Topic: Keats’ use of myth in his odes
Name:
Ranjan P. Velari
Class:
M.A. Sem. 2
Paper
No.: 5 (Romantic Literature)
PG
Enrollment No.: 14101032
Email
ID: ranjanvelari@gmail.com
Guidance:
Heenaba Zala
Submitted to: Smt. S.B. Gardi
Department of English
M.K. Bhavnagar
University
Keats’ use of myth in his Odes
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Introduction about John
Keats:
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John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was born on 31
October, 1795. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of
Romantic poets. The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery most
notably in the series of odes. When Keats died at 25, he had been writing
poetry seriously for only about 6 years. His first poem, the ‘Sonnet O Solitude’
appeared in ‘The Examiner’ in May 1816, while his collection ‘Lamia’,
‘Isabella’, ‘The Eve of St. Agnes and other Poems’ was published in July 1820.
The compression of his poetic apprenticeship and maturity into so short a time
is just remarkable aspect of Keats’ work.
He used the term negative capability to discuss the state in
which we are “capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts without any irritable
reaching after fact and reason… content with half knowledge” where one trusts
in the heart’s perceptions.
Ode on a Grecian Urn:
“Ode on a Grecian Urn”
is Lyric ode with five stanzas containing ten lines each. The first stanza
begins with the narrator addressing an ancient urn as, ‘ Thou still unravished
bride of quietness!’, this is a conversation between the poet and the object,
which the reader allowed to observe from a third- person point of view.
Throughout the first two stanzas, the speaker addresses the urn as a single object,
taking note of its silence at several points as he discusses unheard melodies
and tunes heard not by the sensual ear. The second stanza begins to change tone
as the poet shifts his focus from the urn as a whole to the individuals
represented in the artwork. The two lovers, whose image the unknown artist has
created through his craftsmanship, appear to the poet as couples who cannot
kiss yet do not grow old. As the poem comes to a close, the narrator once again
addresses the urn as a single object. In the final couplet, the poet provides a
line for a urn, which complicates the narrative and has generated a multitude
of critical responses as to the author’s intent:
“Beauty is truth, truth
beauty, that is all
Ye know on earth, & all ye need to
know.”
This ode is connected to the ‘Myth of Prometheus’, so let’s have
a look on it.
Myth of Prometheus:
Many years ago,
according to the stories told by the people of ancient Greece, there lived two
brothers who were not like either men or like the gods and goddesses of Mount
Olympus. They were the sons of one of the Titans who had fought against Zeus
and been sent in chains to the prison of the lover world. The name of the elder
of this brother was Prometheus (which means forethought). Prometheus was always
thinking of the future and making things ready for what might happen tomorrow
or next week or next year, or even in a hundred years time. The younger was
called Epimetheus (which means after thought). Epimetheus was always so busy
thinker of yesterday or past year, or a hundred years ago that he never worried
at all about what might come to pass in the future. Prometheus did not want to
live amongst the clouds on Mount Olympus. He was too busy for that while the
God was spending their time in emeses drinking nectar and eating ambrosia. He
was planning how to the world wiser and better than it had been before so
unsteady of living on Olympus. Prometheus went out amongst mess to live with
them and he quickly noticed that they were no longer happy as they had been
during the golden days when Kronos, the Titan was king. He found them living is
caves and in holes of the earth, shivering with the cold because there was no
fire, dying of starvation, hunted by wild beasts and by one another the most
miserable of all living creature. If they only had fire, said Prometheus to him
they could learn to make tools and build themselves houses without fire, they
worse off than the beast. Prometheus went to Zeus and begged him to give fire
to people, so that so they might have a little comfort through the long, dreary
Mont of winter. Prometheus didn't answer but his heart on helping mankind and
he did not give up. As he walking by the seashore he found a fall stalk of
fennel. He broke off and then saw that its hollow center was filled with a dry
soft substance which would burn slowly and stay alight for a long time. He carried
the stalk with him as he began a long journey to the top of mount Olympus.
Mankind shall have fire despite what Zeus has decided he said to himself. And
with that thought he snuck quietly into Zeus domain and stole a spark from Zeus
own lightning bolt. Prometheus touched the end of the long speed to the spark
and the dry substance within it caught on fire and burned slowly. Prometheus
hurried back to his own land carrying with him .The precious spark hidden in
the hollow center of the plant. When he reached home he called some of the
shivering people from them caves and built a fire for them and showed them how
to warm themselves by it and use it to cook their food. Men and women gathered
round the fire and happy and thankful to Prometheus for the wonderful gift
which he had brought to them. One chilly winter evening Zeus gazed down from
Mount Olympus and noticed fires burning cheerfully at the heaths of men and
women in every village across the land. It did not take him long to realize
Prometheus has disobeyed him and give fire to men. Zeus was very angry and
order that Prometheus be changed to the side of a mountain to suffer there for
all eternity. And there Prometheus stayed thinking of the future happy in the
knowledge that he had given fire to men until he was one day rescued by the
mortal, which is a story for another day.
Ode to Psyche:
“Ode to Psyche” is a 67 line poem written in stanzas of
varying length. The ode is written to a Grecian mythological character. The
poet begins first stanza with “O Goddess!” Psyche, a creature so beautiful that
she drew attention of Cupid himself and also draws the attention of the
narrator, whose artistic imagination causes him to dream of her:
“Surely I dream’d to-day,
or did I see
The winged psyche with
awakened eyes?”
