Thinking activity on John Keats

Hello readers !

This blog is a part of thinking activity. In our syllabus we have paper of romantic literature. In which we learnt about John Keats (1895-1821) and his poem like Ode to Nightingale, Ode to Autumn, Grecian Urn, Psyche. This thinking activity is given by Heenaba Zala. 

So in  this task we have to find out how death is generally dealt by other writers in literature. Normally people don't want to talk about Death. Even some of the people can't think about death because they feel fear. They can't eccept the reality . Generally most of the people considered death as mighty and dreadful. But if we look for a literature and then we find that poet or author have various thoughts on death. They showed us every side of the death that is good or bad.

"Death is not the opposite of life but a part of it "

Let's see how John Keats portrayed death in the poem Ode to Nightingale :

This poem is the quite a long poem, in which eight stanzas.

"Darkling, I listen and far many a time,
I have been in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme, 
To take into the air my quiet breath "


In this poem we find that he was tried to enter the life of Nightingale. He uses a strong symbolic meaning of the Nightingale and it's world to ascape from harsh reality. He uses imagery of Nightingale. If we look historically then we got the idea about how poet use this imagery in poem, Nightingale represent the freedom and inspiration. But here John Keats including many more things. He explore deepest creative expression and the mortality of human life. Keats focused on death and. It's in evitbilily in his work. For Keats small, slow acts of death occurred every day.

👉  Other poet's view on Death :

• John Donne : Death be not proud ( click here to read poetry )

The famous poem " Death be not proud" is written by pioneer of Metaphysical poetry, John Donne. In which he came from very different perception about death. In this poem's title itself suggest that ' death don't be proud'. Here poet think totally different than John Keats. John Donne can say that confidently, that death has no courage of capacity to kill even him death is nothing more than permanent rest to bones and soul is delivered to a new body.

" For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.....

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery."

Here John Donne said that o poor death you can't kill me. Death is not a painful experience but this is the rest of the life. Our soul is Never died.

" One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die."

This lines through poet wants to say that death is nothing but a mere sleep in between man's earthly lives and the eternal after life. Death no more visit them. Donne proved death's powerlessness in the end of the poem. And also said that death is itself die not a man.  So poet's mean to say that those who dies is actually dead. And one more thing  is death is the pitiable figure like in this poem the word : " poor death".

• Emily Dickinson( 1830-1886) : "Because I could not stop for death " (click here)

'Because I could not stop for death' is a lyrical poem, first published posthumously in Poems : series 1 in 1890. Many of her poems deal with  the theme of the death and immortality. Her life's evidence through we can say that she lived much of her life in isolation. May be that's why she build friendly with death. If we look at in her life she was troubled from a young age by the ' deepening mence' of death and especially the death of those who were close to her.

In this poem Dickinson portrays death as her colleague in the carriage. We can't think of death and here death is the colleague.

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

And Immortality.

The second line is showing us that death kindly stop her personal. She said that the death is 'Kindly gentleman'. Here Dickinson try to give a human characteristic to the death.

"We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –"

How slowly they drove and death has no haste. And they visit various stages of life like childhood, the school and to her grave also. It seems she herself is already dead. What happen when people die?  every man ask this question to herself or himself. Here in this poem we find that the inevitability of death and the uncertainties that surround what happens when people actually die. Here we can say that how women think about the concept of Death.

Generally people don't want to talk about death but the poet who has fascinated by the death. 

Thank you......