Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the part played by John Keats in the Romantic movement. The writer gives a brief overview of Keats' life and explains, giving examples from "Ode to a Nightingale and "Bright Star," how his writing shows his passion for appreciating the natural beauty of the known world, as well as his ability to express the tension between the desire and the reality of life. Doomed to an early death by his chronic tuberculosis, the contradictory force of wanting to live for his love, but also wanting to be somewhere else and to be something else to escape the truth was excruciating for Keats. He captured the moment of ecstasy amidst the pain, a moment in time where the human soul is able to leave suffering behind by escaping into the idealistic beauty of Nature. The paper concludes that Keats' influence on the Romantic period may have been greater than that of any other writer in his time.

From the Paper:

"Keats was drawn to the organic, ethereal nostalgia of the earth. All of his poems include characteristics of natural phenomena that expose his perception of the world as the ultimate and perfect existence, the entity that a dying Keats strongly desires to identify with. For instance, in Ode to a Nightingale, the song of the bird heard from the window is immortalized in several of Keats's stanzas. By the third stanza, Keats encourages the bird to enjoy its freedom."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brown, Charles A. The Life of John Keats. Gloucester: Kessinger, 2008.
• Houseman, A.E. "To An Athlete Dying Young". The Classical Papers of A.E. Housman. J Diggle, Editor. London: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
• Keats, John. "Bright Star", "La Belle Dame sans Merci", "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode to Psyche", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Ode on Melancholy", "Ode to Autumn". Norton Anthology of English Literature, v2. M.H. Abrams, Editor. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2006.
• "Romanticism." 29 June 2009. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html>.
• Samuelson, Joan. "Romanticism." British Literature Mid 18th Century. Blackboard Learning System LSC Online. 30 June 2009 <http://nhmccdvista4.blackboard.com/webct/>.

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