadsman ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Beldame.............................................................................................................................................. 9
Censer................................................................................................................................................. 9
Chameleon Poet .................................................................................................................................10
Dryad..................................................................................................................................................10
Eremite ...............................................................................................................................................10
Fane ....................................................................................................................................................10
Fans ....................................................................................................................................................10
Fragrant zone......................................................................................................................................10
Gleaner ...............................................................................................................................................10
Hippocrene .........................................................................................................................................10
Iambic pentameter ..............................................................................................................................11
Negative Capability............................................................................................................................11
Numbers .............................................................................................................................................11
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Petrarchan sonnet ...............................................................................................................................11
Pinions................................................................................................................................................11
Psyche ................................................................................................................................................11
Shakespearean/English sonnet ...........................................................................................................11
Stanza .................................................................................................................................................12
Keats' Poems and Letters Themes ..............................................................................................................13

The Imagined/Ideal versus the Experienced/Real..............................................................................13
Romance.............................................................................................................................................13
The Natural World..............................................................................................................................13
The Nature of Beauty .........................................................................................................................13
Mortality.............................................................................................................................................14
Paradox...............................................................................................................................................14
Romantic Notions of the Female........................................................................................................14
Keats' Poems and Letters Quotes and Analysis ..........................................................................................15
Keats' Poems and Letters "The Eve of St. Agnes" Summary and Analysis ...............................................20
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode on a Grecian Urn" Summary and Analysis ..............................................23
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode to a Nightingale" and "When I have fears that I may cease to be"
Summary and Analysis ...............................................................................................................................25
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode to Psyche" and "Ode on Melancholy" Summary and Analysis................28
Keats' Poems and Letters "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and "Ode on Indolence" Summary and
Analysis.......................................................................................................................................................31
Keats' Poems and Letters "To Autumn", "On the Sonnet", and "Bright Star" Summary and Analysis .....34
Keats' Poems and Letters Letter to J.H. Reynolds (3 May 1818), Letter to Richard Woodhouse (17
October 1818), and Letter to George and Tom Keats (21 December 1817) Summary and Analysis.........37
Keats' Poems and Letters Henry Meynell Rheam's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".....................................40
Keats' Poems and Letters Frank Dicksee's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" ..................................................41
Keats' Poems and Letters Compose a Sonnet in the Style of Keats ...........................................................42
Keats' Poems and Letters Links ..................................................................................................................43
Keats' Poems and Letters Essay Questions.................................................................................................45
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Keats' Poems and Letters Quizzes ..............................................................................................................48
Quiz 1 Answer Key............................................................................................................................52

Quiz 2 Answer Key............................................................................................................................58

Quiz 3 Answer Key............................................................................................................................65

Quiz 4 Answer Key............................................................................................................................71
Keats' Poems and Letters Bibliography ......................................................................................................73
Keats: Alone in Love ..................................................................................................................................75
John Keats' Use of Imagery in Ode to a Nightingale..................................................................................77
Copyright Notice.........................................................................................................................................80
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Biography of John Keats (1795–1821)
John Keats is a paragon figure in the realm of English Romantic poetry. He wears this mantle mostly for
the virtuosity of his language, but his untimely death, from tuberculosis, at 25 years old and in the prime
of his writing life, certainly plays a role in his depiction as the ultimate "Romantic" poet.
Keats was born on October 31st, 1795, to Thomas and Frances Keats. Thomas worked in the stables of
the Swan and Hoop Inn, which he later managed. A tragic equestrian accident took Thomas' life in 1804.
Following his sudden death, Frances quickly remarried a London banker but left him soon afterward. The
four Keats children - George (1797-1841), Thomas (1799-1818), and Frances (1803-1899) were sent to
live with their maternal grandparents. Their mother died of tuberculosis in 1810. Keats himself was
described as a volatile child, "always in extremes," and his uncertain family life did not help give him
any more order.
At the age of fifteen, Keats decided to pursue medicine and subsequently apprenticed with the surgeon
and apothecary Thomas Hammond for three years. He showed a genuine interest in, and aptitude for,
medicine and was accepted as a dresser at Guy's Hospital in London just after starting medical school
there. (The occupation of "dresser" involved physically restraining patients during surgery, and dressing
their wounds afterward, in an era before anesthesia and painkillers; it was often a traumatic experience
for Keats). Keats found himself drawn ever more strongly to poetry, and although he received his
apothecary's license in 1816, he had resolved by then to be a poet.
During his medical training, he made the favorable acquaintances of Leigh Hunt and Joseph Severn.
Hunt was the editor of the liberal newspaper, The Examiner; in 1816, he agreed to publish Keats' poem
"To Solitude." Keats' first collection, Poems by John Keats, published in 1817, did not sell particularly
well. Conservative newspapers who wanted to discredit Hunt published numerous scathing critiques of
Keats' work. Keats' next poem, Endymion, which he had composed during a semi-friendly challenge with
the poet Percy Blythe Shelley, also failed to attract significant attention.
In 1818, Keats went on a walking tour of Scotland and Ireland with his friend Charles Armitage Brown,
but was called back to care for his brother, Thomas. He ended up nursing Thomas through his final
months with tuberculosis, and naturally was greatly shaken by his brother's death in December, 1818.
Soon thereafter, he moved into Brown's house. He then made the acquaintance of Fanny Brawne, the
love of his life, although he did not take recognize his feelings for her immediately. His friends initially
discouraged him from the attachment, fearing that it would hinder his work, but 1819 was an enormously
productive period for him: during this time, he wrote “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” “Ode on a Grecian
Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale,” and “Ode to Psyche," among others.
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Keats proposed to Fanny Brawne in October 1819, and was accepted. However, he was not wealthy
enough to go through with the marriage.
In February, 1820, Keats coughed up blood for the first time and, being a physician, knew exactly what
that meant. He ended up moving into the Brawnes' house (even though it was improper at the time for
unmarried sweethearts to live under the same roof). Eventually, his friend, Severn, decided to take him to
the warmer climate in Italy in hopes for a recovery. The journey was a difficult one, and after a few
months of struggle, Keats died on February 23rd, 1821. He was buried along with unopened letters from
Fanny Brawne, a lock of her hair, and a purse his sister, Fanny, had made, on February 26th.
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Keats' Poems and Letters Study Guide
Though he could hardly have expected it during his lifetime, since his work was roundly condemned by
the conservative commentators of his day, John Keats became one of the most revered English poets of
the Romantic period within a few decades of his death. At the time of his death itself, he had only been
writing poetry for about six years, and had only published three volumes of poetry. In his work, however,
he had taken on the challenge of using a wide variety of poetic forms -- from the Miltonic epic to the
sonnet to Spenserian romance -- infusing them all with his signature striking sensitivity, verbal
adeptness, and impeccable lyricism. Some of his contemporaries, notably his editor and friend Leigh
Hunt and the famed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, championed his work, but they were in the minority.
Influenced by Hunt's Examiner, Keats sometimes declared himself part of a "new school" of poetry; this
radicalism may have alienated contemporaries.
His posthumous reputation grew steadily, however. The Cambridge Apostles, a secret society of
undergraduates which included Alfred Tennyson, a later Poet Laureate of England, was supportive of his
work. The first Keats biography was published in 1848, situating Keats in the English poetic canon. The
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters, an English group of moderately well-known artists, also used his
poems for inspiration. By the end of the century, his writing was deemed to include some of the best
specimens of English poetry. Today, he is placed in the absolute top ranks of the major British Romantic
poets, right along with Williams Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, and
Percy Bysshe Shelley. Commentary by his friend Shelley, who declared that Keats was too finely-tuned
and sensitive to survive in a world of unduly harsh criticism, has always colored the public perception of
Keats and the reception of his writing.
Keats' letters, which were first published in installments 1848 and 1878, were initially thought of as
distractions from his poetry. In the twentieth century, however, these documents became much more
highly regarded. Modernist poet and critic T.S. Eliot wrote, "There is hardly one statement of Keats'
about poetry which...will not be found to be true, and what is more, true for greater and more mature
poetry than anything Keats ever wrote." Keats used letter-writing as a way of synthesizing his thoughts
and philosophy, especially in the abundant letters he wrote to his brother George and his sister-in-law
Georgina, who had moved to the United States. Some of his most noted philosophical concepts -- the
chameleon poet, negative capability, and the Mansion of Many Apartments -- took form in his letters.
The letters also appear to have influenced Keats's poetry; for example, in an 1817 letter to Benjamin
Bailey, he wrote, "I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of
Imagination – What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth," thus presaging one of his most
famous lines in "Ode on a Grecian Urn". He also composed perhaps his most well-regarded poem, "To
Autumn", after noting the beauty of the season in a letter to John Hamilton Reynolds.
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Currently, Keats occupies a seat as one of the most famous poets of the English language. Jorge Luis
Borges even named Keats as his most significant "literary encounter." The poetry of this versatile British
author is now among the most widely taught and analyzed in English literature, and both the quality of
his verse and his reputation as an emblem of the high Romantic era ensure his continued popularity.
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Keats' Poems and Letters Summary
"The Eve of St. Agnes", a 43-line poem written in Spenserian stanzas, describes a young virgin,
Madeline, who falls in love with a young suitor, Porphyro, who is an enemy of her family. Traditionally,
on the eve of St. Agnes (a Saint's day), maidens believed that they could be joined in dreams by their
future husbands. Porphyro sneaks into Madeline's room and, after she has fallen asleep, sings her awake.
They run off together.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a meditation on the perfect, timeless ideal versus the imperfect, lived reality.
Keats addresses the urn directly and wonders aloud what real scenes the illustrations on it describe.
In "Ode to a Nightingale", Keats describes his dismay at not being able to live in the ideal world of the
nightingale. The nightingale's song, which has been heard by people across millennia, is ageless and
perfect; Keats concludes that the bird, unlike the human race, "wast not born for death."
In "When I have fears that I may cease to be", Keats describes his apprehension of dying without having
achieved artistic and romantic success. When he experiences this anxiety, he reminds himself that death
erases all human achievement anyway.
"Ode to Psyche" describes Keats' fictional encounter with Psyche and her lover, Cupid/Eros, during a
forest walk. Psyche, having been one of the last goddesses to join the Greek Pantheon, does not have a
temple. Keats promises to build her one in his mind.
In "Ode on Melancholy", Keats advises those who experience melancholic states. Rather than avoid
melancholy, such individuals should embrace it as a means of encountering "the Beautiful."
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" describes the encounter of a knight-at-arms with a mystical lady, who lulls
him into sleep and then leaves him, cold and alone, on a hillside. The knight sees many other men who
have been subjected to the same fate.
"Ode on Indolence" describes Keats' encounter with three mystical female figures: Love, Ambition, and
Poesy (Poetry). These three try to convince him to abandon his summer indolence, but he wishes them
away, convinced that he will find more enjoyment in laziness than in any contentment they could give
him.
"To Autumn" is an homage to the season named in its title. Keats personifies autumn in various ways --
as a gleaner/sower, reaper, and cider-presser -- and assures the season that, though, it may not possess the
fresh songs of spring, it does have its own music.
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"On the Sonnet" expresses Keats' dissatisfaction with existing poetic norms, and construes poetry as a
means by which language is constrained. He wishes that there were a better poetic form to suit the beauty
of language.
In "Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art", Keats initially expresses a desire to be "stedfast" like a
star, hanging over the Earth and observing the movements below (water flowing, snow falling, etc.). Yet
he then changes his mind. He would rather be unchanging while holding his lover in his arms.
In the Letter to J.H. Reynolds (3 May 1818), Keats describes his theory of knowledge and of the human
experience of the world. The intellect is a "Mansion of Many Apartments." The first chamber (room) is
Infant Thought, in which one does not learn or analyze anything deeply. In the second chamber, one is
exposed to the suffering of the world. After the door opens to other hallways, one is drenched in darkness
and does not know where each hallway leads.
In the Letter to Richard Woodhouse (27 October 1818), Keats describes the nature of a poet: a poetic
artist is a "cameleon" (chameleon) who blends into any environment in which he finds himself. The
"poetical nature" is a lack of any nature itself; poets are blank slates, pure speculation.
In the Letter to George and Tom Keats (21 December 1817), Keats describes "negative capability," that
is, the capacity of an artist to observe the beautiful without trying to situate it in any philosophical or
logical structure. The pursuit of knowledge, rather than beauty, will detract from an artist's work.
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Keats' Poems and Letters Characters
The Beadsman
A pauper who performs prayers for the wealthy in "The Eve of St. Agnes".
Madeline
A young, virginal character who hopes to see her future husband in her dreams in "The Eve of St.
Agnes".
Porphyro
Madeline's successful suitor in "The Eve of St. Agnes".
Angela
An old woman who guides Porphyro to Madeline's chambers in "The Eve of St. Agnes".
Psyche
Psyche is an ancient Greek goddess. Originally a mortal, she drew down the hatred of Venus (the goddess
of love and beauty) on account of her physical beauty, and Venus asked her son, Cupid, to get rid of
Psyche. Cupid ended up falling in love with Psyche himself; after marrying Cupid, Psyche became
immortal. In the ancient Greek world, however, she lacked worshippers and did not have temples erected
in her honor. Keats tries to rectify this in "Ode to Psyche".
La Belle Dame Sans Merci

In the poem that bears her "name," this lady is described in mysterious terms. A knight-at-arms meets her
in a field, and after she enraptures him with her beauty, he falls in love with her. She takes him to her
cave, but ultimately the knight wakes up lost on a cold hillside, not knowing what has happened. This
lady appears to be a kind of seductress, possibly evil.
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Love, Ambition, and Poesy
The three figures who haunt the lazy narrator of "Ode on Indolence"
Nightingale
The titular character in "Ode to a Nightingale", this bird represents beauty and eternity.
Fanny Brawne
The unnamed possible subject of "Bright Star", Fanny Brawne was the woman to whom Keats was
engaged before his untimely death in 1821.
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Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary
Anaphora
Poetic device in which the same, or similar, words are used to begin successive phrases for rhetorical/
poetic effect
Andromeda
A princess in ancient Greek mythology. Andromeda's mother angers the god Poseidon, and Andromeda
herself is chained to a rock and offered as a sacrifice to the monster of the sea, but is ultimately saved by
the hero Perseus.
Apostrophe
A poetic device in which a narrator directly addresses an absent/abstract person or thing
Aurorean
Like or of the dawn
Beadsman
A pauper who prays on behalf of wealthy patrons
Beldame
An old woman
Censer
An ornament used for burning incense
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Chameleon Poet
Keats describes the character of a poet as resembling that of a chameleon; the poet has no character and
only reflects the environment in which he finds himself.
Dryad
A wood-nymph in ancient Greek mythology
Eremite
A hermit or social recluse, often spiritual or religious
Fane
A temple or shrine
Fans
Wings
Fragrant zone
A belt made of flowers
Gleaner
One who gathers the grain left behind by reapers
Hippocrene
An ancient Greek fountain, sacred to the Muses and considered a source of poetic inspiration.

