Week Three: Second Generation Romantics

Canto three was very difficult to read but from reading it a few times and reading some summaries I have learned that the first 5 stanzas are about love. Apparently love is incompatible.  The speaker expresses this in the form of a simile and states, "Marriage from love, like vinegar to wine." (Line 37) It's interesting because according to Frank Sinatra "love and marriage goes together like a horse and carriage." You really can’t separate the two it's obvious that the speaker has been scarred for life. The perspective of love in its negative form is what I found most interesting in this Canto.

John Keats is one of my personal favorite writers. I really believe that he is the epitome of the Romantics. Although he is a late Romantic he definitely bought forth a major impact to romanticism. "An Ode to Grecian Urn," is a perfect example. He takes something as simple as an urn and glorifies it with a story. He speaks of its beauty as if he were speaking of a woman. He describes that urn as something greater then himself. He looks at every picture on the urn and talks about what their story could be.

In "Ode on Melancholy," he has much more of a sincere and subtle tone. He is less imaginative but once again the topic of the poem is Romantic. He talks about melancholy and how to deal with it. He suggest when feeling sad you should relate to natural and appreciate it. Turning to nature is his answer to solve sadness. You should not drown in your own sorrow because it's stupid. He is very aggressive and forthcoming in this poem.

This is actually one of his only ode's not written in first person.

"Ode to a Nightingale," is one of Keats most known poem. He is very descriptive in this poem. He is drunken and tired and this nightingale in a way is annoying the hell out of him. He doesn’t envy the nightingale happiness but the noise it brings forth is appalling. He kind of attacks the presence of the nightingale with thoughts. He states, "What thou among the leaves hast never known, the weariness, the fever, the fret" (Lines 22-23) He says the bird knows nothing of human troubles and if he did he wouldn't sing so gay. Talk about being miserable.