Keats' use of myths in his Odes

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

·      Introduction about John Keats:

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 7^th 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 16^th 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:

  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.