Iambic pentameter
A type of poetic meter composed of five pairs of "iambs" or "iambic feet." An iamb is a two-syllable
pair in which the second syllable is stressed.
Negative Capability
The ability of an artist or thinker to exist comfortably in the presence of "uncertainties, Mysteries, [and]
doubts," rather than trying to situate every phenomenon in an overarching logical or philosophical
system. Keats describes his theory of "Negative Capability" in a letter to his brothers George and Tom,
which was written on December 21, 1818.
Numbers
Verses of a poem
Petrarchan sonnet
A fourteen-line poem in rhyming iambic pentameter, beginning with an octet that follows a ABBA
ABBA rhyme scheme and concluding with a sestet with a flexible rhyme scheme
Pinions
Feathers essential to flight, on the outer part of a bird's wing
Psyche
A Greek mortal-turned-goddess who married Cupid/Eros and was made immortal
Shakespearean/English sonnet
A fourteen-line poem composed in rhyming iambic pentameter. This type of sonnet begins with three
quatrains (stanzas of four lines each) and concludes with a rhyming couplet.

Stanza
A division of a poem, often involving a fixed number of lines, a set type of meter, and a clear rhyme
scheme

Keats' Poems and Letters Themes
The Imagined/Ideal versus the Experienced/Real
There is a constant struggle between these two worlds in Keats' poetry. In "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Ode
to a Nightingale", "The Eve of St. Agnes", and others, characters express disappointment when they
compare the ideal worlds formed in the imagination to the necessarily subpar world of reality.
Romance
"Romance" is defined here as a movement which prized and prioritized vivid moods and flights of fancy.
Keats' constant preoccupation with early death (which proved to be a reasonable preoccupation, in his
case) and his focus on the impossibility of achieving artistic/romantic fulfillment during his lifetime are
interests that both fall squarely within the Romantic tradition. In his treatment of such themes, he was
greatly influenced by another Romantic poet, William Wordsworth, who described the moments of
drama and insight that can occur in the course of everyday life.
The Natural World

As a true Romantic, Keats shows extreme appreciation for the natural world in his poetry. Detailed
descriptions of plants (including over a hundred species names) are included in many of his poems,
including "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode to Psyche". For Keats, the natural world represents a kind of
Eden, and is the only environment which comes close to mirroring the idyllic world of the imagination.
The Nature of Beauty

Keats states, in a letter to Richard Woodhouse, that "the mere yearning and fondness" he has for the
Beautiful is the greatest impetus for his poetry. But the nature of beauty itself is something Keats
also explores in a few poems. In "Ode on Melancholy", he expresses the Romantic idea that beauty and
joy can only be found in opposition: beauty can only be found in melancholy. "Ode on a Grecian Urn",
however, concludes with the timeless lines, "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty," perhaps a simpler concept
and a more reassuring answer. In any case, a love of beautiful things -- both physical and philosophical --
is one of the touchstones of Keats' work.
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Mortality
Any casual reader of Keats will quickly recognize that mortality is one of the poet's
major preoccupations. Having lost his father when he was at age eight, his mother at fifteen, and his
brother at twenty-three, Keats was forced to reckon with the human condition from an early age. The
topic of mortality arises directly in poems such as "When I have fears that I may cease to be", in which
Keats struggles with the prospect of dying before he has achieved artistic success. Similar themes are
addressed more indirectly in "Ode to a Nightingale", in which he wishes (though perhaps only for
dramatic effect) to die while listening to the songbird of the title.
Paradox
The ultimate inextricability of pleasure from pain, joy from sorrow, happiness from melancholy, and life
from death is essential to Keats' poetry. Keats believed that recognition of these relationships is
a hallmark of practical education. In a letter to his brother George and sister-in-law Georgiana (in May of
1819), Keats writes, "Do you not see how necessary a World of Pains and troubles is to school an
Intelligence and make it a soul?" Without pain, pleasure could never be experienced fully. This paradox
is described most directly in "Ode on Melancholy", but also appears in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and
"The Eve of St. Agnes".
Romantic Notions of the Female

