Keats

‘Meaning in a text is created by the cultural context of the reader, not that of the composer.’ Do you agree ' Justify your response in a discussion of TWO of the poems set for study. The mastery of the poetry of John Keats is that his writing, while intensely personal, sustains a universality of ideas, thus enabling his poetic works to be appreciated across a range of cultural contexts. While some schools of criticism may argue against the influence of context, most critical views concur on the importance of the composer and the responder’s perspective. Indeed as Ronald Bathes stated, ‘the act of reading re-writes a text’. The influence of the cultural context of the responder and the ability of Keats’ poetry to be appreciated throughout the ages can be highlighted by an analysis of Keats’ poems, Bright Star and On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer using a range of critical schools of thought. The analysis of Keats’ poem Bright Star using the dominant stereotypes of his society and a feminist interpretation highlight that a consideration of the cultural context of the composer and the responder is equally valid in the creation of meaning. Keats wrote this poem in the early nineteenth century, in a strongly patriarchal society, where his personal frustrations with ill-health and subsequently his battle to reconcile his sense of mortality, coupled with the realisation that his prospect of a future with the object of his desires, Fanny Brawne was unlikely were central to his concerns. The collision of these two contextual influences is reflected in the melancholic and at times regretful tone of the poem. Yeats’ poem Bright Star, however, when from a Feminist perspective interprets the composer’s attitude towards the persona in an entirely different manner. A Feminist Critic sees cultural and economic disabilities in a ‘patriarchal’ society have hindered or prevented women from realising their creative possibilities. Keats’ is the product of a patriarchal society, and as a result, he believes that the subject of his desire should submit to his wishes. In the poem, Bright Star, in a manner characteristic of Romantic poetry, Keats looks to the heavens for inspiration, in order to stimulate his imagination and transport himself from the limitations of his own mortality. His personal quest for impermanence given the terminal nature of his illness is reflected in his comparison of his own situation with that of the star, a symbol of permanence. Keats utilises warm natural images, the ‘moving waters’ and the ‘human shores’, depictions of the snow, mountains and moors to highlight the warmth of the earthly world, serving as a contrast to the distant and cold images associated with the star. In the sestet Keats rejects the idea of becoming the inanimate star, recognising that the permanence offered by the star, would see the loss of human passion and thought. Using imagery associated with love, Keats concurs that if one is to be human and in love, one must therefore be mortal and die. The repetition of ‘still’ builds the tension and the staccato rhythm and the alliteration of tender-taken’ rises to the climactic fantasy of a sensual human life that is permanent. The hyphen and ‘or else’ is a reflection of the poets’ recognition of the contradictory nature of his desires and the persona chooses human life, sensual pleasure and death rather than the isolated permanence of the star. A feminist reading of the poem, however values feminine qualities in the poem over the masculine qualities and beings issues of the relationship between the sexes to the foreground. In a feminist reading, it can be perceived that the persona similarly wishes for the permanence of the symbolic bright star in the heaven, however from the second line, he recognises the disadvantages of the star’s situation – it is alone (‘lone splendour’), and ‘watching’ rather than participating in the activities on earth. Keats thus contending that he wants the permanence but not the isolation. The rejection of this ideal, is evidenced in the opening of the sestet with the imperative ‘No’. A feminist would argue that the poet’s transferal of his ideas to a fantasized sensual permanence, is in keeping with a patriarchal societies’ consideration of a woman purely as an object of mans’ sexual desire. The image of the female only as a sexual commodity, is evidenced in the line, ‘Pillow’d on my fair love’s ripening breast’ and further reinforced by the repetition of ‘for ever’. The oppositional images of ‘fall and swell’, coupled with the oxymoron ‘sweet unrest’ continue to depict the female only as a sexual being. This absence of voice is a reflection of man’s misogynistic desire to silence women. Keats speaks for the woman; she is denied a voice in the poem, just as women are denied a voice in patriarchal societies. To a Feminist then, Bright Star represents the patriarchal attitudes of a society, where the attitudes and beliefs of women are undervalued by their male contemporaries. By reading the poem in this way, it moves beyond Keats’ personal perspective on immortality and can be viewed as a representation of gender politics and the pervasively patriarchal values of society, thus highlighting that a consideration of the cultural context of the responder and composer is integral to the creation of meaning. Similarly in the poem On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer, a consideration of the cultural context of the responder and the composer can demonstrate an alternate perspective upon the implied meaning of the poem. In the poem, Keats reflects on the ability of literature to truly inspire the imagination. One of the many tensions in Keats’ later poetry is that of his quest for immortality. As a Romantic he prioritized the ability of art to inspire the imagination. Conversely