The Final Poet

Yet another poet we are studying from the romanticism era is John Keats, who died at the age of twenty-five. Because he died so young, people often wonder what more he would have accomplished had he lived longer in this world of literature, which we often call poetry. John Keats was not an aristocrat like Byron and Shelley, but had a restless spirit and would fight for worthy causes. He earned his pharmacist's license before ditching medicine for the literary world. Keats's health began deteriorating, but had he stayed healthy his “burst of creativity” and his engagement may have been the beginning to a very happy life. Unlike Shelley, Keats did not use poetry to make political statements, nor did he have a rebellious spirit. He would always find beauty in the things people would consider imperfect. “In masterful verse, he explored the beauty he found in the most ordinary circumstances.” Keats also seemed to be very sensitive to the contradictions that life would offer.

In “Ode to a Nightingale,” Keats begins on a negative statement, talking about suicide, and then turns to positivity, then back to death and the negatives again. He discusses death in almost a dream-like manner, switching from heaven to hell, and ending with deceiving contradictions. “Ode On A Grecian Urn” uses superb diction to get the point across about Heaven and happiness. A wedding is primarily discussed throughout this poem, using vivid imagery to describe the “maidens overwrought with forest branches.”