Mystical female figures are a constant presence in Keats' poetry: these range from Psyche in "Ode to
Psyche", to the Belle Dame in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", to the female figures of Love, Ambition,
and Poesy in "Ode on Indolence". Female figures are often marked by a dreamy otherworldliness; in fact,
even mortal women like the mistress in "Ode on Melancholy" have "peerless eyes" that are to be "fed
upon" in the midst of angry moods. Madeline, in "The Eve of St. Agnes", represents notions of female
virginity and sexual purity. Keats's male figures are often chivalrous, but Keats himself often plays the
role of spectator-poet in relation to the women he describes.
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Keats' Poems and Letters Quotes and Analysis
"But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes."
"Ode on Melancholy", lines 11-20
This quote exemplifies Keats' respect for, and even encouragement of, the melancholy state as a means of
fully experiencing beauty. Rather than shy away from melancholy, one should embrace it as a prism
through which to see the world more fully. This example is yet another instance of Keats's use
of paradox: here, it is through suffering that one experiences pleasure.
"Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,
Instead of pines should murmur in the wind..."
"And in the midst of this wide quietness
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A rosy sanctuary will I dress
With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain,
With buds, and bells, and stars without a name."
"Ode to Psyche", lines 50-53, 58-61
Here Keats evokes the beauty of the world of the imagination. The narrator offers to build a "fane"
(temple) to Psyche, but rather than using natural phenomena, he will use "branched thoughts" and "the
wreath'd trellis of a working brain." This is arguably even better than building a physical temple, since
the world of the imagination can involve "the ideal," a property fit for an otherworldly goddess.
"When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know."
"Ode on a Grecian Urn", lines 46-50
This is a famous and highly contested excerpt. Here, "Thou" refers to the Grecian urn, whom the narrator
addresses directly. Yet it has not been settled whether or not the adage, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," is
meant ironically. In any case, these lines conclude a poem dedicated to the narrator's struggle to reconcile
his life in the imperfect, mortal world with the idealized life illustrated on an ancient Grecian urn.
"Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies..."
"Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies."
"Ode to Autumn", lines 23-29, 31-33
Keats is encouraging readers not to overlook the "music" of autumn in favor of the (arguably more
lively) songs of spring. The songs of autumn are imbued with a certain melancholy, though: gnats
"mourn" in a "wailful" choir (perhaps anticipating the advent of winter), and the light wind "lives or
dies," calling forth Keats' poetic preoccupation with mortality. The ode itself ends on a typically
melancholic note: the bird imagery may be construed as hopeful, but the "gathering swallows" are
preparing for the toils of migration.
"She dwells with Beauty - Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine:
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung."
"Ode on Melancholy", lines 21-30
"She," in the opening line here, may refer to the narrator's mistress, or to melancholy itself. Despite such
different possibilities, this passage is one of the clearest demonstrations of Keats' Romantic vision of
pleasure and joy. Joy is ever "bidding adieu" and pleasure is, by nature, "aching." Yet positive and
negative emotions such as joy and melancholy are mutually dependent; one cannot exist without the
other.
"Let us find out, if we must be constrain'd,
Sandals more interwoven and complete
To fit the naked foot of Poesy:
Let us inspect the Lyre, and weigh the stress
Of every chord, and see what may be gain'd
By ear industrious, and attention meet..."
"On the Sonnet", lines 4-9
The narrator here, chagrined that formal poetic structures such as the sonnet must be observed, would
like to find a form of poetry that is more natural. He suggests composing poetry as one composes music,
to "weigh the stress of every chord." Only in this way will a more natural poetic order come into being.
"No -- yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft swell and fall,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever -- or else swoon to death."
"Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art", lines 9-14
Here the narrator, after having described an initial wish to be "stedfast" like a star, changes his mind.
Instead, he would prefer to stay perpetually in the sweet situation of lying with his love. His highly
emotional romantic nature, though, could overtake and undermine him in this situation: he could "swoon
to death."
"Farewell! I yet have visions for the night,
And for the day faint visions there is store;
Vanish, ye Phantoms! from my idle spright,
Into the clouds, and never more return!"
"Ode on Indolence", lines 57-60
The narrator addresses the three figures of Love, Ambition, and Poesy (Poetry), wishing that they would
leave him alone. He would prefer, instead, to rest in a state of pleasure and abandon. However, the
language that the narrator uses points to the active creative energy that is present in him even in a state of
purported "indolence."
"At once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in
Literature... I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties,
Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason."
Letter to George and Tom Keats, 21 December 1817
Keats believed that "negative capability" -- the ability to be comfortable with uncertainty, to "receive"
phenomena without trying to place them into a preexisting philosophical or logical context -- was one of
the most important strengths an artist could have. To build upon this analysis, Keats uses Romantic poet
Samuel Coleridge as a counter-example, as someone who would let a "fine verisimilitude" -- a fine truth
-- slip by because he was preoccupied with the pursuit of total knowledge.
"We no sooner get into the second Chamber, which I shall call the Chamber of Maiden-
Thought, than we become intoxicated with the light and the atmosphere...and think of delaying
there for ever in delight: However, among the effects this breathing is father of is that
tremendous one of sharpening one's vision into the heart and nature of Man -- of convincing
ones nerves that the World is full of Misery and Heartbreak, Pain, Sickness, and oppression --
whereby This Chamber of Maiden Thought becomes gradually darken'd and at the same time
on all sides of it many doors are set open -- but all dark -- all leading to dark passages..."
Letter to J.H. Reynolds, 3 May 1818
Keats here describes intellectual life as "a Mansion of many apartments." The first room (chamber)
introduces a "Thoughtless" state which is initially pleasing; soon enough, though, curiosity brings one to
the second chamber. Here, one learns about human strife, and thereafter has difficulty navigating life's
"mystery." In discussing these ideas, Keats uses Romantic poet William Wordsworth as an example of
someone who had passed through the second chamber and continued on to explore the "unknown."
Keats' Poems and Letters "The Eve of St.
Agnes" Summary and Analysis
Summary:
In 304 A.D., a thirteen year-old Christian girl named Agnes of Rome was killed when she refused to
sacrifice to pagan gods. She subsequently became the patron saint of virgins, chastity, and betrothed
couples. On the eve of her feast day, January 20th, girls were historically told to perform rituals that
would enable them to see their future husbands in their dreams.
This poem begins in a chapel. A "Beadsman" (a pauper hired to pray on behalf of wealthy patrons) is
praying his rosary in the bitter cold; afterward, he goes to sit in ashes and grieves for his sins. He hears
music, and in burst the members of a happy party. Keats then introduces us to "thoughtful Madeline," a
young maiden who is looking forward to "Agnes' dreams" tonight.
A young man, Porphyro, is in love with Madeline and is on his way to her, hoping for "all saints to give
him sight of Madeline" (line 78). He approaches her family's chambers carefully, because "his lineage" is
not high enough to grant him direct entrance there. He is met by an old woman, Angela, who recognizes
him but tells him to go away, since the members of the party surrounding Madeline have cursed him and
his family. Porphyro convinces Angela that he will do no harm to Madeline, whom he loves. Angela
grudgingly agrees to lead him to Madeline's room, where he can hide in a closet and watch her
unnoticed.
Madeline returns from the party and dutifully kneels for her prayers. Then she takes off her jewelry and
undresses (within Porphyro's sight) and gets into bed, as tradition dictates, without looking behind her.
She settles into sleep. Porphyro brings out a feast from the closet. He tries to wake Madeline, but her
sleep is too deep; he takes up her lute and she suddenly awakes. Madeline is disappointed that Porphyro's
presence does not quite line up with the "immortal" voice she had just heard, but she does not want to be
left "to fade and pine" (329). Porphyro quickly convinces her to run off with him to the southern moors.
The two young people avoid all the dangers in their way out of the house -- guards and dogs -- and
escape together.
The Baron, along with his warrior-guests, has nightmares that night. Angela dies, and the Beadsman
sleeps "among his ashes cold" (378).
Analysis:
Keats' Poems and Letters "The Eve of St. Agnes" Summary and Analysis Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 20
This poem is written in Spenserian stanzas: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single line in
iambic hexameter. Its chief theme is the intermingling of the spiritual/dreamy with the physical/sensual.
"The Eve of St. Agnes" was, in fact, considered somewhat scandalous when it was first published,
mainly on account of the apparent sensuality of Madeline and Porphyro's encounter in Madeline's
chamber. There is a loose narrative to this entire composition, but Keats was mainly concerned with the
imagery of his poem.
The poem describes a passionate, warm scene, but opens and closes with an air of coldness. Coldness
seems to stand for cautiousness, religiosity, and age, while warmth represents youthful passion and the
pursuit of pleasure. The first two stanzas of the poem depict a "Beadsman" praying the rosary on a
bitterly cold night, acting out penance for sins not explicitly stated; "the joys of all his life were said and
sung" (23). He cuts a desolate figure, and it is not clear whether Keats intends him as an object of respect
or ridicule. In any case, the Beadsman has clearly renounced all earthly pleasures. The "argent revelry"
of courtly people, who are decked out in "rich array" (37-38), provides a sharp contrast. The partygoers
act as foils for the steadfast Beadsman, and appear to be concerned with ephemeral matters such as
wealth, music, and dance. They are but "shadows haunting fairily" (39).
In contrast, Madeline seems to have her mind on a "divine" (57) things: a sanctified visit from her future
husband. Madeline is repeatedly described in holy terms:
"...She knelt for Heaven's grace and boon;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross soft amethyst,
And on her hair a glory, like a saint:
She seem'd a splendid angel, newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven...
She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint" (219-225).
Madeline also experiences the divine in her dreams; in her sleep, her soul is "fatigued away;/ Flown, like
a thought, until the morrow-day;/ Blissfully haven'd both from joy and pain" (238-239). The spiritual
perfection of her dream-life is not perfectly mirrored in earthly reality, at least not at first.
Porphyro, on the other hand, is all aflame with pure earthly passion, "heart on fire" (75) for Madeline. He
hopes to "speak, kneel, touch, [and] kiss" (81) her: he is clearly not interested in her for purely spiritual
reasons. Stanzas 24-26 carry on the dreamy atmosphere in highly visual language: a casement (window)
is described as intricately decorated with sumptuous images of fruits, flowers, and a scutcheon (coat of
armor). In a decided contrast to Madeline's pious nature, her surroundings are physically luxurious.
When Madeline awakens to Porphyro's lute-playing, the spiritual purity of her dreams is subject to "a
painful change, that night expell'd/ The blisses of her dream so pure and deep" (300-301). The pure
Porphyro that she had seen in her dream is no more: "Those sad eyes were spiritual and clear:/ How
changed thou art! how pallid, chill and drear!" (310-311). However, Porphyro's encounter with
Madeline makes him "ethereal, flush'd, and like a throbbing star" (318) and "into her dream he melted"
(320). He becomes a spiritual creature through (apparently sexual) communion with her.
After the two lovers escape, Keats returns to the original scene of the poem. Inhabitants in and near the
castle are suffering: the Baron and his guests have nightmares; Angela (Porphyro's guide) dies "palsy-
twitched" (376), and the Beadsman sleeps among the ashes again.
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode on a Grecian
Urn" Summary and Analysis
Summary:
Keats directly addresses a Grecian urn -- a symbol of timelessness and aesthetic beauty -- and contrasts
this object's version of the world with the vicissitudes of real life. He asks direct, rhetorical questions of
the scenes he sees on the urn -- "What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? (8) -- and wonders
about the real scenes that the urn's decorator was referencing. He contrasts the idyllic love he sees on the
urn with the inevitable imperfection of love among mortal humans. Keats also describes a scene of
"pipes and timbrels" (perhaps a Bacchanalian celebration?), two young lovers underneath the trees, and a
heifer being led to sacrifice. Following all this, Keats lapses into a glum mood, but the urn presents a
final lesson: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" -- which subsequently became a famous, but frequently
contested, phrase.
Analysis:
The poem's main topic is the idealized world depicted on a Grecian urn, a realm not subject to the
passage of human time. Keats yearns for this world's aesthetic beauty and imperviousness to human
strife, and his language mirrors the emotional intensity of the scenes he observes: "What mad pursuit?
What struggle to escape?/ What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?" (9-10). It is as though he wishes
to partake in these scenes himself.
Keats presents a paradox in stanza II: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/ Are sweeter:
therefore, ye soft pipes, play on" (11-12). This line reflects Keats's tendency to be swept up in Platonic
ideals; in fact, many of his poems reflect on ideal states versus lived reality. "Unheard melodies" are at
once perfect and necessarily unattainable. Keats contrasts the ideal love evoked in the poem with the
sorrows of "breathing human passion.../ That leaves a heart high sorrowful and cloy'd,/ A burning
forehead, and a parching tongue" (28-30). In this case, idealized love is clearly preferable. Later in the
poem, Keats is transported away from his ruminations and to "Cold Pastoral" (45) -- mortal reality.
However, all is not lost for humans. Although all human love will certainly have an end, Keats also notes
that that which is unconsummated in the image -- "Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss,/ Though
winning near the goal" (17-18) -- will always remain unconsummated. He also calls the urn a "still
unravish'd bride of quietness" (1), again pointing to the impossibility of "ravishment."
The final two lines of the poem, "'Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye
need to know'" (49-50), have been a source of contention for scholars since the "Ode on a Grecian
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode on a Grecian Urn" Summary and Analysis Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 23
Urn" came into popular circulation. Some think that Keats wrote this statement offhandedly, as a way to
close the poem, and that is has no inherent meaning. Others have tried to examine the meanings of
"truth" and "beauty" as concepts themselves, and suggest that truth may refer to the overarching order of
the universe, logos. Still others consider this an intentionally ironic phrase, one that is too neat and
simple to be taken at face value. The debate is by no means settled.
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode on a Grecian Urn" Summary and Analysis Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 24
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode to a Nightingale"
and "When I have fears that I may cease to be"
Summary and Analysis
Summary of "Ode to a Nightingale":
Keats addresses a nightingale singing among beech trees. The poet feels as though he has taken poison or
an opiate, because he is overwhelmed with happiness at the bird's song. He wishes that he could drink in
the delights of living in Southern France (the Provençal region) by consuming a special draft of wine. Yet
Keats points out that the nightingale cannot know the affairs and concerns of men, which include, sadly,
mortality. Keats declares that he will not drink wine, but that he will instead achieve bliss by writing this
poem. He contrasts the world of the nightingale with his own, real world: one (the nightingale's) has a
visible moon, and the other (his) does not, so that he remains in darkness.
Thus, Keats must rely on his other senses (smell, touch, etc.) to determine what kind of plants surround
him. In the darkness, he thinks fondly of death. His ideal death would take place here in the forest, as he
listens to the nightingale's song. He notes that the song of the nightingale is "immortal" and accessible to
anyone -- heard by ancient emperors as well as by clowns. He says that even the Biblical figure, Ruth,
may have heard it during her exile. The nightingale's song is also thought to open treasure chests on
"faery" (70) seas. Keats is ultimately called back to his "sole self" (reality), and wonders whether he
actually ever heard the nightingale's song or whether it had been a dream.
Analysis of "Ode to a Nightingale":
This poem carries on a number of common features in Keats' poetry: he addresses the nature of the ideal
versus reality, speaks of "rich" death, and calls forth ancient Greek mythological figures in his
descriptions of natural phenomena. Keats opens the poem with a description of a dreamy, Romantic state:
he feels as though he must have drunk hemlock (an ancient poison used to kill, among others, Socrates)
or have taken opium. He describes himself as sinking "Lethe-wards." (Lethe is one of the five rivers of
Hades, whose power was to wash away memory.) But he is only in this state because of the delight he
feels at the nightingale's song. He metaphorically describes the nightingale as a "Dryad of the trees:"
Dryads were Greek mythological beings who embodied the spirits of trees.
Keats longs for the happy oblivion that would come after drinking an ideal wine, a wine that itself recalls
the pleasures of life in southern France (Provençal). Or he could drink from the Hippocrene fountain,
which was dear to the ancient Greek muses and was thought to give poetic inspiration. He wishes, above
all, to forget mortal life, in which "youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies" (26). He writes that "but
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode to a Nightingale" and "When I have fears that I may Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 25
to think is to be full of sorrow/ And leaden-eyed despairs" (28-29), echoing a Biblical verse, "For in
much wisdom is much grief, and he who increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow" (Ecclesiastes 1:18).
These themes are in keeping with Keats' usual preoccupation with mortality, which also appears in "Ode
on a Grecian Urn" and "When I have fears that I may cease to be".
Keats' narration goes on to express Keats' frequent wish to live in a realm of Platonic perfection -- this
time, of Poesy (poetry). In this poetic world, which the nightingale occupies, the moon shines bright.
There is no temporal reality for the nightingale, who "wast not born for death" (61). The nightingale's
song, unchanged, was heard by the ancients as clearly as it is heard today. In Keats' world, however,
there is only darkness, and here he contemplates a beautiful, "rich" death. He seems to be courting Death
itself, calling Death "soft names in many a musèd rhyme" (53).
Ultimately, as in "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and other poems, Keats cannot sustain his flight of fancy. He is
called back to his "sole" (that is, physical) self (72). Fancy itself is called a "deceiving elf" (74); in Keats'
time, elves were thought of as mischievous tricksters. Keats ends the entire poem by calling into question
the fierce division between the world of dreams and the world of reality: "Was it a vision, or a waking
dreams?/ Fled is that music: -- do I wake or sleep?" (79-80). In Keats' construction, these worlds are only
tenuously divided and may in fact overlap.
Summary of "When I have fears that I may cease to be":
Keats expresses the fear of meeting his end without fulfilling his poetic potential, without "tracing" (7)
(writing about or experiencing) a great romance, and without looking upon the face of a woman he loves.
He compares the poetry that he will have written to harvested grain. He also states that when he has these
fears, he retreats to "the shore/ Of the wide world" (12-13) and thinks, until his ideas of "love and fame
to nothingness do sink" (14).
Analysis of "When I have fears that I may cease to be":
Keats' fear of death, here, is nuanced: it is not just mortality taken broadly, but specifically the chance
that he will not have produced enough in his short span of life to be "satisfied," that he fears. However,
the closing lines suggest that, while mortality is the enemy of artistic production, it also somehow frees
the artist from worry. In the end, no matter what, "love and fame to nothingness do sink" (14). Perhaps
such matters are not worth worrying about anyway.
Keats repeatedly uses imagery from the harvest -- "glean'd" (2), "garners" and "full-ripen'd grain" (4) --
to describe the thoughts emerging from his "teeming brain" (2). The phrases "high-piled" and "rich" (3-4)
suggest abundance. Again, Keats sets forward a paradox: he is both the field of grain and the harvester of
this grain. In the next lines (5-8), he describes the poet's work: to grasp "high cloudy symbols" (6) in
natural phenomena, and use a "magic hand" (8) to transform them into poetry.
When it comes to love, Keats' beloved is the "fair creature of an hour" (9); such brevity evokes both
mortal impermanence and the impermanence of love itself. And Keats notes that "unreflecting love" is
only a "faery power" (11-12); faeries are capricious illusionists, so love itself is hardly a reliable and
solid phenomenon. But Keats also uses the sonnet form of "When I have fears" to underscore these
ideas. Most Shakespearean sonnets establish their themes, and, in the final lines, "turn" on such themes
or comment on them. The final two lines of this sonnet describe Keats' response to these depressive
realities: to stand alone "on the shore of the wide world... and think/ Till love and fame to nothingness do
sink" (12-14). This is a rather nihilistic response, but it ultimately confers upon Keats a kind of negative
freedom from worry, because death renders human activity meaningless. The poet is, in a typically
Keatsian paradox, "ecstatically hopeless" about the nature of human and artistic striving.
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode to Psyche" and
"Ode on Melancholy" Summary and Analysis
Summary of "Ode to Psyche":
Keats addresses the poem directly to Psyche, and apologizes straightaway for his "tuneless numbers" (1)
-- his awkward lines of poetry. On a forest walk, either he "dreamt to-day, or did I see/ The winged
Psyche with awaken'd eyes?" (5-6). Psyche is not alone, though: he has seen her and another "fair
creature" (9) embracing on the "bedded grass" (15). They appear to be asleep after a romantic interlude;
their lips are "ready still past kisses to outnumber" (19). He recognizes Psyche's companion, "the winged
boy" (21), as none other than Cupid, Psyche's lover in Greek mythology.
As a deity who was originally mortal, Psyche is the "latest-born" on Mount Olympus, the mountain
residence of the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses. As such, she does not have the privilege of
being worshipped, unlike the other members of her divine "family." Keats lists everything Psyche lacks,
from a temple, to a religious choir, to a prophet. Though Keats says that it is too late for "antique vows"
(36) -- since he cannot travel back to the holy days of ancient Greece -- he promises to be Psyche's
"choir, and make a moan/ Upon the midnight hours!" (44-45). The temple he will create for her will be
most sacred, because he will erect it "in some untrodden region of my mind" (51). Imagination is
limitless: the gardener called "Fancy," "who, breeding flowers, will never breed the same" (63), will
ensure that Psyche's imaginary place of worship will reach perfection. There will, of course, be an open
window that will allow her lover, Cupid, to enter.
Analysis of "Ode to Psyche":
In Greek mythology, Psyche was a mortal woman revered for her otherworldly beauty. Venus/Aphrodite,
the goddess of beauty and love, was incensed that people were overlooking her in favor of the mortal
Psyche; consequently, she asked her son, Cupid/Eros, to make Psyche fall in love with a beastly man. But
Cupid/Eros fell in love with Psyche himself and eventually married her. Psyche was made immortal and
became the "newest" member of the Greek mythological family.
Psyche represents love, so that "Ode to Psyche" could be seen as an ode to love itself. This work could
even be construed as a poem addressed to Keats' own love, Fanny Brawne, whose acquaintance he had
made around the time of the poem's composition. "Ode to Psyche" could also be an ode the soul, which
Psyche also represents. Though respected for such lyrical intensity and multi-faceted references, this
poem is not considered as strong a piece of art as Keats' other odes.
Keats' Poems and Letters "Ode to Psyche" and "Ode on Melancholy" Summary and Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 28
Structurally, the poem is composed of four verses of varying length and has an unpredictable rhyme
structure, features that place it in sharp contrast with other odes by Keats. The line count for verses 1-4 is
the following: 23, 12, 14, and 18. This may have been intentional on Keats' part, an effect that mimics
the disorientation of love. There is, however, abundant assonance; for example, in the second line,
"sweet" and "dear," and in line 10, "deepest" and "beneath." The third verse uses the device known
as anaphora, the repeated use of the same word in successive phrases, to rhetorically convey the absence
of worship for Psyche: "Temple thou hast none,/ Nor altar heap'd with flowers;/ Nor virgin-choir..."
(28-31), nor "voice, "lute," pipe," "incense," "shrine," etc. Much like "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode on
a Grecian Urn", this poem takes up the opposing realities of fleshly life and of the mind/soul.
In order to ensure that Psyche receives the most perfect worship, Keats promises to build her a temple (a
"fane") in "some untrodden region of my mind" (51). The final stanza describes this world, where
"branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,/ Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind" (52-53)
and "a rosy sanctuary will I dress/ With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain" (59-60). Keats is thus
