Student Question
Write an essay on the life, works, and critical views of Romantic poet John Keats.
Quick answer:
John Keats, a second-generation Romantic poet, is notable for his profound impact despite a short life. His works, including "Ode to a Nightingale," reflect Romantic themes like nature and love. Keats' deep understanding of his literary role is evident in both his poetry and personal letters, which helped integrate Romanticism into Western literature. Though he died young, Keats' contributions to the Romantic movement and his grasp of English literature solidify his lasting influence.
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First of all, I cannot write your paper for you, but I am sure you know that. However, I can give you some ideas of things you might want to cover in your paper, and direct you to some links here at eNotes.
According to Columbia Electronic Encylopedia, John Keats is considered a second-generation Romantic poet. The other two famous and enormously talented second-generation Romantic poets are Percy B. Shelley and Lord Byron. In your paper you might want to provide some details on what the Romantic poets actually were: their writings were not necessarily "romantic" as we think of the word, though they did write about love. However, there are many more characteristics to the works of the Romantic writers, nature being a predominate one. This is something you...
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might want to include. A link to a discussion of the characteristics of Romantic writing is:
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html
John Keats lived a very short life. In fact, of the three second-generation Romantic poets, he was the youngest to die, though all of them were dead before the age of forty. (See links below for biographical information.)
You might also add the fact that the English Romantic movement inspired a similar movement in the United States a number of years later.
There is quite a bit of information available at eNotes about Keats and his work. A critical survey of his poetry is found at this link:
http://www.enotes.com/john-keats-salem/john-keats
Biographical information can be found at two eNotes links. Both are listed as "reference links" below.
Keats wrote quite a bit in his short life. One poem for which he is very well-known is "Ode to a Nightingale." A link for information for this poem can be found at eNotes, at the following link:
http://www.enotes.com/ode-nightingale-salem/ode-nightingale
Another eNotes link on literary criticisms of Keats' works is found at the following link:
http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/keats-john
When you look for information regarding Keats' works, you can search eNotes for other students' question on a particular poem. For instance, if you go to the following link, you will see, at the bottom of the page, a group of questions already answered by eNotes editors, and resource material available on the eNotes site. This will not only provide you with information and other source links, but may give you additional ideas about other aspects of Keats' life or works that you may want to include in your paper. The following link shows a list of questions askedand source material available regarding "Ode to a Nightingale:"
http://www.enotes.com/ode-nightingale/q-and-a
Hope this helps get you started. Good luck with the paper!!
How can I write an essay on John Keats' poetry and letters?
There is a great deal of space in which you can play with this topic. It seems wide open. I would focus on how the letters and poetry of Keats really stresses the idea of Romanticism and Keats' own place in the pantheon of literature. Part of what makes Keats' work so powerful is that he was so young and was only a part of the literature scene for so little time. Yet, he fully grasped his function on this stage and understood his place amongst the greats. His letters reflect this grasp of English Literature and his place within it, while his works reflect the same reality. I think that this deep and profound understanding of the history of Romantic literature is something that defines him as a Romantic thinker. It is this aspect that can receive significant attention in any paper. While all of the Romantic thinkers and writers understood their place in their own movement, Keats was one of the few that helped to integrate the Romantic movement into the consciousness of Western Literature. Much can be written on how Keats brought this out in his writing and in his personal correspondence. This makes Keats a product of his time and a reality that transcends it.