‘Ode to a Nightingale’ was admired by contemporary critics and reviewers of Keats’s work. According to one account it was written by Keats under a plum tree in the garden of Keats House, London in May 1819. Keats was inspired by hearing the sound of birdsong and penned this poem […]
Tag: John Keats
‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’: A Poem by John Keats
‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’: this, the words on John Keats’s Grecian urn proclaim, is all we know, and all we need to know. ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ is one of the most celebrated poetic achievements of the Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821), so is perfect for our next […]
A Summary and Analysis of John Keats’s ‘To Autumn’
Analysed by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’: John Keats wrote many a memorable and arresting opening line in his short life, but his opening to his great poem ‘To Autumn’, one of his finest odes, is perhaps his most resonant of all.
A Short Analysis of John Keats’s ‘Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art’
On one of Keats’s finest sonnets – analysed by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘Bright Star’, or ‘Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art’ as it is sometimes known, is probably the most famous sonnet written by the Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821). He wrote it in 1819 originally, although […]
A Short Analysis of John Keats’s ‘You Say You Love’
On one of Keats’s less famous poems about unrequited love ‘O love me truly!’ as a poetic refrain is likely to inspire disgust at the poet’s desperation rather than sympathy, but then desperation can be dangerously close to despair, and John Keats (1795-1821) knew better than most what it felt […]