making a direct comparison beteween the process of thought itself and "the ideal." However, this poem,
unlike his others on similar real-versus-ideal themes, is not cynical -- at least not straightforwardly --
about the impossibility of achieving an ideal state. Instead, "Ode to Psyche" ends on a soft note: "a
casement [window] ope [open] at night,/ To let the warm Love in!" (66-67). "Love" here is a likely
reference to Cupid/Eros, Psyche's husband.
Summary of "Ode on Melancholy":
"Ode on Melancholy" is written in iambic pentameter with varying rhyme schemes. The first stanza is a
list of ways that one might escape "melancholy," or depression, through suicide: the poisonous Wolf's
bane, nightshade, and yew berry plants. The writer exhorts the melancholic reader not to indulge in any
of these. Instead, in the second stanza, he encourages readers to "glut" their sorrow (15) on objects of
beauty: morning roses, rainbows, peonies, or even the beautiful, angry eyes of a mistress. In the third
stanza, Keats notes that pleasure, delight, and joy are all inextricably intertwined with melancholy;
positive emotions cannot be experienced without negatives. Rather than feeling sadness at this revelation,
Keats finds it a beautiful construct.
Analysis of "Ode on Melancholy":
Keats addresses the reader directly from the outset: "No, no! Go not to Lethe, neither twist/ Wolf's-bane,
tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine" (1-2). In the first stanza, he lists various ways that people might
escape pain or melancholy through death, prefacing each method with a negative exhortation. He would
prefer that the reader not attempt to drown the "wakeful anguish of the soul" (10). Although the present
may be painful, it is at least "wakeful" -- that is, alive.
Keats' narration speaks of melancholy "fits" that strike people and come from "heaven" (11-12), and
encourages the reader to view phenomena with melancholic eyes instead of hiding from such moods.
Melancholy can imbue the already-beautiful with even more beauty. A "morning rose" (15) can only be
viewed for a few hours at most, and Keats' typical emphasis on the passing of time heightens the
perception of beauty. He also uses metaphor to describe April clouds and rain as forming "a shroud" (14).
The stanza ends with a lover showing "rich anger," and Keats encourages the reader to, while the lover
is "raving," observe the beauty of her eyes. In the next stanza, he writes, "She dwells with Beauty --
Beauty that must die" (21); "she" refers, at once, to the aforementioned mistress and to melancholy itself.
In the third stanza, Keats describes where melancholy can be found: in beauty, pleasure, joy, and delight.
This poem, more than most of Keats' others, typifies the poet's stance on the nature of happiness and
pleasure, pain and melancholy. It is the fleeting nature of life and of beauty that amplifies beauty; joy
itself is an "aching Pleasure" (23).
Throughout "Ode on Melancholy", Keats was likely influenced by Robert Burton's 1621 collection of
essays, Anatomy of Melancholy, which exhaustively analyzes the melancholic mood. This poem, with its
love of the tragic, reflects Keats at the height of his Romantic persona.
Keats' Poems and Letters "La Belle Dame Sans
Merci" and "Ode on Indolence" Summary and
Analysis
Summary of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci":
Written in the style of a ballad, a Medieval genre of poetry, and using comparatively sparse language,
Keats' poem tells the story of a knight-at-arms who suffers under the spell of a mysterious lady. The
poem is written using "ballad stanzas": quatrains composed of iambic tetrameter and trimeter lines; every
stanza ends with a line of four or five syllables. The first two stanzas of the poem address the knight in
second person -- "What can ail thee?" The knight is alone, ill-looking and confused. He appears to be
dying -- "on thy cheeks a fading rose/ Fast Withereth too" (11-12). The setting of the poem appears to be
late autumn or early winter; the first stanza concludes with the statement that "The sedge [marsh
vegetation] has withered from the lake/ and no birds sing!" (3-4), and stanza II with the declaration that
"the harvest's done" (8).
In stanza III, the knight explains how he came to be in this state: he met a beautiful lady in a field, and
she seemed to love him. He took her up on his steed, and as they rode together she sang "a faery's song"
(24) to him. She gave him roots, honey, and manna (heavenly bread, as in the Old Testament), and told
him she loved him before taking him to her "elfin grot," or cave. It is unclear what happened in the cave,
but she wept and sighed before lulling him to sleep.
The knight then had nightmares of "pale kings and Princes too" (37), who were "death pale" (38) and
warned the knight that he was "in thrall" (40) to the woman, whom they called "La belle dame sans
merci" (39). Keats's knight woke on a hillside, and now finds himself in a liminal, sickly state: another
victim of this faery woman.
Analysis of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci":
It is worth noting, again, that Keats wrote this poem in the style of a Medieval ballad; he even often uses
words and phrases that were no longer in circulation in his time -- "mead," "grot," "woe-betide." He
appears to want to revive the stark emotional storytelling that went out of fashion after the Age of
Reason (or Enlightenment) became paramount in the 17th and 18th centuries. Already, British Romantics
Samuel Coleridge and Williams Wordsworth had published Lyrical Ballads in 1798, beginning a revival
of ballad-style poetry; Keats, in writing this poem, appears to want to contribute to this revival.
Keats' Poems and Letters "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and "Ode on Indolence" Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 31
Thematically, the poem addresses the perils of love -- especially superficial love -- and comments on the
ephemerality of such "love." The "Belle Dame Sans Merci" bestows something like love on the knight at
arms, but ultimately withdraws it. She does not seem to be aware of what she herself desires; she is, after
all, a "faery's child" (14) and speaks "in language strange" (27), suggesting that she is not quite human.
The "grot" to which she brings the knight could be seen as a representation of an underworld of the mind,
where dreams and love dwell. In this case, Keats is not depicting the idealized world of the nightingale or
of Psyche's temple, but a world of pure nightmares, which stem from the loss of a love-attachment.
"La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is one of the more musical of Keats' poems. In line 2, he describes the
knight as "alone and palely loitering;" the consonance (vowel repetition) of the "l" sound recalls singing.
"Ail thee" (1) internally rhymes with "palely" (2), drawing attention to the knight's state. The poem also
repeats a number of words: paleness (denoting sickness and love-sickness) is mentioned five times; the
word "wild" is used in connection with the lady's eyes three times (lines 16 and 31). And the same phrase
opens and closes the poem: the knight is "palely loitering,/ Though the sedge has withered from the
Lake/ And no birds sing."
Summary of "Ode on Indolence":
The narrator, ensconced in a "blissful cloud of summer-indolence" (16), is lounging one morning when
he sees three figures pass him by. They are holding hands and are moving in profile, and this vision
recalls for the narrator a scene from a Grecian urn. The figures then pass again -- as one may see an
illustration repeated if a Grecian urn is rotated. Yet the narrator is angry, since the figures arrived so
surreptitiously and have ruined what might have otherwise been a perfectly indolent day.
In the third stanza, which describes the third time the figures pass by, the narrator recognizes them: one is
Love, the second is Ambition, and the third is Poesy (poetry). In the fourth stanza, he writes that he
"wanted wings" (31) so that he could follow them, but he recognizes that this is "folly" (32). Love is
undefinable and hard to come by. Ambition is but a "short fever-fit" (34), ultimately useless. And poetry
is not as satisfying as "drowsy noons,/ And evenings steep'd in honey'd indolence" (36-37).
In stanza five, the figures come by again, and the narrator asks, "Wherefore?" (41) -- "Why?" He had
been enjoying a sleep "embroider'd with dim dreams" (42) and a pleasant state of mind. In the sixth and
final stanza, he bids the "three Ghosts, adieu!" (51), assuring them that they cannot drag him out of
indolence, because he is immune to praise and cannot be motivated by it.
Analysis of "Ode on Indolence":
Keats has designed his narrator to be unresponsive to the promise of love, or to the lures of ambition
and poetry. Obviously, the fact that this poem was written indicates that Keats' desire to avoid
productivity and poetry has not ultimately been successful; his creative energy is decidedly active, even
when he is describing an aggressively "indolent" state.
The first stanza echoes Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by bringing up "Phidian lore" (1); Phidias was the
sculptor who created ancient Greek statuary (including the statue of Zeus at Olympia). In another parallel
with the earlier ode, Keats employs apostrophe (addressing an abstract or absent person or thing) in the
second stanza: "How is it, Shadows! that I knew ye not?" (11). In this stanza, he goes on to describe the
world that these figures are disturbing:
"Ripe was the drowsy hour;
The blissful cloud of summer-indolence
Benumb'd my eyes; my pulse grew less and less;
Pain had no sting, and pleasure's wreath no flower" (15-19)
This state echoes the drugged state that opens "Ode to a Nightingale". It is in this state that Keats is able
to access the "Negative Capability" he describes in one of his letters; he can have complete access to
sensuousness and beauty, without "the voice of busy common-sense" (40) imposing a philosophical or
logical structure on his experiences. He wishes that the figures would "melt," but they are stubborn and
visit a few times more.
This poem suggests the persistence of creative and poetic energy in the narrator's soul, despite his
protests. Indolence is, in the end, a bountiful source of poetic inspiration.
Keats' Poems and Letters "To Autumn", "On
the Sonnet", and "Bright Star" Summary and
Analysis
Summary of "To Autumn":
This is an ode that extolls the beauty and fullness of autumn. The first stanza describes how autumn, a
"season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" (1), conspires with the sun to fill up vines and trees with fruit
and to help produce various crops. In the second stanza, Keats likens various people working at the end-
of-autumn harvest to the season itself: a granary-worker, a reaper in the field asleep, a "gleaner" (one
who gathers grain after it has been reaped), and a worker at a cider-press. In the third stanza, Keats
rhetorically asks, "Where are the songs of Spring?" (23), but tells the reader not to think of these
melodies. Autumn itself possesses the beautiful songs of "the soft-dying day" (25), the mourning song of
the gnats, the bleating of lambs, the singing of crickets, and the songs of "the redbreast" and swallows.
Analysis of "To Autumn":
As opposed to Keats' "Ode on Melancholy", for example, this poem does not describe a quest or a
challenge; rather, "To Autumn" is composed of quiet, staid musings on a beautiful season. Structurally,
this poem is written in three eleven-line stanzas of rhyming iambic pentameter. In the beginning of each
stanza, Keats declares a theme, and over the ensuing lines presents varying examples of that theme. The
first stanza is primarily one of activity. Autumn and the sun conspire to “load and bless with fruit” (3-4)
the vines, “bend with apples” (5) the trees, “swell the gourd” and “plump the hazel shells" (7). This is a
picture of abundance and of the fruits of hard work.
In stanza II, Keats uses personification to describe autumn (thought, by some critics, to be represented as
a goddess) in the forms of humans at various tasks. The softness of autumn is echoed in a grainer's hair
"soft-lifted by the winnowing wind" (15). The next example, of a reaper asleep at the task "while thy
hook/ Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers" (17-18), makes reference to living creatures being
"spared" death. (This theme is also represented in this poem by the coming winter.) The passage of time,
always at the forefront of Keats' mind, is referred to as the worker at a cider-press watches "the last
oozings, hours by hours" (21-22). This image could be seen as evoking the last moments before winter,
or even death, arrives.
By asking the rhetorical questions “Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?” (23) in the
opening of stanza III, Keats leads the reader to briefly think of the arguably fairer season. But he
ultimately argues that “thou [autumn] hast thy music too” (24). The "music" he describes is not always
Keats' Poems and Letters "To Autumn", "On the Sonnet", and "Bright Star" Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 34
straightforwardly happy. Gnats "mourn" in "a wailful choir" (27) and their numbers sink or float
depending on whether "the light wind lives or dies" (29). (Again, Keats' imagery echoes both the death of
the season and physical mortality.) Keats assures us, however, that winter has not come yet, and that the
world is still very much vital as "gathering swallows twitter in the skies" (33) in anticipation of their
migration. He seems here to favor equanimity in the face of mortality, encouraging the readers to savor
rich autumn for as long as they can.
Summary of "On the Sonnet":
The narrator decries the fact that the sonnet (and other formal poetry) "constrains" (4) English with "dull
rhymes" (1). He likens "fetter'd" (3) English here to Andromeda, an ancient Greek mythological figure
who was chained to a rock as a sacrificial offering to the sea god Poseidon. The narrator suggests that, "if
we must be constrain'd" (4), we can at least find a form of poetry which suitably fits "the naked foot of
Poesy"(6). He suggests that we should use the Lyre as a musical example and that, as in music, we
should "weigh the stress/ Of every chord" (7-8) to make sure poetry is pleasing to the ear. He also
suggests that we be careful with "sound and syllable" (10) -- as careful as the parsimonious King Midas
with his gold -- to ensure that no sound is wasted. Finally, in finding a more fitting poetic form, we can
make sure that the Muse (poetry) will "be bound with garlands of her own" (14).
Analysis of "On the Sonnet":
Although this poem is ostensibly critical of the sonnet, it generally adheres to a sonnet structure, using
fourteen lines of rhyming iambic pentameter. The poem starts out with an AB rhyme scheme, suggesting
that it will be either a Shakespearean or a Petrarchan sonnet. However, the third line is a C, a rhyme not
in concord with the initial two. Keats repeats this surprising pattern in the next three lines: ABD. He
subtly subverts the traditional sonnet structure in this way.
By mentioning the Lyre, Keats invites the reader to dwell on the aural qualities of poetry, much as
a musician weighs each chord. In lines 7-9, Keats uses enjambment (the continuation of a thought across
two or more lines before reaching an end-stop) to hold the reader in suspense. By suggesting that we "be/
Jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown" (11-12), he compares modern poetry to older verse; his
suggestion is that we may not be able to surpass past poetic achievements. Keats concludes that there is
no way to write poetry without some formal constraint. The final four lines of the poem, with their
traditional DE DE rhyme structure, represent this shift in opinion. He is, ultimately and despite his earlier
protests, establishing himself as part of the sonnet-writing tradition.
Summary of "Bright Star":
The narrator wishes that he were as "stedfast" -- as unchanging -- as a star. A star is "hung aloft" (2) in
the sky, watching the natural processes of the earth with "eternal lids apart" (3). The narrator describes
what a star's view of the world would be: the "moving waters" (5) of oceans and rivers, snow-capped
mountaintops, and valleys also covered in snow. However, rather than be a distant spectator of the world,
the narrator would be pleased to stay, unchanged, in the arms of his love. He would rather have his head
"pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast" (10), and observe "its soft swell and fall" (11) as his
lover breathes, than find himself anywhere else.
Analysis of "Bright Star":
Keats may well have written this poem with Fanny Brawne in mind; in an 1819 letter to her, Keats had
written the following: "I will pray, pray, pray to your star like a Hethen." The poem addresses the
competing themes of remoteness and coldness versus closeness and warmth, the unchangeable versus
objects in flux, and the lived world versus the imagined world.
The "star" that Keats describes is most likely Polaris, the North Star, the only one that remains unmoving
in the sky. It is described in "lone splendor" and its task -- watching the natural processes of the earth as
they continue -- itself sounds cold and lonely. Keats employs religious language at several points: the
waters of the earth are engaged in a "priestlike task" (5) of ablution, and the "new soft-fallen mask/ Of
snow upon the mountains and the moors" (8-9) replaces the earth's soiledness with whiteness (purity).
These natural processes are described with some sense of detachment. The star itself is personified as
"nature's...Eremite" (4), a religious hermit.
In opposition to this rather sterile world, the narrator describes the mortal world as being constantly in
flux: his love's breast is "ripening" (10), which signals a constantly changing state. Further, as he listens
to her breathing, he is in a state of "sweet unrest" (12), a typical Keatsian paradox. While the star has no
choice in keeping its "eternal lids apart" (3) -- since everything about the star is metaphorically frozen in
place -- the narrator, a mortal, is legitimately "awake" (12) to his love.
Keats' Poems and Letters Letter to J.H.
Reynolds (3 May 1818), Letter to Richard
Woodhouse (17 October 1818), and Letter to
George and Tom Keats (21 December 1817)
Summary and Analysis
Summary and Analysis of Letter to J.H. Reynolds (3 May 1818):
The letter begins by talking about the acquisition of knowledge. The more you acquire, the more you
realize that every area of study -- "every department" -- is in the service of a "great" general whole. Keats
is, therefore, happy that he kept his medical books, so that he can continue to study them from time to
time. He then notes that knowledge balances one during experiences of "high Sensations" -- i.e.
emotional upheaval.
Keats notes that Reynolds seems to be making his way through the same mental/emotional "labyrinth"
that he (Keats) has explored, except that Reynolds appears to have been experiencing even more dismal
emotions. Wordsworth has been a help for Keats in this area. Calling forth another famed English poet,
Keats wonders whether John Milton's comparatively "less anxiety for Humanity" is a result of his not
seeing as far as the "epically passionate" Wordsworth. Wordsworth's humanity-bound philosophy seems
to have personally resonated with Keats, as Keats writes, "Axioms in philosophy are not axioms until
they are proved upon our pulses." Mentioning Byron's adage, "Knowledge is sorrow" (a sentiment
which, after all, goes back to the Hebrew Bible), Keats takes the idea of knowledge a couple of steps
further, arguing that "Sorrow is wisdom" and that "Wisdom is folly."
As a way of showing "how tall I [Keats] stand by the giant [Wordsworth]," Keats describes his view of
"human life" (although his view seems mainly to be a reflection of intellectual life only). Life is a
"Mansion of Many Apartments," of which Keats knows only two. The first is the "infant or thoughtless
chamber," where we remain as long as we do not think. Eventually, through the "awakening of the
thinking principle within us," we continue on to the second chamber, "Maiden Thought." At first, we
are enchanted with the "light" of new knowledge. However, with that knowledge comes increasingly
sharp awareness of "the heart and nature of Man." We learn that "the World is full of Misery and
Heartbreak, Pain, Sickness and oppression." The room darkens then, and the doors begin to open, but it is
impossible to tell now where any of them lead. This, naturally, leads to a feeling of disorientation, as "in
a Mist." Such is "the burden of the Mystery."
Keats' Poems and Letters Letter to J.H. Reynolds (3 May 1818), Letter to Richard Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 37
Keats believed that Wordsworth had certainly reached the second chamber and been led beyond by his
curiosity. He points out that Wordsworth's poem "Tintern Abbey" retraces this intellectual journey.
"Tintern Abbey", for its part, is a poem about the inevitable passage of time. Wordsworth returns to a
beloved place from childhood and reflects on how his memory of the place, over the past five years, has
helped him cope with unpleasant feelings about the chaos of the world. Wordsworth himself describes
what he calls "the burden of the mystery" as the "heavy and the weary weight/ Of all this unintelligible
world." Keats suggests that it may not be Wordsworth's individual genius that allows him to be "deeper"
than Milton; it may be a function of the different eras in which they were writing. Milton, who wrote in
the seventeenth century, was writing in the midst of the Age of Enlightenment that followed the schism
between the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. He wrote during a time when "Men had got hold
of certain points and resting places in reasoning which were too newly born to be doubted."
Because "Milton, as a Philosopher, had sure as great powers of Wordsworth," Keats concludes that "a
mighty providence subdues the mightiest minds to the service of the time being, whether it be in human
knowledge or Religion." In other words, a writer's mode of thought is undoubtedly shaped, and in some
cases repressed, by his or her environment.
Summary and Analysis of Letter to Richard Woodhouse (27 October 1818):
First, Keats describes the "poetical character itself," which is marked by its not having a character and a
sense of self. The poet is like a "cameleon" (chameleon) which reflects whatever environment it finds
itself in. Bound up with this, the poet speculates on positive as well as negative things, and does no harm,
because the poet's ultimate aim is speculation itself. Keats argues, somewhat paradoxically, that "A poet
is the most unpoetical thing in existence, because he has no Identity." He writes that he himself has an
almost "porous" relationship to other people: when he is socializing, "the identity of every one in the
room begins to so press upon me that I am...annihilated." He goes on to say that this phenomenon is not
limited to his interactions with adults; he would be the same when spending time among children.
Keats then speaks of his ambition "to do the world some good." He hopes to "be spared" from illness,
since he thinks that his most ambitious work will come in his "maturer years." He also writes that it is not
admiration or acclaim which pushes him to do his work; it is "the mere yearning and fondness I have for
the Beautiful" that propels him. But, as a "chameleon poet" himself, he points out that "even now I am
not speaking from myself."
Summary and Analysis of Letter to George and Tom Keats (21 December 1817):
In this letter, for the first and only time, Keats mentions his now-famous theory of negative capability.
This capability is described as "when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without
any irritable reaching after fact and reason." Keats mentions the poet Coleridge as an example of
someone without this capability, someone who, because he was "incapable of remaining content with
half knowledge," would let a "fine isolated verisimilitude" (truth) go by in pursuit of a higher logical
system.
Keats did not favor such a reductive approach; he himself was more inclined to pursue what he called
“the beautiful” without feeling any special need to place it within a higher rational or logical system. He
would encourage poets to be purely receptive and to "negate" themselves in order to "receive" the
beautiful and poetic. The objective is to fuse emotional intensity with the object, so that the object
becomes representative of the emotion -- as in Keats' odes, such as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ode to
a Nightingale". The origin of the term negative capability is not clear, but some scholars have suggested
that Keats' education in chemistry and medicine may have influenced him. The "negative pole" of an
electric current is passive and receptive, much as the ideal poet is.
Keats' Poems and Letters Henry Meynell
Rheam's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
A 1901 watercolor rendering of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", by English painter Henry Meynell Rheam.
Note that the bleak atmosphere of the poem is reflected in the gloomy chromatic choices in the painting.
Rheam has also included a visual depiction of one of the other "pale kings and Princes too" (37) who has
fallen to the Belle Dame's charm.
Keats' Poems and Letters Henry Meynell Rheam's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 40
Keats' Poems and Letters Frank Dicksee's "La
Belle Dame Sans Merci"
English painter Frank Dicksee painted this depiction of "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" in oil in 1901. Note
how Dicksee uses the knight's pose to hint at the knight's helplessness. He does not translate Keats'
poetry quite as directly as Rheams does; there are no visual indications here of the "Belle Dame's" true
intentions.
Keats' Poems and Letters Frank Dicksee's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 41
Keats' Poems and Letters Compose a Sonnet in
the Style of Keats
Keats used the sonnet form to compose many of his poems. He commonly used the Shakespearean/
English sonnet form, as well as the Italian Petrarchan sonnet.
A sonnet is typically composed in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a type of meter in which the
ten syllables employed in each line are divided into five pairs ("iambs" or "iambic feet"). The second
beat of each iamb is stressed.
Shakespearean sonnets are fourteen lines long. The first twelve lines are divided into three stanzas of
four lines each: three quatrains. The rhyme scheme of these initial stanzas is: ABAB CDCD EFEF. The
sonnet closes with a final rhyming couplet (GG). The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into a rhyming octave,
ABBAABBA, and a rhyming sestet, CDCDCD.
Write your own sonnet in the tradition of Keats, using one or more of his thematic elements: romantic
love, the dominance of quickly-changing moods, the interplay of mortality and timelessness, and the
search for beauty.
Keats' Poems and Letters Compose a Sonnet in the Style of Keats Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 42
Keats' Poems and Letters Links
Romantic Circles
http://www.rc.umd.edu/
Organized by the University of Maryland, this website is devoted to the study of Romantic literature and
its greatest figures.
John Keats
http://www.john-keats.com/
This website is full of Keats' poetry and letters, as well as a multitude of facts about Keats himself.
English History: John Keats
http://englishhistory.net/keats/contents.html
This corner of the English History website is replete with texts of Keats' letters, biographical
information, and more.
Fun Trivia: John Keats
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz2640561e3b548.html
A short quiz on Keats biography and criticism.
The Keats-Shelley House
http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/
Information about the Keats-Shelley House in Rome, a site dedicated to the lives of these two poets.
City of London: The Keats House
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/attractions-around-london/keats-house/Pages/default.aspx
Keats' Poems and Letters Links Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 43

