Keats - Poems Flashcards
What was the profession Keats was trained in?
Apothecary/surgeon
What Romantic poet was very critical of Keats’ verse?
Byron
On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer: What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?
Petrarchan Sonnet (abba, abba, cdcdcd); 14 lines
an octave followed by a sestet of varying form
On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer: Who is Chapman?
George Chapman, an Elizabethan poet and dramatist.
On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer: What is the story behind this poem’s composition?
Keats was given Chapman’s Homer by his tutor; he read through the night and sent this poem to his tutor the next morning.
On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer: What is the sentiment of this poem?
Though the speaker has traveled much in “realms of gold”, it’s only with this translation that he truly begins to understand the greatness of Homer and the ancient world.
What are the attributes of a Petrarchan sonnet?
- Introduced into English by Sir Thomas Wyatt
- 14 lines
- octave (abba, abba) followed by sestet (varying forms, but typically cdecde or cdcdcd)
- 8th/9th lines will present some question or answerable charge to which the sestet will respond
About what Shakespearean play does Keats write a sonnet?
King Lear
On Sitting Down to Read King Lear: What is the sentiment of this poem? What is the rhyme scheme?
Keats is inspired with “new phoenix wings” each time he tastes this “bitter-sweet Shakspearean fruit”.
It is sonnet-like but doesn’t fit the exact definition of either Petrarchan or Shakespearean.
What is the form of an English sonnet? Which of Keats’ poems are English sonnets?
- Three quatrains and a couplet
- abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
- The couplet plays a pivotal role, usually arriving in the form of a conclusion, amplification, or even refutation of the previous three stanzas
“When I have fears that I may cease to be”
When I Have Fears: What is the sentiment of this poem?
This is a melancholy poem in which the poet fears dying before he completes his life’s work, or read everything he wants to, or gets to spend enough time with his love.
Bright Star: What is the sentiment of this poem?
The speaker admires the steadfastness of the North Star before admitting that it would be pretty lonely up there. He revises his statement to say that he’d like to be just as steadfast (eternal) but spend that time with his lover instead.
Bright Star: What is the “Bright Star”?
The North Star
Ode to a Nightingale: What are some of the sleep/death images Keats uses in this poem?
- hemlock
- River Lethe (river of forgetfulness)
- embalmed darkness
- “I have been half in love with easeful Death”
Ode to a Nightingale: What is the sentiment of this poem?
The poet begins by stating that his “heart aches.”
Listening to the nightingale’s song, the speaker falls “half in love with easeful Death”. The poet kind of luxuriates in this world of melancholy while praising the nightingale. His reverie is broken when the nightingale flies away, leaving him disoriented, not sure if he wakes or sleeps.
