"that Keats is not an escapist living in a pleasent dream"
True that Keats probably was not an escapist but he did have a vivid imagination. He also did not have the greatest life. Quite a few of his family membors died when he was quite young. He was an orphan and ended up being raised by several different people. He also knew he was dying at a young age. Isn't it possible that he could have been trying to create a nice world after death? A world that is sweet, filled with song, and enjoyed by a loved one. Maybe Keats was just trying to create something for people to think on. Maybe he was trying to help people have something to look forward to. I have to wonder if the scene on the urn is what he hoped to find when he died - that is, spending a blissful eternity with Fanny Brawne, his love interest.
Aside from all of this I feel that Austin is over analizing way too much. I think it's great to understand or make sense of a poem or piece of literature but talking about every little thing that Keats thought is a little too much. This article turned me off to further critical readings of authors and poets. I just wanted to enjoy Keats's poems or anyone elses works for what they are. Is there something so wrong with that?
Posted by SueMyers at February 10, 2007 4:30 PMThere is nothing wrong with enjoying a poem Sue. I don't think anyone would ever argue that. But, I think that searching for a deeper meaning behind a poem is what makes me enjoy the poem. Interpretation is really all we have in a crazy, ambiguous literary world. If this was mathematics, we would have right and wrong answers. That is what makes English so great! It's not about who is right and who is wrong, but rather what we get out of the information in front of us. It's very abstract, and that is why we interpretation to bring us back to reality. Keats's thoughts are just as important as our own thoughts on his liteature, and we should really consider that.
Posted by: Jason Pugh at February 14, 2007 6:07 PM