keats and the senses
...not be heard by us humans. It may be argued that Keats implies here that we should step back from out noisy, busy lives and immerse ourselves in the peacefulness of nature, and we shall be exposed to a new beautiful world that we have never stopped and considered before. Keats encapsulates this exquisiteness in the phrase ‘pluck on posy/ of luxuries bright, milky, soft and rosy.’ The rich colours and sensual imagery in this quote appeal to a number of senses including sight and touch. Thus Keats shows in this line that he is indeed a poet of the senses. Keats uses the sense of smell in ‘Isabella or the pot of Basil.’ When portraying the two lovers, he describes the ‘inward fragrance of each other’s heart,’ which delightfully portrays their love for each other as a sweet perfume. Additionally, when the couple make love, Keats symbolises it as the bringing together of two scents of ‘hyacinth’ and ‘musk.’ The sweetness of these scents shows that their love is right and they are supposed to be together. Keats formed a technique known as ‘synesthesia,’ which is a method of describing a sensual entity through use of another sense. The overall effect is a phrase of vivid and sensual richness. Keats uses synesthesia in poems such as ‘Lamia’ in which he uses the wonderful phrase ‘bubbling honey’ to describe the sound of Lamia’s voice. The reader is drawn to the sweet taste of honey, which portrays the delicate beauty of Lamia’s voice. The additional adjective ‘bubbling’ gives the description a depth and richness, giving Lamia’s voice a dimension that cannot be achieved through the use of a single sense. This is similarly seen in ‘The Eve of St. Agnes in which Keats describes the filling of a ‘chilly room with perfumed light.’ The cold room appears to be lifeless, but the sudden burst of light gives the room a sense of warmth. Light is not usually associated with scents, however, Keats describes the light as ‘perfumed’ as it gives the room a sense of life, like a flower that has just bloomed. Nevertheless, Keats is known to explore both beauty and melancholy in his poetry, so he uses sensual imagery to create unpleasant and negative atmospheres additionally. This can be seen at the beginning of ’The Eve of St. Agnes,’ in the opening stanza, which has a deathly and chilling atmosphere. Keats uses words associated with coldness, to make the audience feel the wintry weather: ‘the owl, for all his feathers, was a cold,’ ‘numb were the beadsman’s fingers.’ Every reader can relate to the feeling of being chilled, so Keats cleverly uses this sense to make the reader feel the harsh atmosphere of the poem. Therefore Keats demonstrates in his work that he is indeed a ‘poet of the senses.’ Keats also establishes through his letters and poetry that was also a ‘poet of thought.’ He often displayed that he was a profound thinker by expressing his views on politics and society, and even giving us an insight into his deepest fears. One of these is the transience of life; a reoccurring theme in his poetry which explores Keats’s fear of his own mortality. One such poem that includes this anxiety is ‘When I have fears that I may cease to be.’ Keats had a significant ambition to write great poetry, in which he would receive positive recognition for his talent, like Wordsworth. Keats explains in this poem ‘fears that I may cease to be: before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain.’ This poem describes Keats fear that he may not be able to physically write down all the thoughts that he has in his mind before the end of his life; he believes that he has a lot to give. Keats depicts a ‘high romance’ in which he worries that he may ‘never live to trace/their shadows, with the magic hand of chance.’ Here Keats detests the thought of dying before being able to truly depict the beauty between two lovers. Additionally, Keats makes reference to a ‘fair creature’, perhaps Fanny Brawne, of whom Keats fears death, for it shall stop him from being able to ‘relish’ in her ‘faery power.’ We know from Keats’ letters that his love for Fanny was not reciprocated, however, he shows here that through all his pain he would hate not to see her beauty. Evidently, Keats expresses to the reader his urge to experience true love with a woman, but he is mortal, and he worries that he may not have the chance before his own death. The last two lines present the reader with a potent image: ‘I stand alone and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.’ Keats here conveys his sadness as he realises that he will most likely not achieve all that he wants to in his life. Death is a common fear, however Keats was aware his time was shorter than others and thus he had a greater motivation to fulfil his ambitions. Interestingly, an earlier poem, ’To my brothers,’ shows Keats to be more accepting of death, perhaps this is because he was in better health. Nevertheless, it similarly mentions the concept of death. The poignant poem has a sombre mood in which he soaks up the warm and tranquil moment of sitting in front of the fire on his brother’s birthday. He states that a moment such as this is one of true happiness and is the ’world’s true joy.’ In this poem Keats is enjoying the peaceful night but also contemplates the transience of life, and he hopes that they may enjoy the pleasures of life before they hear God’s ‘great voice’ and it is their time to go. Therefore Keats displays that he is a thoughtful poet by considering the mortality of human existence, and giving the reader an insight into his own thoughts and fears on this subject. Keats created a concept called the ‘Veil of Soulmaking’, which additionally proved Keats to be a man of profound thought. His notion was based on the Christian perception of the ‘Veil of Tears’ that if we suffer in this life we shall be rewarded with immortality in the next. However, Keats did not agree with this belief and trusted that there is a point to human suffering which is that it aids us in this life. He thought that the pain we feel throughout our lives helps create our souls; whatever events we experience shapes who we are as a person. In a letter to George and Georgiana Keats, he describes that ‘there may be intelligences or the sparks of divinity in million-but they are not sould till they acquire identities.’ Therefore he believed that humans are essentially a blank canvas until passion and emotion generates who they are; people and their souls become individual by one’s experiences. Kea...