Keats context Flashcards
What generation poet was Keats?
Second generation.
At what age did Keats die?
25
What is negative capability?
A phrase coined by Keats.
It is the act of accepting uncertainty’s, mysteries and doubts without reaching any real conclusion.
Why was Keats suspicious of Wordsworth’s ‘egotistical sublime’?
He claimed Wordsworth focused too much attention of his own imaginative process.
He claimed it was not for the poet to impose a vision or interpretation but to lose the self in what is perceived.
What did Keats insist about the imaginative experience?
He insisted that it was more like a dream in which people lose awareness of the self and are awakened to ‘essential beauty’.
This influenced his coined term ‘negative capability’.
What were Keats views on nature and in what poem is this seen?
He explores the healing qualities of nature and how this allows people to transcend their restricted circumstances.
Keats ‘nightingale’ is a Romantic subject and can explore this.
What happened to Keats’ brother?
Keats nursed his brother in the final stages of tuberculosis.
He died in 1818 the same year.
Who did Keats fall in love with?
Fanny Brawne.
He could not afford to marry her.
When and where did Keats die?
He began to display symptoms of tuberculosis and travelled to Italy in the hope that the warm weather would help his health.
He died in Rome in 1821.
What was written on Keats’ tomb stone and what does it mean?
‘Here lies one whose name is writ in water’
Reflects the fleeting and transient nature of life.
