Keats and Tennyson

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the most notable tool used by both Keats and Tennyson is "negative capability", the submersion of one's identity; Keats would often completely submerge himself in the description of an object until he became that object in a poem as in his "Ode to a Nightingale" and Tennyson has a similar tale "The Lotos Eater". The author points out that Keats and Tennyson are alike in that they both make liberal use of classical writings and nearly every poem, which they write, refers to either mythology or Shakespeare. The paper concludes that both writers worked a sort of magic through sorrowful inspirations and the juxtaposition of conflicting concepts.

From the Paper:

"Keats received even harsher criticism than Tennyson did. He received so much criticism for his poem "Endymion" that it was rumored (falsely) that the criticism is what drove him to illness. At age eight, his father died from a bad fall off of a horse, and soon after, his mother and then brother died of tuberculosis. To make matters worse, as a physician, Keats recognized the signs of tuberculosis in himself early on. He immediately guessed that he was doomed. Keats was right; he never even lived to see his thirties. Naturally, his poems reflect the sense of doom that pervaded his spirit."

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