Information about the Keats house (which Keats shared with Fanny Brawne and her family) in
Hampstead Heath, London.
Keats' Poems and Letters Links Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 44

Keats' Poems and Letters Essay Questions
1. In "Ode to Psyche", what does Keats offer to build for Psyche? What is special about his
construction, and how does it reflect his worldview?
Keats, or the poet-protagonist, comes across Psyche and Cupid embracing in a forest. Keats is
sympathetic to Psyche because, as a Greek goddess who was once mortal, she does not enjoy
any temples or direct worship. To correct this, Keats offers to "be thy [her] priest," and build a
temple for her himself. He will build this temple and all its accoutrements in his mind, where the
temple will be permanent, unsullied, and idyllic. This goal reflects Keats' fixation on the
Romantic "ideal," which often surpasses its worldly counterpart.
2. How does "Ode on Melancholy" reflect a paradox?
"Ode on Melancholy" is about the intertwined relationship of pleasure and pain. Joy cannot be
experienced without the experience of its opposite, and the beauty of mortality lies in the fleeting
nature of life itself. Keats saw joy in this paradoxical relationship, and encouraged readers to
accept the reality of such apparent contradictions.
3. What does the lady in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" represent?
The lady could represent the danger of falling in love: one loses track of one's emotional
whereabouts and, upon "waking up" from love, experiences the pain of a lost connection with
another person. (This is an especially likely outcome when, as the knight-at-arms of the poem
does, one falls in love with a stranger). This lost connection can render one "ill" and depressed. It
is unclear whether the lady is a malicious figure or not, but Keats also seems to be suggesting
that one should stay clear of people who are cunningly deceptive, or skilled in manipulation.
4. What devices does Keats use to describe the season in "To Autumn"?
Keats uses metaphor and personification to describe autumn. In the first stanza, autumn is
represented by the ripe fruit, full honeycomb, swollen gourds, and plump, sweet corn. In the
second stanza, Keats personifies the season autumn -- sometimes likened to a goddess in this
poem -- through the figures of the people working in the harvest. Lastly, in the final stanza,
autumn is represented by "songs" -- the songs of gnats, lambs, crickets, and birds. These songs
could be interpreted as melancholy, but Keats urges his readers to recognize the beauty of such
forms of expression.
Keats' Poems and Letters Essay Questions Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 45
5. What are some types of struggle exemplified in "The Eve of St. Agnes"? What are the
opposing forces in this poem?
"The Eve of St. Agnes" begins by depicting a devoutly religious, ascetic man in a church. He is
compared to the wealthy people who mass together and enjoy festivities. This contrast
exemplifies the struggle between religious observance/self-denial and the pleasures of food,
wine, and wealth. When Porphyro enters the chamber of the young virgin Madeline, she is a
little disappointed to see him "pallid, chill, and drear" (311) in reality, rather unlike the ideal
lover of her dreams. At the end of the poem, Madeline and Porphyro, having stolen away,
signify the satisfaction of earthly desires, while Angela (the elderly woman) and the Beadsman
are either dead or continuing on in cold religiosity, representing the disappointments of
asceticism.
6. What does the urn represent for Keats in "Ode on a Grecian Urn"?
For Keats, the images depicted on the surface of a Grecian urn -- lively, engaging, intriguing --
represent a kind of ideal world. It is ideal primarily because of its inability to be altered; Keats
envies this immortal reality. Love cannot fade; the young cannot age; even the ideal music
played in this scene -- the music of "unheard melodies" -- is somehow superior to what is
experienced in reality. This poem, like many of Keats' others, represents the struggle between the
ideal world of the imagination and the necessarily imperfect world of actuality.
7. What does the nightingale represent in "Ode to a Nightingale"?
The nightingale represents "the ideal," immortality, and perfection. Keats is overwhelmed
because he is "too happy in thy [the nightingale's] happiness" (6). In the mortal world, "but to
think is to be full of sorrow" (27) because of the inevitable passage of time and the arrival of
death. The nightingale, in contrast, "was not born for death, immortal Bird!" (61); it has sung the
same song across millennia.
8. What themes in "Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art" are typical of Keats?
Two major themes of this poem are the immortal versus the physical world and the nature of
romantic love. The world of the star represents immortality and the absence of change, while the
world of mortality -- exemplified in the "ripening breast" of the narrator's love -- is constantly in
flux. The narrator's time spent lying with his lover is necessarily transient, and as a state of
"sweet unrest" -- a paradox -- is typically Keatsian.
9. What type of cultural/religious figures does Keats repeatedly cite in his poetry? What
might his motivation be for doing so?
Keats makes frequent references to ancient Greek mythological figures and places in his poetry.
He likely does so in order to anchor his work in an ancient tradition, and to work within the
classicizing poetic traditions of his own day.
10. How does dreaminess play a role in Keats's poems, and what concept of his does such
dreaminess reflect?
Dreaminess -- a state that opens "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode on Indolence", among others --
facilitates the creative impulse. Negative capability, the pursuit of the beautiful and mysterious
in the absence of logical explanation, is also made possible by moods that are dreamy and
nonjudgmental.
Keats' Poems and Letters Quizzes
1. Who is Madeline's suitor in "The Eve of St. Agnes"?
A. Gladstone
B. Marcus
C. Mercurio
D. Porphyro
2. Who is praying at the beginning of "The Eve of St. Agnes"?

