Student Scholarship

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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 argues that poetic truth is implicit, emerging only from a comprehensive study of a poem's parts rather than explicit summaries. By employing a methodology that combines the history of ideas with close literary explication, the text examines how both poets move beyond conventional muses toward more transcendent sources of inspiration. 

Central to the analysis is the role of the muse and the "onlie begetter". In Shakespeare's sonnets, this is identified as the fair young man, representing a higher creative aspect of the poet himself, while Keats finds his truer muse in the viewless wings of Poesy rather than earthbound physical intoxication. The study further delves into the significance of visual details, contrasting the light of inspiration with the shadows of physical reality. This is exemplified through Shakespeare's dark lady and Keats's peerless-eyed Melancholy, suggesting that truth must be limited by details to be grasped by the finite human mind. 

The final sections address the immortality and function of poetry in relation to life. Through examinations of Keats's Great Odes and Shakespeare's later sonnets and The Tempest, the author illustrates how art preserves human experience against the decay of time. Whether through the frozen figures on a Grecian urn or the sea-change effected by Prospero's magic, poetry is presented as a means of knowing that culminates in action and charity. Ultimately, the study concludes that while details provide a tangible grasp of truth, the ultimate reality of art remains a profound mystery that invites ongoing human experience.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: The researcher examines the intersection of moral and aesthetic instruction in the poetry of John Keats and William Shakespeare, specifically investigating how poetic truth is derived implicitly from total content rather than explicit prose commentary. 

  • The Method: The study utilizes a methodology combining the history of ideas—focusing on unit ideas such as the "muse," "light," and "eyes"—with close reading explication of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Love's Labour's Lost, The Tempest, and Keats's major odes. 

  • Qualitative Finding: Shakespeare’s "fair young man" and Keats’s "Nightingale" or "Psyche" function as non-conventional muses that move poetry from earthbound craft to transcendent spiritual knowledge; the "Dark Lady" in Shakespeare and "Melancholy" in Keats provide the necessary physical details and "stain" to manifest abstract spiritual truth; poetic immortality is achieved through the physical act of writing and the continuous engagement of the reader's eye and breath. 

  •  Geographic Grounding: Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Missouri.

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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