the poem can be read according to a Psychoanalytical analysis, as a manifestation of Keats’ yearning for his literature to be accepted by his peers. A Psychoanalytical reading is founded on the belief that the personality, state of mind, feelings, and desires of its author are integral to its composition. Keats during his short life, his work was the subject of constant critical attacks, and it was not until much later that the significance of the cultural change which his work both presaged and helped to form was fully appreciated. The literary ability to inspire the responder depicted in On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer, can be seen as a representation of Keats’ desire for his own work to be viewed in such a manner. In a romantic reading of the sonnet, On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer, the composer, John Keats highlights the power of literature to take the responder on an imaginative journey and provide spiritual enlightenment. Through the extended metaphor of voyaging for discovery as a representation of the imaginative and creative process, Keats employs a series of images to compare his reading of Chapman’s poem to the journey of an explorer making a significant discovery for the first time. The opening image of the octave introduces the metaphor, suggesting that the persona has travelled ‘much’ in the ‘realms of gold’, an allusion to the persona’s breadth of experience reading poetry. Keats contending in line with the romantic ideal that the imaginative journey is a highly personal experience, this being stressed by the heavy emphasis on the first person through the inverted word order, ‘Much have I travell’d’, the inversion of ‘then felt I …’., and the repetition of the word ‘I’ throughout the rest of the sonnet. This is further demonstrated in the use of the verb ‘told’ Keats suggesting that his previous experience with Homer’s poetry had not inspired his imaginative powers. The employment of the double adjective,’pure serene’ and verb choice ‘breathes’ represent a tonal shift in the sonnet and are used by Keats to highlight for the responder the difference offered by Chapman’s translation. Keats further communicates this effect through a series of images alluding to exploration and discovery. Significantly, both allusions present ideas of human significance, Keats contending that the reading of Chapman’s translation is akin to the discoveries presented in the images. The reader of Chapman’s translation is likened to that of Cortez, the image of his ‘eagle eyes’ highlighting the power of the imagination, providing the traveller with a sense of perception and vision, not normally possessed. This is further reinforced by the symbol of the peak of experience the persona is embracing on his imaginative journey represented in the allusion to the mountain peak, Darien. In the last lines Keats isolates the word ‘silent’ quite deliberately between the two pauses of the hyphen and the comma. The image of stillness evoked by this, a reflection of romantic ideal of the illuminating powers of the imagination employed through literature. Alternatively the poem On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer can be read from a psychoanalytical perspective as a manifestation of Keats’ desire to be part of the elite educated class, and his representation of this group as the visionaries of the world. The opening image suggests that the persona has travelled ‘much’ in the ‘realms of gold’ thus reinforcing Keats’ desire to become part of the artistic elite. This is further reinforced by the use of verbs that relate to direct experience. Thus he has ‘been to many western islands’ and has ‘seen’ a range of ‘goodly states and kingdoms’. The suggestion that only Chapman’s translation has altered his perception can be seen as a reflection of Keats’ desire to become respected as an artist amongst his contemporaries. As a visionary, Keats yearned for the transience of life, in his own words to become a ‘chameleon poet" and to resist the "egotistical sublime" of Wordsworth. The change in thought and tone is signaled by the word choice ‘yet’ and the inversion of word order, ‘did I never’ reinforces this. Keats’ depiction of his experience akin to that of significant discoveries in humanity, similary can be seen by a as a reflection of his desire to be part of the educated elite. The allusions to an astronomer and the Spanish explorer Cortez, present ideas of human significance, with an emphasis placed on the magnitude of the discovery. The ironic notion that the ‘stout’ Cortez and his band of war hardened conquistadors are emotionally over awed by the sight of water, is seen by a Psychoanalysis a contention that Keats too, hopes that his art will have this effect on the individual. The repetition of the hyphen in the final lines highlights this. His need to be part of the educated aristocratic elite is thus reinforced by the recurring image of ‘silence’ in the final stanza of the poem. To a Psychoanalyst then, On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer represents the long of a member of the intellectual elite for his works to be viewed popularly amongst his peers, whilst the romantic reading of Keats, highlights the desire of the individual to look to art as a means of inspiration and the stimulation of the imagination. The creation of meaning, therefore can be seen as a synthesis of the cultural contexts of the responder and composer. Thus it can be seen by an analysis of the poems of John Keats, Bright Star and On First Looking at Chapman’s Homer that the interaction between the cultural contexts of the composer and the responder is integral to the establishment of meaning. Indeed it is the changing perspectives of responders throughout the ages that will ensure the relevance of Keats’ poetry to a new audience.