A. Churchgoers on Sunday
B. A nun
C. A Beadsman
D. A priest
3. What happens to the young virgins as described in "The Eve of St Agnes"?

A. They have dreams of their future husbands.
B. Their parents treat them to a celebration.
C. They get married.
D. They recite poems.
4. Who helps Porphyro in "The Eve of St. Agnes"?

A. Angela, the old maid
B. Prometheus
C. Bruno
D. Sir Leigh Hunt
5. Where does Porphyro hide in "The Eve of St. Agnes"?

A. Outside a window
B. Under a bed
C. Under a table
D. In a closet
6. What does Porphyro set out for Madeline in "The Eve of St. Agnes"?
A. Drums
B. A crown
C. A harpsichord
D. A feast
Keats' Poems and Letters Quizzes Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 48

7. What do Madeline and Porphyro do at the end of "The Eve of St. Agnes"?
A. They have a child.
B. They compose a song.
C. They escape together.
D. They are beheaded.
8. Where does the Beadsman sleep in "The Eve of St. Agnes"?

A. In ashes
B. In a doorway
C. In a pew
D. In a bed
9. Whom does Keats come across in "Ode to Psyche"?

A. Psyche and Zeus
B. Psyche and Persephone
C. Psyche and Cupid
D. Cupid and Venus
10. What physical feature do Cupid and Psyche have in "Ode to Psyche"?
A. Slippers
B. Wings
C. Halos
D. Books
11. What does Psyche NOT lack at the beginning of "Ode to Psyche"?
A. A religious choir
B. A father
C. A temple
D. An oracle
12. Who is Cupid's mother, who was jealous of Psyche?

A. Persephone
B. Venus
C. Diana
D. Demeter
13. Who is Proserpine?

A. Greek goddess of the underworld
B. Greek goddess of beauty
C. An ancient Egyptian queen
D. A Christian saint

14. What is Lethe?
A. A Greek mythological god
B. One of the rivers of Hades in Greek mythology
C. Heaven in Greek mythology
D. An ancient Greek prayer
15. Keats describes human life as "a mansion of many _______."

A. Apartments
B. Books
C. Dining rooms
D. Windows
16. Keats describes the first "chamber" of human life as "______."

A. Boring
B. Monotonous
C. Dreary
D. Thoughtless
17. Keats describes the "second chamber" of life as "_________."

A. Laziness
B. Poetical analysis
C. Religious indoctrination
D. Maiden thought
18. What is one negative realm of information that one learns about in "the second chamber"
of life?
A. The heart and nature of man
B. Astronomy
C. Religion
D. Physics
19. What is something that Keats does NOT say one learns about in "the second chamber?"
A. Sickness
B. Heartbreak
C. Gladness
D. Misery

20. When the other chamber doors in Keats's "mansion" theory open after the first two, what
do they show?
A. Stairways
B. Darkness
C. Light
D. Rainbows
21. How does Keats reply to Byron's idea that "knowledge is sorrow?"
A. "Sorrow is joy."
B. "Truth is beauty."
C. "Knowledge is beauty."
D. "Wisdom is folly."
22. Why does Wordsworth's philosophy surpass Milton's, according to Keats?

A. Because Milton lacked talent
B. Because it adheres to the age in which Wordsworth wrote
C. Because Wordsworth is a greater genius
D. Because Wordsworth is a superior wordsmith
23. Whom does Keats describe as "epically passionate?"

A. Coleridge
B. Wordsworth
C. Milton
D. J. H. Reynolds
24. Keats tells J. H. Reynolds that he's happy he saved his ____.
A. Medical books
B. First drafts of his poems
C. Old writing implements
D. Letters from Fanny
25. Keats writes that ______ balances one during a "high sensation."
A. Poetry
B. Knowledge
C. Character
D. Philosophy

Quiz 1 Answer Key
1. (D) Porphyro
2. (C) A Beadsman
3. (A) They have dreams of their future husbands.
4. (A) Angela, the old maid
5. (D) In a closet
6. (D) A feast
7. (C) They escape together.
8. (A) In ashes
9. (C) Psyche and Cupid
10. (B) Wings
11. (B) A father
12. (B) Venus
13. (A) Greek goddess of the underworld
14. (B) One of the rivers of Hades in Greek mythology
15. (A) Apartments
16. (D) Thoughtless
17. (D) Maiden thought
18. (A) The heart and nature of man
19. (C) Gladness
20. (B) Darkness
21. (D) "Wisdom is folly."
22. (B) Because it adheres to the age in which Wordsworth wrote
23. (B) Wordsworth
24. (A) Medical books
25. (B) Knowledge

1. What poem does Keats use as an example of Wordsworth's depth?
A. "An Evening Walk, Addressed to a Young Lady"
B. "[Lines composed a few miles above] Tintern Abbey"
C. "Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known"
D. "To My Sister"
2. Which bird is a symbol of eternity for Keats?

A. The sparrow
B. The swan
C. The robin
D. The nightingale
3. In "Ode to a Nightingale", Keats writes, "Now more than ever it seems ____ to die!"
A. Terrible
B. Rich
C. Melancholic
D. Exciting
4. In "Ode to a Nightingale", what that Keats doesn't see in his own world exists in the world
of "Poesy?"
A. Sparrows
B. Clouds
C. Ladies
D. Moonlight
5. In "Ode to a Nightingale", the narrator senses that he is surrounded by _______.

A. Children
B. Leopards
C. Flowers and plants
D. His siblings
6. In "Ode to a Nightingale", the narrator feels _____ in the first stanza.

A. Melancholy
B. Angry
C. Aggressive
D. Drugged

7. Whom does Keats NOT specify as someone who has heard the nightingale sing?
A. Ruth
B. An ancient emperor
C. An ancient clown
D. Moses
8. In "Ode to a Nightingale", Keats compares "fancy" to "_________."

A. A woodland creature
B. A rose
C. A happy dream
D. A deceiving elf
9. What item from Greek mythology does Keats NOT mention in "Ode to a Nightingale"?
A. Dryads
B. Medusa
C. The Hippocrene
D. Bacchus
10. Name the source poem: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/ Are sweeter."
A. "Ode to Psyche"
B. "Ode to a Nightingale"
C. "On the Sonnet"
D. "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
11. What leaves one with "a burning forehead, and a parching tongue" in "Ode on a Grecian
Urn"?
A. Human passion
B. Literature
C. Prayer
D. Immortal bliss
12. What animal is led to sacrificial slaughter in "Ode on a Grecian Urn"?

A. A peacock
B. A ram
C. A goat
D. A heifer

13. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" concludes with the statement that "_____ is Truth, Truth
_______."
A. Wisdom
B. Fashion
C. Beauty
D. Friendship
14. What phrase does the narrator NOT use to describe the urn in "Ode on a Grecian Urn"?
A. "Bride of quietness"
B. "Foster-child of Silence"
C. "Sylvan historian"
D. "Maiden of Zeus"
15. What does the Grecian urn represent?

A. Religious confession
B. Material wealth
C. An unchanging eternity
D. Multicultural understanding
16. Which scene is NOT depicted on the Grecian urn?

A. Music being played
B. Lovers beneath a tree
C. A soldier being knighted
D. A religious sacrifice
17. "Ode to a Nightingale" includes the line, "But to think is to be full of ______."
A. Sorrow
B. Melancholy
C. Joy
D. Surprise
18. In "Ode to a Nightingale", "Haply ______ is on her throne."

A. The Queen-Moon
B. Persephone
C. Venus
D. Queen Anne
19. The narrator tells the nightingale, "Thou wast not born for _____!"
A. Sadness
B. Gladness
C. Singing
D. Death

20. What does a poet resemble for Keats?
A. A mouse
B. A cow
C. A peacock
D. A chameleon
21. What is "the most unpoetical thing in existence" for Keats?

