Approaches to the Author: Keats
As part of our “Approaches to the author” series, we will be discussing the Nineteenth-century Romantic poet, John Keats. His work is frequently studied at IBDP.
A brief biography of John Keats
John Keats was an English poet, best known for his odes. Born in 1795, Keats lived in Hampstead for most of his life. What distinguishes Keats from his Romantic contemporaries is his background. Unlike Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley, Keats did not come from a distinguished family, nor was he educated in Oxford or Cambridge University. Instead, he trained as an apothecary, so that he could support his family. However, Keats notably hated this profession, and soon gave it up to care for his brothers who contracted tuberculosis, as well as to work on his poetry.
Keats never received much success in his lifetime, and his first poems were published a mere four years before his death in 1821, when he died at the age of 25. His later life was marred by his own struggles with tuberculosis and financial difficulties, and he spent the last few weeks in Rome, living off the charity of friends. Students are often encouraged to view Keats’ output in light of his premature death, and experience of terminal illness.
Following his death, Keats’ work was reevaluated as one of the greatest bodies of poetic work of the era.
Romanticism, nature and death
IB students wishing to develop their understanding of Keats’s poetry should have a decent grasp on Romanticism as a literary movement. It reached its height in popularity towards the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, and can be broadly understood as a reaction to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Romantics championed an emotional sensitivity, and communion with the natural world, and Keats was no exception.
Indeed, IB students will be able to confirm that many of Keats’ poems focus on intense emotional responses to the natural world. For Keats, Nature provides opportunity for self-reflection and greater insight into both the self and the world. He will meditate intensely on a particular object or feature (e.g. “Ode to a nightingale”), and use it as a springboard for wider metaphysical reflections.
Taking, for example, the case of “Ode to a nightingale”, Keats reflects on the literary and symbolic significance of the bird to comment on his own relationship to death and dreaming. The “immortal bird” and its famous song haunts the poet, serving as a reminder of both his own mortality, as well as his pressing desire for literary renown. Throughout Keats’ poetry, the natural world acts as a vehicle through which to explore his sense of self and his own thoughts on metaphysical questions.
Negative capability
A key concept for a student to understand in their study of Keats is that of “negative capability”. Much of the theoretical underpinnings of Keats’ work can be found in the letters that he wrote to friends and relatives, and it is in one such letter that Keats discusses this concept.
According to Keats in a letter to his brothers, a truly great poet (he uses the example of Shakespeare) is capable of subsuming his own knowledge of a particular subject in order to convey the underlying truth. This releases the poet from the pressures of research into the minutiae of his subjects, and means that they are capable of “being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason” (Keats, 1817).
While this may seem abstract to an IB student, it’s essential for understanding the poet. In his own time, Keats was largely viewed as uneducated compared to his literary contemporaries, and this led to his poetry being dismissed. To move past these insecurities and doubts, and trusting in his own understanding and ideas, would seem far more radical than it appears on the surface, especially when combined with Romanticism’s own tendency to position itself in reaction to the Enlightenment.
Help with IB Literature
There are many ways that a student can be guided through Keats and his poetry at IB. It often depends on the classroom teacher’s own plans for using the poet in the wider context of the IB syllabus. For example, do they plan to have it be used as a Paper 2 text? Or for the IO? In which case, it is important for students to pay attention to the comparative texts encouraged by the teacher.
However, at BartyED, we also understand that Keats’ use of dense imagery and syntax can be intimidating to some IB students. That is why our expert team of literature tutors are on hand to support any student through their IB study of Keats. Even beyond IB Literature, our tutors at BartyED have a wealth of experience guiding and supporting students to success in the IBDP. Reach out today via email (enquiries@bartyed.com) or phone (+852 2882 1017) to find out more about how BartyED can support you or your child throughout their academic career.