On Romanticism

On Romanticism: The Intertextuality of  John Keats’ Odes

Minsoo Kim

Montfaux National University

Abstract

 Among the second generations of Romanticism, no name is bound than that of John Keats. John Keats, as an enthusiastic lover of Fanny, was well known to the audience for his letters to her, which were published posthumously. However,  including <<Ode To a Nightingale>> and <<To Autumn>>, his odes were highly appraised for its aesthetic styles of writing and usage of the metaphors of the ancient Greek by the contemporary critics. However, his death at age of 25 caused the end of the romantic world of John Keats. This paper aims to revive the world of Romanticism of John Keats by discover the intertextuality of his odes.

1. The Use of Hair

 The metaphors of hair are prevalent in the poems of John Keats. Typically, his use of hair is to demonstrate the feminine aspects of the lovers. Especially, John Keats try to deny the Orthodox values in the hairs by using Islamic metaphors.  In <<La Belle Dame Sans Merci>>, John Keats says,

“I met a lady in the meads, 

    Full beautiful—a faery’s child, 

Her hair was long, her foot was light, 

    And her eyes were wild. “

In this poem, hair was depicted as a seductive fetish, which is common for muslims. However, by stating “her eyes were wild,” he is also denying the Islamic virtues of obeying, but the subject of the seduction. This metaphor also appears in Manet’s <<Olympia>> disturbing the contemporary audience by getting them stared by the prostitute. However, the fetish on hair is also expressed in the same poem, <<La Belle Dame Sans Merci>>:

“I see a lily on thy brow, 

    With anguish moist and fever-dew, 

And on thy cheeks a fading rose 

    Fast withereth too.” 

Since eyebrow is also the hair, we can assume that John Keats was obsessed with concepts of hair, which is decent when it is where it should be. And it can finally become “lily” when it is on the place where human’s eyebrows are ought to be.