A. A rose
B. Religion
C. Love
D. A poet's character
22. According to Keats' letters, what happens when Keats socializes?

A. He always finds "new reserves of dislike."
B. He does not enjoy himself.
C. Everyone else's identity "annihilates him."
D. He gets sick.
23. In his letters, Keats writes that his "yearning and fondness for ____" compel him to write
poetry.
A. Language
B. Imagery
C. Human connection
D. The Beautiful
24. Complete the line: "They cried, 'La belle dame sans merci/ ________.'"
A. Is on her way
B. Thee hath in thrall
C. She is evil
D. She does not exist
25. At what time of year does "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" take place?
A. Late summer
B. Early summer
C. Late autumn
D. Early spring

Quiz 2 Answer Key
1. (B) "[Lines composed a few miles above] Tintern Abbey"
2. (D) The nightingale
3. (B) Rich
4. (D) Moonlight
5. (C) Flowers and plants
6. (D) Drugged
7. (D) Moses
8. (D) A deceiving elf
9. (B) Medusa
10. (D) "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
11. (A) Human passion
12. (D) A heifer
13. (C) Beauty
14. (D) "Maiden of Zeus"
15. (C) An unchanging eternity
16. (C) A soldier being knighted
17. (A) Sorrow
18. (A) The Queen-Moon
19. (D) Death
20. (D) A chameleon
21. (D) A poet's character
22. (C) Everyone else's identity "annihilates him."
23. (D) The Beautiful
24. (B) Thee hath in thrall
25. (C) Late autumn

1. Which word or phrase is NOT used to describe the knight-at-arms in "La Belle Dame Sans
Merci"?
A. "Sprightly"
B. "Woe-begone"
C. "Palely loitering"
D. "Alone"
2. Whom does the knight encounter in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. A victorious knight
B. A lost princess
C. A lady in the meads
D. A young pageboy
3. The Lady's eyes are described as "_____" in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci".
A. Blue
B. Wild
C. Unusually small
D. Diamonds
4. Where does the knight "set" the Lady in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. On his steed
B. On the floor
C. In a chair
D. By a fireplace
5. Where does the Lady take the knight in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. To dreamy glade
B. To a tree-house
C. To her elfin fort
D. To the sea
6. What does the Lady sing in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. A ditty
B. A faery song
C. An operetta
D. A ballad

7. What phrase does Keats NOT use to indicate the season in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. "The sedge has withered from the lake"
B. "The harvest's done"
C. "No birds sing"
D. "Midsummer's Eve"
8. What food does the Lady NOT bring the knight in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. Manna dew
B. Honey wild
C. Roots of relish
D. Homely cake
9. What does the Lady say to the knight in "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"?
A. "I love thee true"
B. "Be gone!"
C. "Depart my grotto"
D. "I am but a faery"
10. In "On the Sonnet", English is "chain'd" like ______ in formal poetry.
A. Zeus
B. Andromeda
C. Persephone
D. Sisyphus
11. In "On the Sonnet", the narrator wants us to find "sandals more interwoven and
complete" to fit the foot of _____.
A. Happiness
B. Truth
C. Social dicta
D. Poesy
12. In "On the Sonnet", the narrator suggests that we should inspect the ____ as a guide to
writing poetry.
A. Guitar
B. Lyre
C. Violin
D. Mandolin

13. The narrator of "On the Sonnet" suggests that we "weigh the stress of every _____" in
poetry.
A. Chord
B. Idea
C. Syllable
D. Line
14. Which one is NOT one of the three figures in "Ode on Indolence"?
A. Love
B. Dreams
C. Ambition
D. Poesy
15. In "Ode on Indolence", whom does the narrator "love more, the more of blame/ Is heap'd
upon her?"
A. Poesy
B. A fair maiden
C. Ambition
D. Love
16. Name the source poem: "Ye cannot raise/ My head cool-bedded in the flowery grass;/ For I
would not be dieted with praise."
A. "Ode to a Nightingale"
B. "The Eve of St. Agnes"
C. "Ode on Indolence"
D. "Ode to Psyche"
17. Which word is NOT used to describe the characters the narrator encounters in "Ode on
Indolence"?
A. Women
B. Ghosts
C. Figures
D. Shadows
18. What is described as "A man's little heart's short fever-fit" in "Ode on Indolence"?
A. Anger
B. Ambition
C. Poesy
D. Love

19. Which is NOT a phrase used to describe the narrator's environment in "Ode on
Indolence"?
A. "My soul had been a lawn besprinkled o'er/ With flowers"
B. "Blissful cloud of summer-indolence"
C. "My sense/ Unhaunted quite of all but -- nothingness"
D. "A garden of rain"
20. Name the source poem: "No -- yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,/ Pillow'd upon my fair
love's ripening breast."
B. "On the Sonnet"
C. "Ode to Psyche"
D. "Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art"
21. What or who is described as "nature's patient, sleepless Eremite?"

A. Fanny Brawne
B. Psyche
C. Venus
D. The "Bright Star" of the titular poem
22. Whom does Keats use as an example of someone without "Negative Capability?"
A. Byron
B. Shelley
C. Wordsworth
D. Coleridge
23. For Keats, what should be the poet's foremost consideration?

A. Beauty
B. Lyricism
C. Religious truth
D. Rhyme
24. What is "Negative Capability?"

A. The capability of being hopelessly lazy
B. A lack of talent
C. The capability of being comfortable in uncertainty
D. The capability of being willing to perform evil deeds

25. What is a "Dryad?"
A. A mermaid
B. A sea sprite
C. A handmaid of Venus
D. A tree nymph

Quiz 3 Answer Key
1. (A) "Sprightly"
2. (C) A lady in the meads
3. (B) Wild
4. (A) On his steed
5. (C) To her elfin fort
6. (B) A faery song
7. (D) "Midsummer's Eve"
8. (D) Homely cake
9. (A) "I love thee true"
10. (B) Andromeda
11. (D) Poesy
12. (B) Lyre
13. (A) Chord
14. (B) Dreams
15. (A) Poesy
16. (C) "Ode on Indolence"
17. (A) Women
18. (B) Ambition
19. (D) "A garden of rain"
20. (D) "Bright Star, would I were stedfast as thou art"
21. (D) The "Bright Star" of the titular poem
22. (D) Coleridge
23. (A) Beauty
24. (C) The capability of being comfortable in uncertainty
25. (D) A tree nymph

1. Who is a likely inspiration for "Bright Star"?
A. Queen Victoria
B. Fanny Brawne
C. Keats' sister, Fanny
D. Mary Shelley
2. In 1821, Keats died of ______.

A. Tuberculosis
B. Syphilis
C. Scurvy
D. Leprosy
3. Who championed Keats during his lifetime?

A. Churchill
B. Shakespeare
C. W.H. Auden
D. Leigh Hunt
4. Who or what is described as "sitting careless on a granary floor?"

A. Venus
B. Psyche
C. Madeline
D. Autumn
5. What word describes the choir of gnats in "To Autumn"?

A. Wailful
B. Loud
C. Baleful
D. Cheerful
6. Which species is NOT part of autumn's "music" in "To Autumn"?

A. Hedge-crickets
B. Dogs
C. Gnats
D. Lambs

7. Complete the phrase: "When the _____ fit shall fall/ Sudden from heaven like a weeping
cloud..."
A. Perturbed
B. Angry
C. Melancholy
D. Sad
8. In "Ode to Melancholy", whose "hand is ever at his lips/ Bidding adieu"?

A. Music
B. Poetry
C. Joy
D. Courtesy
9. Whose "peerless eyes" should be gazed into, in "Ode on Melancholy"?

A. An angry mistress's
B. God's
C. One's own
D. A schoolmaster's
10. Name the source poem: "She dwells with Beauty -- Beauty that must die..."
A. "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
B. "On the Sonnet"
C. "Ode to Psyche"
D. "Ode on Melancholy"
11. Which plant is NOT mentioned in the opening stanza of "To Autumn"?
A. Flowers
B. Gourds
C. Apple trees
D. Wolf's bane
12. What is the Hippocrene?

A. A Greek mythological river
B. A Greek mythological fountain
C. A river valley
D. A library
13. Name the source poem: "Tender is the night, and haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne."
B. "On the Sonnet"
C. "Ode on Melancholy"
D. "When I have fears that I may cease to be"

14. Name the source poem: "Now more than ever it seems rich to die...while thou art pouring
forth thy soul abroad/ In such an ecstasy!"
B. "Ode to Psyche"
C. "To Autumn"
D. "Ode on Indolence"
15. Whose poetry does Keats expressly admire?

A. Coleridge's
B. W.H. Auden's
C. Wordsworth's
D. Jane Austen's
16. Name the source poem: "...before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain."
A. "When I have fears that I may cease to be"
B. "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
D. "On the Sonnet"
17. What fear does Keats NOT describe in "When I have fears..."?
A. Not falling in love
B. Not achieving artistic success
C. Not writing volumes of poetry
D. Not traveling
18. What commentary does Keats make about artistic and romantic striving in "When I have
fears..."?
A. It can only be achieved through drink.
B. It is to be respected absolutely.
C. It is all for naught.
D. It is admirable in most cases.
19. Name the source poem: "I saw pale kings and princes too/ Pale warriors, death pale were
they all."
A. "On the Sonnet"
B. "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
C. "The Eve of St. Agnes"
D. "Ode to Psyche"

20. Name the source poem: "...If we may not let the Muse be free, She will be bound with
garlands of her own."
A. "The Eve of St. Agnes"
B. "On the Sonnet"
C. "Ode to Psyche"
21. Which of the following is NOT a common theme in Keats' poetry?

A. Romantic love
B. Catholicism
C. Mortality
D. The ideal
22. Name the source poem: "Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane/ In some untrodden
region of my mind."
B. "Ode to Psyche"
C. "On the Sonnet"
D. "The Eve of St. Agnes"
23. Name the source poem: "Pain had no sting, and pleasure’s wreath no flower:/ O, why did
ye not melt, and leave my sense/ Unhaunted quite of all but—nothingness?"
A. "The Eve of St. Agnes"
B. "On the Sonnet"
24. What meter does Keats typically use in his poetry?

A. Iambic hexameter
B. Dactylic hexameter
C. Iambic pentameter
D. Spondaic pentameter
25. Which poet did Keats count among his friends?

A. Coleridge
B. Hawthorne
C. Shelley
D. Tennyson

Quiz 4 Answer Key
1. (B) Fanny Brawne
2. (A) Tuberculosis
3. (D) Leigh Hunt
4. (D) Autumn
5. (A) Wailful
6. (B) Dogs
7. (C) Melancholy
8. (C) Joy
9. (A) An angry mistress's
10. (D) "Ode on Melancholy"
11. (D) Wolf's bane
12. (B) A Greek mythological fountain
13. (A) "Ode to a Nightingale"
14. (A) "Ode to a Nightingale"
15. (C) Wordsworth's
16. (A) "When I have fears that I may cease to be"
17. (D) Not traveling
18. (C) It is all for naught.
19. (B) "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"
20. (B) "On the Sonnet"
21. (B) Catholicism
22. (B) "Ode to Psyche"
23. (D) "Ode on Indolence"
24. (C) Iambic pentameter
25. (C) Shelley

Keats' Poems and Letters Bibliography
Susan Coyne, author of ClassicNote. Completed on June 20, 2014, copyright held by
GradeSaver.
Updated and revised by Patrick Kenney March 27, 2015. Copyright held by GradeSaver.
Meredith Ringel. "“The Theme of ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’ in the pre-Raphaelite Movement"."
2014-05-18. <http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/prb/ringel12.html>.
"“The Eve of St. Agnes 1819: Literary Critical Analysis"." 2014-05-18.

<http://englishtutorbournemouth.co.uk/john-keats-biography/the-eve-of-st-agnes/>.
Lilia Melani. ""John Keats: An Introduction"." 2014-05-14. <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/

english/melani/cs6/keats.html>.
""Ode on a Grecian Urn: John Keats, produced by the Common Core Standards Initiative"."
2014-05-21. <http://poetry.rapgenius.com/John-keats-ode-on-a-grecian-urn-annotated>.
""Psykhe"." 2014-05-25. <http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html>.
"Keats' Kingdom: Ode to Psyche." 2014-05-25. <http://www.keatsian.co.uk/keats-poetry-

psyche.php>.
"Wikimedia Commons: La Belle Dame Sans Merci." 2014-05-31.

<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci>.
""Ode on Melancholy: A Study Guide"." 2014-06-02. <http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/

Guides8/Melancholy.html>.
"Andromeda (Mythology)." 2014-06-05. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Andromeda_(mythology)>.
Brian Register. "Meaning and Form in John Keats’s “On the Sonnet”." 2014-06-05.
<http://brianregister.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/meaning-and-form-in-john-keatss-on-the-
sonnet/>.
""The Life and Legacy of John Keats"." 2014-06-05. <http://www2.lib.unc.edu/rbc/keats/the-

life-and-legacy-of-john-keats.php>.
Keats' Poems and Letters Bibliography Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 73

""Keats' Kingdom: 'Ode to Psyche'"." 2014-06-05. <http://www.keatsian.co.uk/keats-poetry-
psyche.php>.
Kimball, Caitlin. "“John Keats: ‘To Autumn’: In Keats’ finest season, even the gnats are
mourning”." 2014-05-25. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/guide/240196#guide>.
Mitchell, Dr. Philip Irving. ""Keats Odes and Negative Capability"." 2014-05-25.
<http://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/keatsode.htm>.
Popova, Maria. "“John Keats on ‘Negative Capability,’ Embracing Uncertainty, and Celebrating
the Mysterious"." 2014-05-24. <http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/01/john-keats-
on-negative-capability/>.
""John Keats: 1795-1821"." 2014-06-09. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/john-

keats#poet>.
Bai, Ronnie. "John Keats, Ode on Indolence Essays." 2014-06-10.

