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Thursday 6 April 2017

Keats's Use of Myth In His Odes



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Name: Kailash P. Baraiya
Study: M.A. Sem-02, Roll No: 10
Batch: 2016-2018
Enrolment No: 2069108420170001
Subject: - Romantic Literature, Paper No:05
Topic: Keats's Use of Myth In His Odes

Submitted To: Pro. Dr. Dilip Barad Department of English M.K. Bhavnagar University




Introduction of John Keats:


              
                           John Keats was born on October 31, 1795, one the northern outskirts of London Keats pursued a medical carver as an apprentice surgeon but gave up the practice shortly after performing his first operation in 1816, an experience that affected him profoundly.
                His friendship with editor Leigh hunt and his literary circle of friends encouraged Keats  to write poetry.  He suffered much criticism after his first major effort, edition which was published in 1818, but Keats continued to write poetry he suffered much criticism after his first major effort, edition which was polished in 1818, but Keats continued to write and examined his work more closely Lamia, Isabella the eve of st. Agnes and other poems, published in 1820, is widely regarded to have been written during the period.
           But in 1820 the first signs of consumption occurred. Despite moving to Italy to try and improve his condition Keats knew from his condition Keats knew from his own medical training that his causes was lost he died in Rome in 1821 at the tender age of 25. Keats wrote his own epitaph, which  would not be remembered: “Here lies one whose name was  write in water.
                  His death was to influence Shelly in particular, who wrote the poem Adonis in his honor and attacked critics for their harsh treatment of Keats early work.
                  Keats is the tragic figure of the Romantic Movement who died young but during his brief life he created some of the best known and enduring poetry of the 19th century.
              In “Ode to Nightingale” and “Ode to a Grecian Urn” Keats tries to free himself from the world of change by identifying with the nightingale representing  nature, and the Urn representing art. These odes, as well as “The Ode to Psyche” present the poet as dreamer.
              The deeper force of the Greek spirit lead him from his early romantic formlessness to the achievement of the most exquisite classical perfection of form and finish. His Romanian glow and emotion never fade or cool, but such poems as the odes to the nightingale and to a Grecian urn, and the fragment of ‘Hyperion' are absolutely flawless and satisfying in structure and expression.
      Here I define Greek myth in, ‘Ode to Nightingale', ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn', and 'ode to Psyche'.
Ode to nightingale:-


   
           The only place that the word 'Nightingale' even appears is in the title, but the Nightingale and its rich, intoxicating nighttime world are at the center of the poem as Keats imagines it, this bird lives in its own reality within the enchanting forest. In poetic terms the nightingale has important connections to mythology that we discuss below. But the most important thing to keep in mind is in that it represents a kind of carefree existence that is free from the burdens of time, death and human concerns.  The importance of nightingale stems from its appearance in Greek myth. Since this is a poem inspired by a Greek form, it is fitting that there are several other allusions to the mythology this poem.

Title:-
        The nightingale is a symbol of beauty, immorality and freedom from the world’s troubles. Nightangals are knowen for singing in the  night time, hence the name. In Greek and Roman myth, the nightingale also alludes to the Philomel, whose tongue was cut out to prevent her from telling about her rape, and whowas later turned into a nightingale by the gods to help her escape from death at the hands of her rapist.

LINE 4:-
          In the extended simile of lines 3-4, opium causes the speaker to lose memory and consciousness. “Lethe” alludes to a river in the Greek afterword, Hades. Those who drank from it lost their memory.

LINE 7:-
            This line contains another allusion, or reference to another text. That in Greek mythology, a 'dryad' is a female spirit attached to a tree.

LINE 16:-  
                 In Greek myth “hippocrene”, was the name of a spring that the winged horse Pegasus created by stamping its hoof into the ground. Drinking from it was supposed to give poetic inspiration. The drink is personified as  'blushing” because of its red color.

LINE 32:-
          Bacchus is the Greek god of wine and drunkenness. In this allusive metaphoric, the speaker claims that his escape into the nightingale’s world will not be due to drunkenness.

LINE 61:-
         Many reader have criticized the speaker for believing (mistakenly of course) that the nightingale is immortal but we think this is just an example of hyperbola or intentional exaggeration to make a point. The point is that it is the nightingale's song that echoes through history and outlives each individual bird.

Ode on a Grecian urn:-



                              The poem consists of a person talking to kind of fancy Greek pot known as an 'Urn' that was made of marble. Keats would have been able to see many urns from ancient Greece at the British Museum. The world’s biggest archeological treasuretrove .(The northern Europeans plundered the Greeks ancient artifacts, and some might joke that now the Greeks are taking revenge by blowing up the European economy …) Urns are known not only for their sleek, beautiful shape but also for the quality of the pictures that were often painted on their sides. Most of the poem center on the story told in the images carved on the side of one particular Urn.  He wrote 'Ode on a Grecian urn' about an imaginary urn and three images he sees on it. The scenes are about revelry and sex, a piper and a lover’s pursuit of a fair maid, and a sacrificial ritual. All the scenes depict some form of human emotion, particularly love and desire.
             Keats uses a lot of imagery from Greek culture to illustrate the  important of beauty. In the first stanza, he speaks of the places in Greek of the places in Greece known for their beauty and serenity.



Ode to psyche:-



                      In Greek myth, Psyche was a princess whom cupid, the son of Venus, fell in love with. Fearing his mother’s jealousy of her beauty, he visited her only at night, in total darkness. In one version of the myth she was a snake in any event to discover who and what he was, she looked at him one night after he had fallen asleep. When oil drooling from her lamp awoke him, he Fled. Psyche searched for him, enduring much suffering. As a reward for her devotion and the hardships she had undergone, she was made immortal and reunited with cupid.


Ode to Autumn:-


                      Keats wrote the poem 'Ode to Autumn' late in his poetic career, and it has been referred to as  of the most prefect poems in the English language. The first stanza references the bounty of early Autumn before the harvest, the second personifies Autumn as a harvest, though one in stasis, and the third stanza describes the chilly end of the season and the promise of winter, which is also the promise of winter, which is also the promise of death.
The personification of Autumn could be considered an allusion to the mythology of ancient Greece. “Ode to a Grecian Urn'' and “Ode to psyche” this poem does not include as many overt allusions to ancient Greece. Rather, the poem subtly recalls the myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades. In this myth Demeter, the goddess of the earth. Casts the land into a permanent winter when her daughter, Persephone, is eventually able to return from the underworld, but only for half the year.
                        In celebration, Demeter brings spring and summer to the land. But when her daughter must return to the world of the dead, Demeter brings death to the earth in the form of Autumn and Winter.
               Keats’s poem offers up an acceptance of this cycle of life and death. In the final stanza, the speaker addresses a personified Autumn by saying:
      Where are the songs of thou of spring?
       Ay, where are they?
       Think not of them, thou hast thy music too.
                    By nothing this, the speaker realizes that the approach of death brought by Autumn can be  just as beautiful as the promise of life found in the spring.
   
    Source:  Net and text

    

  

     

    

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