Tuesday, September 25, 2012

John Keats

New historians have always made me a little edgy, and this is yet another of those times.

John Keats. He has been my unwavering bright star, from the word go. Ever since the nightingale song, he has been my hero. As if his enchanting poetry wasn't all, there was Fanny Brawne and then, that untimely, miserable death. His name echoed a string of tragedies - deaths in the family, unrequited love, a consuming illness; everything that endeared him to a teenage heart then.
But then came this, and ever since the morning, after reading it at a rather deliberate confusing haste, and re-reading it later to register it all, in between flashes of denial and doubt, I have reached one conclusion: I still don't understand it. May be I don't want to.

True, a languorous, dreamy aura pervades his poetry, but that cannot necessarily justify a laudanum haze. Yes, if one looks with the intention of confirming him as an opium addict, his poetry is a deluge of visions, chockablock with reveries of 'drowsy numbness' and 'a life of Sensations rather than Thoughts'. But is poetry to be read and understood literally? Isn't that against the very grain of it? Moreover, what happened to the good old trap of intentional fallacy?
On the contrary, it is this very element of detachment from the pains of the physical world and the transportation to the higher realms of tranquility and aestheticism, that makes Keats so very memorable and different from the other Romantics. The world would be a rather dull place if not for his 'Poesy' - a strange, yet impressive combination of beauty and melancholy.

And so, the bright star shines on, steadfast as ever.

"Here lies one whose name was writ on water."

~ Keats, epitaph for himself

(Portrait of Keats by William Hilton.
Source: Wikipedia)

13 comments:

  1. Hello Suman:
    The 'evidence' which Roe puts forward for Keats' reliance on opium does, at best, appear open to question but, for our part, there is a need to qualify what we say here as we have neither of us read this new biography.

    But for all of that we should regard Keats as a poet of great exception and this new knowledge, correct or otherwise, will do nothing to diminish the wonder and worth of his work in our eyes. As is clearly the same for you.

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    1. Hello Jane and Lance, couldn't agree more. And like you say, addict or not, Keats by any other name would still be great! :-)

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  2. Nice piece, Suman. I heard the same thing about Keats. The opium addiction is possible, but there's no hard evidence. You can't make this sort of wild deduction from the text of the visionary poems alone. In the end, I suppose it doesn't really matter one way of the other. The poetry remains as beautiful as ever.

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    1. Thank you, Robert, and exactly my sentiments. It feels a bit like the recent Lance Armstrong hullabaloo - stripping him off his titles doesn't make him a lesser idol.

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  3. I read about the possibility of opium addiction and thought 'so what?'. The poetry is what it is, however it was created, so long ago. It's beauty has endured and given pleasure for such a long time. It seems somehow mean and small to give the credit to opium.

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    1. Welcome back once again; so very glad to read your lovely words again.
      And yes, the very cheapness of the article is what upsets me. If opium is the cause behind such stellar writing, then becoming Keats is quite an achievable dream for almost any one.

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  4. Hello Suman. I agree with you! Everybody can become a great poet with opium! Sometimes It's better to ignore the life of an artist to focus on his art.

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    1. Very true, Celine. Once there, it creates unnecessary and unpleasant diversions that carry one far away from the art.

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  5. I too read about the addiction to which quite a number of poets were subject. We have to see it in the context of the time, taking laudanum was not as horrifying 'crime' as being a 'junkie' is today. Many poets, writers, painters and other artists, 'enhanced' their spirits with the help of a little pinch of this or that.

    I hear the music, read the poetry, consume the book, and the thought that any of it could be due to some kind of delirium never enters my head. And I cannot see that happening in the future.

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    1. Hear, hear! Yes, it wasn't something very 'frowned upon' back then, and I certainly don't understand the obsession of judging lost times against current yardsticks. As I've written in another reply earlier, one can see the Lance Armstrong case in a similar light. It saddens me when such champions, be it of any field, are treated with such meanness.

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  6. like your post suman and waiting you on my blog

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    1. Thank you for the visit, Sunny. Hope you have tea there, for I'll soon visit you!

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  7. Suman, since you read so much, i can't resist to "let you know" that there is an "alternate future reality" Sci-fi book called "Hyperion", in witch one of the characters its "a clone created by an artificial inteligence entity" based on "your" John Keats. If you're interested... check it out =) (I liked it)

    http://www.amazon.com/Hyperion-Dan-Simmons/dp/0553283685

    Also ... your pictures rock! I have great appreciation for your work.

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