<http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/john-keats-ode-on-indolence-essays-12231/>.
""Analysis of John Keats's 'When I Have Fears:' Death & The Freedom of Limitations"."
2014-06-12. <http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/316/analysis-of-john-keatss-when-i-have-
fears-death-the-freedom-of-limitations>.
""When I have fears that I may cease to be": Summary." 2014-06-12. <http://www.shmoop.com/
when-i-have-fears/summary.html>.
Keats' Poems and Letters Bibliography Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 74

Keats: Alone in Love
by Anonymous
John Keats' poems "When I Have Fears" and "Bright Star" are remarkably similar, yet drastically
different at the same time. The Shakespearean sonnets share rhyme scheme as well as subject matter, yet
deal with different facets of the same topic. Each describes love as something extraordinarily important
that one cannot live without, but neither reaches this conclusion until late in the poem.
Both poems can be broken down to reveal the emotion rooted in the structure. "When I have Fears"
makes excellent use of parallel construction. The first 12 lines are split into three sections, each
consisting of the word "when" and an action: "When I have fears..." (1), "When I behold..." (5), and
"When I feel..." (9). Keats breaks this construction only for the couplet at the end of the poem. In this
manner, the speaker first explores his emotions, then realizes what their result is.
"When I Have Fears" can also be broken down in another way. Rather than three quatrains and a couplet,
it can be separated into an octave and a sestet. During the first eight lines Keats concentrates on musings,
while during the final sestet he makes an address; the reader finds that it is to a "fair creature of an hour"
(9) that he is speaking. Keats appears to be subscribing to a Shakespearean structure, but falling to a
Petrarchan mold as a result of the speaker's unstable emotion. "Bright Star," likewise, is constructed in an
octave followed by a sestet, with its volta yielding a change in perspective for both the speaker and the
reader. Keats also resorts in this poem to musings until line 9, in which the subject matter turns to love
and his lover.
In fact, love is the subject of both poems, though neither mentions it until the final sestet. "When I Have
Fears" focuses on the speaker's fear of dying before he is able to capture the true nature of romance on
paper or experience artistic creation. We learn in lines 9-14 that he has such fears because a lover has left
him; he "shall never look upon thee more" (10). He is alone, and "Love and Fame to nothingness do
sink" (14). The focus of the poem changes at the volta from the speaker to his lover, and describes the
effect that she has on him. This is because love is subordinate to the speaker's poetic aims, but central to
his ability to reach them.
"Bright Star" has a similar change at the volta; the focus of the poem changes from Keats' appreciation of
nature to his feelings for his "fair love" (10). While "When I Have Fears" waits until line 10 to reveal to
person to whom the poet is speaking, "Bright Star" alerts the reader to the subject in the first line. The
poem is addressed to a star, and the speaker concentrates on the wonderful aspects of the star until the
final sestet, in which the focus changes, and the speaker describes the similarities between himself and
the star.
Keats: Alone in Love Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 75

Keats' deliberate word and punctuation choices help uncover hidden emotions. "When I Have Fears"
centers on a loved one, who is not present. However, the repetition of the word "I" reveals that the poem
is actually about the author and his reaction to the absence of love. The many breaks and pauses in the
poem aid reveal the speaker's dismay and intense emotion. There are a total of ten commas - mostly
breaking up thoughts, rather than completing them - two semi-colons, and one dash, which is preceded
by an exclamation point. The word "I" is used seven times in 14 lines. With this repetition and hesitant
word placement, Keats deftly shows that the speaker's mind is a jumble of unorganized thoughts.
"Bright Star," which contains 11 commas, uses them in a more pedestrian manner. The commas are often
placed at the end of lines, so that they do not indicate a break in the speaker's thoughts. There are four
dashes, each carefully placed. The first dash, in line one, does not significantly change the meter of the
poem. The other three dashes, all found in the last seven lines, show the speaker's strong reaction to his
own musings. They show that though he is not as "steadfast" or "unchangeable" (9) as the star, he still
has those qualities when it comes to love. The final dash, in fact, precedes the poem's last five words; it
prepares the reader for the speaker's claim that without love, he would die.
One point of contrast between these two poems is the tone: "When I Have Fears" is a dark poem,
reflecting on death and the loss of love. "Bright Star", however, has a far lighter tone, covering subjects
such as purification, innocence, and never-ending love. The two poems do, however, share a common
ending. The couplets at the end of each poem deal with the speakers' inability to exist without the
presence of their loved ones. Together, "When I Have Fears" and "Bright Star" create a poetic arc; the
latter begins where the former leaves off. The speaker of "When I Have Fears" frets over his ability to
convey true romance and the absence of a loved one. It is only at the end of the poem that he is able to
escape these fears. He is left utterly alone, and all that he has been thinking about disappears only to be
re-engaged at the opening of "Bright Star". Here, the speaker describes a star that he wishes he
resembled, but this star is "not in lone splendor" (2), as the speaker of "When I Have Fears" finds
himself. It is at the end of "Bright Star" that the arc is completed, and the speaker once again finds
himself contemplating death in the absence of love.
Keats: Alone in Love Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 76

John Keats' Use of Imagery in Ode to a
Nightingale
by Sean Parks
John Keats is known for his vibrant use of imagery in his poetry. At least twenty paintings have been
rendered as a result of his expressive imagery. In Ode to a Nightingale, he uses synesthetic imagery in
the beginning by combining senses normally experienced separately to unify unrelated objects or
feelings, but as he nears the end he stops making the connections. This helps the reader to make a
distinction between the dream and reality, which is a constant theme in Keats' works.
The poem starts off by explaining how the narrator is heart-broken and is thinking about options to kill
the sensation. He is considering hemlock, a poisonous drink made from the herb, and drinking from the
Lethe River, a river in Hades that souls soon-to-be reincarnated drank from to forget their past lives. By
choosing the latter of the two, the narrator would have to kill himself‹neither of which seems enticing.
Then the narrator hears the music of a nightingale and like a drug itself, dulls his senses into his own
special world with the bird. He then uses synesthesia, "In some melodious plot / Of beechen green," (8-9)
to combine sound and sight. Normally a beechen green would not be described as "melodious," but Keats
does this to let the reader know they are heading into a dream. By combining the two senses, the reader is
made aware of the connection between the dream and reality.
The second stanza presents a plea for release from his pain by means of finely aged wine. By drinking "a
beaker full of the warm South," (15) he hopes that it will allow him to escape from his world into the
forest realm of the nightingale. Here, Keats' use of synesthesia is the narrator tasting a visual, "Flora and
the country green;" an activity, "Dance;" a sound, "Provençal song;" and a mood, "mirth." Also a visual,
"sunburnt" is combined with an emotional state, "mirth." Once the beaker is mentioned, there is
something to taste, but is instead replaced with a temperature, "warm;" and area, "South." By combining
senses that otherwise would not be united, the reader is drawn into the implication that the narrator is still
in a daydream, slowly drifting away from reality.
The third stanza is a reflection of Keats' experience with disease and disappointment. The narrator wants
to "Fade far awayŠand quite forget / What thou among the leaves hast never known," (21-22). He
assumes the nightingale has never encountered "the weariness, the fever, and the fret" (23) of life and he
wants very much to be naïve and invincible like the bird.
The fourth stanza begins with the cry "Away!" The narrator says he will "not [be] charioted by Bacchus,"
(32) the god of wine. He rejects wine and prefers to travel by means of the imagination on the "wings of
Poesy," (33). He is now dreaming that it's nighttime and he's with the nightingale in the sky, but he
John Keats' Use of Imagery in Ode to a Nightingale Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 77
cannot see any light or feel anything. As he starts to realize that in giving up suffering, he is also slowly
giving up his physical senses. The narrator recognizes the lack of light, or lack of vision, and
immediately mentions the breeze being blown (38-39). He's combined these senses to describe the light
trickling through the leaves of the nightingale's tree being moved by the wind. The reader can see that by
unifying the senses of sight and touch, the narrator is still making the connection between the dream state
and reality.
In stanza five, he has lost all of his senses and everything seems foreign to him. He lets his imagination
tell him what surrounds him, when in fact it may not. Because his senses are useless, he has to rely on his
brain for memories and imagination to assume certain flowers and trees are around him. I think the first
line of this stanza, "I cannot see what flowers are at my feet," (41) is also a way of talking about his
sadness and admitting that because of his current state of depression, he can't see the finer things, or
flowers, in his life. In the second line of the stanza he mentions, "soft incense hang[ing] upon the
boughs," (42). Here he combines touch, "soft;" with smell, "incense." Usually, the purpose of incense is
to emit a desirable scent, but the narrator combines this with a feeling to show how the dream and reality
are being connected.
In the sixth stanza, the narrator is still longing for an "easeful death," (52). The poet has longed for death
before, wanting it to take his "quiet breath," (54) but he starts to think now would be an opportune time
to die‹without any pain, listening to a melodic nightingale sing. Having reached this point in the dream,
he soon realizes that his death would be in vain. His death would not be release from pain; it would mean
non-existence‹the inability to hear the nightingale's music that created his "ecstasy," (58).
The seventh stanza is the narrator bringing himself back to the reality of life. The nightingale seems to
live eternally because its song is the same now as it was in earlier days. Keats moves from the awareness
of his own mortality in the preceding stanza to the perception of the bird's immortality in this stanza. But
the narrator makes a mistake in claiming the bird is immortal, because it is in fact not‹it is the music that
will live on forever. The last word of stanza seven, "forlorn," (70) is repeated as the first word in stanza
eight. This ties the dream to reality for the reader also, because it is as if something is calling him back to
reality from his dream.
In the final stanza, "Forlorn!" (71) is ringing him back "like a bell." He is starting to realize that he
cannot exist in both worlds and enjoy both of their finer qualities. He wants to die and escape from his
pain, but if he does so he cannot hear the music of his nightingale. He's torn between the two existences.
Now that the nightingale's song fades away, the narrator's escape is over and it leaves him wondering,
"Was it a vision, or a waking dream?" (79). It is as if he were questioning the validity of the experience,
not knowing whether to trust his instincts. Despite his uncertainty, I think he slowly discovered that there
does not have to be a distinction between a dream and reality.
Throughout the narrator's journey, he used the nightingale to figure out what he did and did not want with
his life. In a way, he convinced himself to reject suicide as a way out of his problems. If he had not, he
would not be able to enjoy everything life has to offer. He realized he should be able to enjoy the niceties
in life without the use of wine, drugs or even dreaming, which is why I think he stopped using the
synesthetic imagery toward the end of his journey. It had served its purpose in his confused beginning
but he did not feel the need to make the connection for the reader between both realms in the end because
he had come to clarification.
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ClassicNote on Keats’ Poems and Letters

Keats' Poems and Letters Study Guide ....................................................................................................... 3

Keats' Poems and Letters Summary............................................................................................................ 5

Keats' Poems and Letters Characters .......................................................................................................... 7

Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary ............................................................................................................. 9

Keats' Poems and Letters Themes ..............................................................................................................13

Keats' Poems and Letters Quotes and Analysis ..........................................................................................15

Keats' Poems and Letters Links ..................................................................................................................43

Keats' Poems and Letters Essay Questions.................................................................................................45

Keats' Poems and Letters Quizzes ..............................................................................................................54

Keats' Poems and Letters Quizzes ..............................................................................................................60

Keats' Poems and Letters Quizzes ..............................................................................................................67

Keats' Poems and Letters Bibliography ......................................................................................................73

Keats: Alone in Love ..................................................................................................................................75

John Keats' Use of Imagery in Ode to a Nightingale..................................................................................77

Biography of John Keats (1795–1821) Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 1

Biography of John Keats (1795–1821) Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 2

Keats' Poems and Letters Summary Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 5

Keats' Poems and Letters Summary Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 6

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Keats' Poems and Letters Characters Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 7

Keats' Poems and Letters Characters Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 8

Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 9

Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 10

Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 11

Keats' Poems and Letters Glossary Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 12

The Natural World

The Nature of Beauty

Keats' Poems and Letters Themes Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 13

Romantic Notions of the Female

Keats' Poems and Letters Themes Copyright © 2015 by GradeSaver LLC 14

Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,

That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,

And hides the green hill in an April shroud;

Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,

Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,

Or on the wealth of globed peonies;

Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,

Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,

And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes."

"Ode on Melancholy", lines 11-20

"Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane

In some untrodden region of my mind,

Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,

Instead of pines should murmur in the wind..."

"And in the midst of this wide quietness

With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain,

With buds, and bells, and stars without a name."

"Ode to Psyche", lines 50-53, 58-61

"When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,

'Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is all

Ye know on earth and all ye need to know."

"Ode on a Grecian Urn", lines 46-50

"Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

"Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,