Student Scholarship

Document Type

Research Paper

Abstract

This study explores the aesthetic and moral statements embedded within the poetry of John Keats and William Shakespeare, operating under the classical and Renaissance assumption that art exists for both instruction and delight. The author employs a methodology combining the history of ideas with close literary explication to demonstrate that these poets use their works as a means of knowing and living, rather than as ends in themselves. The analysis begins by examining the evolution of the muse, tracing how both writers move from conventional classical invocations toward more personal and transcendent sources of inspiration, such as Shakespeare’s fair young man and Keats’s personification of Psyche or the nightingale. 

Central to the document is an investigation of how truth is conveyed through specific physical details rather than abstract generalizations. By analyzing Shakespeare’s sonnets and Keats’s major odes, the study highlights a recurring tension between light as a symbol of divine inspiration and darkness as the necessary medium of poetic form. For instance, the dark lady in Shakespeare’s sonnets and the veiled figure of Melancholy in Keats’s work serve as essential "stains" or shadows that make the abstract light of truth visible and tangible to the human mind. 

The final sections of the paper address the ultimate function of poetry in relation to human experience and immortality. The author argues that for both Keats and Shakespeare, the creative act is inextricably linked to human passion and charity. Whether through the "sea-change" depicted in The Tempest or the "mellow fruitfulness" of the ode To Autumn, poetry is presented as a dynamic process that requires the active participation of the reader's imagination to fulfill its purpose. Ultimately, the study concludes that while art provides a sense of permanence, its true value lies in its ability to move the individual toward a deeper engagement with the realities of life.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: The study addresses the aesthetic and moral nature of poetry by Keats and Shakespeare, operating on the assumption that art exists for instruction as well as delight. 

  • The Method: The researcher utilizes a methodology combining the history of ideas—focusing on unit ideas like the muse, light, and eyes—with literary explication to analyze specific poems, sonnets, and plays. 

  • Qualitative Finding: The "onlie begetter" in Shakespeare's sonnets identifies paradoxically as "Master William Himself," representing the poet’s own higher creative aspect; Keats and Shakespeare both utilize metaphors of light and the human eye to define the relationship between spiritual inspiration and the physical details of a poem. 

  • Finding: Both poets conclude that poetry achieves immortality and truth by limiting the abstract through tangible, physical details, eventually moving the reader from the "sea-change" of art toward the moral actions of real life. 

Publication Date

5-1963

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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