Live_Love_Laugh

Javanette Rolle Dr. Wolf British Literature December 4, 2008 Essay 2: Live, Love, Laugh Lord Byron and John Keats were two of the greatest writers of the Romantic period. Their works were inspired by their own life experiences and how they dealt with them. Lord Byron had a relatively normal upbringing, meaning that his family’s health was good and he did not suffer from poverty. John Keats on the other hand, his family suffered from tuberculosis, his mother died from this disease when he was young, and his trust fund was tied up for most of his life. Knowing that he would die young from this disease, John Keats pushed himself to become a great writer very early on to ensure his legacy once he was gone. This allowed both writers to have different outlooks on life and how they believed life should be lived. Both writers believed that life has mostly terrible experiences however; they differ on how one should live their life in response to these misfortunes. Lord Byron, due to his hardships in life, feelt pessimistic about life and thought negatively about life and mankind. In contrast John Keats, due to his calamity and his being aware of how fleeting life is, allowed him to live his life to the fullest and hold onto every blissful moment. In Lord Byron’s works, “Darkness” and “Manfred”, and in John Keats’ poems, “Ode to a Nightingale”, and Ode on a Grecian Urn, they suggest what they thought was the ideal way to live one’s life. In “Manfred”, Lord Byron tells the story of a man named Manfred who lives a miserable life because he was in love with a girl by the name of Astarte who killed herself and he feels responsible. Much like the author of this work, Manfred has lost all hope and sees life as a pessimist. Astarte, Manfred’s cousin, would not reciprocate the feelings he showed her, and when she could not stand to see Manfred in pain anymore she killed herself. He wants to die because of all the grief he feels. This attitude depicts someone who is sorry for them self and is not making the best out of an otherwise depressing situation. Most Romantic characters would ask the gods for inspiration to write Astarte a poem to preserve her memory, but instead Manfred evokes spirits to come and have a pity party with him. On page 640, the spirits offer Manfred just about anything his heart desires, “Kingdom, and sway, and strength, and length of days” (Byron 640). Manfred, even though being offered all of this he still wants to die saying, “Accursed what have I to do with days, they are too long already” (Byron 640). He cannot seem to see past his struggles to be able to learn something from them or even gain a gift from the spirits to help ease his pain. John Keats’ attitude suggests the opposite meaning. He believed that because life is filled with so many bad experiences, one should make the best of the “long days” that one does have, and that one really should not waste the very few good moments that come around. In another work by Lord Byron, “Darkness”, he speaks of how he had a dream about the world’s end. In this work he talks about how even until the last seconds of the end of the world, mankind was destructive and selfish. On page 615, Byron in lines 46-47, in describing how the destructive nature of mankind does not change in spite of the world ending, says, “The meager by the meager were devoured, even dogs assail’d their masters” (Byron 615). He speaks very pessimistically in general about the world coming to an end. It is already known that the world will eventually have to come to an end, but dwelling on this catastrophic event rather than on the non selfish and non destructive moments mankind has before this event occurs is focusing on the negative. Keats, in contrast knowing that his world would come to an early end, wrote profusely to become a great writer, thus making the most of what was a tragic circumstance. Both writers in their work put a lot of emphasis into writing about how they or others deal with “the end” or something else that would be considered pessimistic about life. The difference however, lies in the fact that Keats acknowledged the end and made the most of it, while Byron not only acknowledged the end, but he dwelt on it and could not see past it. This explains how both writers viewed life and how they felt it should be lived. In a poem by John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”, Keats discusses how when he thinks of all of his misfortune in life and then looks up in the tree and listens to the carefree nightingale sing, he wants to be free like the bird. In lines 8 and 10, he envies the bird and says, “That thou winged Dryad of the trees […] singest of summer in full-throated ease” (Keats 903). He envies the fact that the bird is so carefree while he has encountered a lot of hardship in his life. In line 33, Keats, in his fit of jealousy, wants to die so he can be free like the bird and fly away with the nightingale, “on the viewless wings of poesy” (Byron 904). Although Keats in this poem is focusing on his hardships, he still makes the best of a bad situation. Where Byron’s character Manfred when faced with adversity just wanted to die, Keats in his poem overcame this depression and says that his escape will be on “the wings of poesy”. Keats would rather spend his time alive doing something that will bring him some peace and maybe even fame as a good writer. In contrast, Byron’s character Manfred could not see past his situation. Finally in Keats’ poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, he talks about a beautiful urn with paintings on it that tell different stories. The stories painted on the urn are of a beautiful woman, a gathering of people, a young boy playing a flute and a young couple under a tree. Keats explains that what makes these paintings beautiful is that these moments are stopped in time. The maiden will never cease to be beautiful, the gathering of people with never change for better or worse, the couple about to kiss will never grow old or die, and the young flute player’s song will never stop. In lines 23-24, the flute player’s is described as, “happy melodist, unwearied, for ever piping songs forever new” (Keats 906). Keats here is like Byron in that he too, because of his experiences in his past; he has a very pessimistic view on life. They would agree that it would be better that young couple never kiss or truly get to enjoy a life in love together than have the maidens beauty fade or the couple die. They would rather not hear the flute player’s song than have it end eventually. Byron’s fear of what can happen or the unknown had allowed him to live a life being stagnant, never embracing what could be for fear of more pain, illness, or loss. However Keats, because of this fear, he used it to allow him to become a great writer knowing that the unknown can be used as fuel to motivate himself and do better before time ran out. In lines 49-50, Keats says, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know” (Keats 906). These writers were so afraid of what could happen in life to add to their adversity that they believed that as far as life is concerned ignorance is bliss. Both writers believed that life has mostly terrible experiences however; they differ on how one should live their life in response to these misfortunes. Lord Byron, due to his hardship in life, feels pessimistic about life and thinks negatively about life and mankind. In contrast John Keats, due to his calamity and his being aware of how fleeting life is, allowed him to live his life to the fullest and hold onto every blissful moment. In Lord Byron’s works, “Darkness” and “Manfred”, and in John Keats’ poems, “Ode to a Nightingale”, and Ode on a Grecian Urn, they suggest what they think is the ideal way to live one’s life. For Byron the glass was always half empty, but for Keats it was always half full for the same reason. This reason is that they both had lives filled with sadness and they knew that life was short and could change in the blink of an eye. Works Cited Gordon, George.Darkness. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. 8th ed. Vol. D. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc; 2006 pgs 614-16 Gordon, George.Manfred. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. 8th ed. Vol. D. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc; 2006 pgs 635-69 Keats, John. Ode to a Nightingale. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. 8th ed. Vol. D. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc; 2006 pgs 903-05 Keats, John. Ode on a Grecian Urn. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. 8th ed. Vol. D. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc; 2006 pgs 905-07