As he relates himself to the mythical character of Cupid, he
confuses the god’s emotions with his own and imagines that he too has fallen
with love with woman’s beauty. In line 50, the poet states, “Yes I will be thy
priest, and build a fame”, which; Harold Bloom suggests, implies that the poet
himself becomes a “prophet of the soul” as he regards the beauty of the psyche
and attempts to place himself within Cupid’s personage, according to T.S.Eliot.
It is the most prominent ode among the six great odes.
Myth of Psyche:
Cupid and Psyche is a
story from the Latin novel Metamorphoses, also known as the Golden Ass, written
in the second century AD by Apuleius. It concerns the overcoming of obstacles
to the love between Psyche and Cupid or Amor and their ultimate union in
marriage.
Psyche is a former
mortal woman and goddess of the soul in Greek mythology. She is the wife of
Eros (Cupid) and the mother of Hedone. She is always pictured with butterfly
wings.
Once upon a time,
there was a beautiful princess, admired by everyone, but whom no one dared to
proposed to. Desperate, the king consulted the god Apollo, who said that Psyche
should be left alone, in a mourning dress, at the top of a mountain. Before
daybreak, a serpent would come to her and marry her. The king obeyed, and
throughout the night the princess waited, terrified and freezing, for the
arrival of her husband. She ended up falling asleep. As she awoke, she was in a
beautiful palace, transformed into a queen. Every night her husband would come
to her, they made love, and he had just one condition. Psyche could have
anything she desired, but she should trust him completely and never see his
face. The young woman lived happily for a very long time; she had comfort,
affection, joy, she was in love with the man who came to her every night. Once
in a while, however, she was afraid of being married to a horrible serpent. One
night, while her husband slept, she illuminated their bed with a lantern and
found Cupid, a man of incredible beauty, beside her. The light woke him up and
found out that the woman he loved wasn't able to fulfill his only desire, and
disappeared. Concluding the Greek myth desperate to have her love back, Psyche
submits herself to a series of tasks imposed by Venus, Cupid’s mother, who was
envious of her beauty.
Ode to Nightingale:
“Ode to Nightingale”
is Keats’ one of the supreme odes. It was written in May, 1819. It is the
longest of Keats’ odes. There are 8 stanzas of 10 lines each.
In the first
stanza the poet hears the melodious song of the Nightingale. The song fills the
heart of the poet with great joy. He forgets his surroundings and he feels as
he has taken hemlock which has paralyzed this senses. Here the poet feels pain
because too much happiness is also painful. In the 7th line the word
used ‘Dryad’ is an ancient Greek myth of trees, almost always female.
In the second stanza
the poet describes the sorrows of the world.
In the 16th line the word used ‘Hippocrene’. The Hippocrene
was a fountain in Greek mythology that was sacred to the muses. It was supposed
to bring poetic inspiration when a person drank the water from the fountain.
In the third stanza
the poet says that he would happily leave this world of suffering where men
suffer and beauty fades away. He would like to disappear in a forest and live
where the nightingale lives.
In the forth stanza
the poet says that now he does not need wine because he can fly with the help
of his poetic inspiration and imagination. Poetry is a more powerful medium than
wine. On the wings of poetic fancy he would soar into the sky and go where the
bird lives. In this stanza the word used ‘Bacchus and his pards’. Bacchus is
the Roman god of wine. Here, Bacchus is used as a metonym for alcohol. Pards
refer to teopards or other large felines, which are symbols associated with
Ovid.
In the next stanza
the poet find himself in the country of the nightingale. The poet now feels the
flowers at these feet. The poetic imagination takes him to the forest where the
bird sings. The atmosphere is extremely pleasant.
In the sixth stanza
the poet expresses to the song of the nightingale. The song will provide his
soul with eternal peace.
In the seventh stanza the poet contrasts the immortality of
the nightingale’s song with the mortality of human beings. The bird is a symbol
continuity and permanent beauty. The song of the bird has been to live forever.
The poet says that nightingale was born to live forever. The song of the bird
has been heard in the past and it has been a soothing balm to the people in
grief.
In the last stanza
the poetic vision fades and the song of the departing bird also becomes dimmer
and dimmer. The bird flies away and the poet bids it a hearty farewell. He
feels alone and lonely once again. The ode is rightly valued as one of the
greatest poems in the English language.
This ode is connected
with Greek myth ‘Myth of Philomela’, so let’s have a look on it.
Myth of Philomela:
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Philomela is a minor
figure in Greek mythology. She is identified as being the “princess of Athens”
and the younger of two daughter of Pardion I, king of Athens and Zeuxippe. Her
sister Procne was the wife of king Tereus of Thrace. While the myth has several
variations, the general depiction is that Philomela, a migratory passerine bird
native to Europe and southwest Asia noted for its song. Because of the violence
associated with the myth, the song of the nightingale is often depicted or
interpreted as a sorrowful lament.
Tereus had raped
Philomela who was his wife’s sister and cut out her tongue. Rendered unable to
speak, she moves a tapestry and told her story to Procne. Procne was incensed
and in revenge, she killed her son and served it as a meal to her husband.
After eating, the sisters presented him with the severe head of his son and he
became aware of their conspiracy and his cannibalistic meal. He snatched up an
axe and pursued them with the intent to kill the sisters. They fled but mere
almost overtaken by Tereus at Daulia in Phocis. In desperation, they prayed to
the gods to be turned into binds and escape Tereus rage and vengeance. The gods
transformed Procne into a swallow and Philomela into a nightingale.
