Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Criticism Of Keats' Melancholy - School Essays

Criticism Of Keats' Melancholy



After reading the title of John Keats’s “Ode on Melancholy,” I was immediately intrigued. I thought it odd to base a poem on the feeling of melancholy. The poem touched me and after I completed reading it, I felt depressed and sad. I feel that it was Keats’s choice and arrangement of words and lines that helped to draw me in and, thus, feel the particular emotion that the poem is all about, melancholy. I can easily understand why many authors chose to critique and write about Keats’s “Ode on Melancholy.” Two articles in particular are Keats’s Ode on Melancholy by Theodore L. Gaillard and Mourning Becomes Melancholia-A Muse Deconstructed: Keats’s Ode on Melancholy by Anselm Haverkamp. ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

was composed of four stanzas, the first of which Keats’s decided to remove before the poem was published. According to Gaillard, the original “stanza did survive in Brown’s transcripts, but many critics have made only passing references to it, avoiding discussion of the structure, language, theme and imagery of the poem as a full four-stanza work”(19). Gaillard believes that the deleted first stanza’s inclusion is very vital to the symmetry and structure to the poem. He states,
“With stanza one’s omission the poem ‘s original symmetry
is destroyed, and we lose the effect of Keats’s careful balancing
of equal stanza pairs to embody negative and positive locations
and methods in the search of melancholy. Replacing the original
first stanza ahead of the other three resolves theses problems”(19).

He then goes on to explain the structure of “Melancholy.” Gaillard believes that the poem’s actual balance point has been pushed off center. Gaillard believes that “the point ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login

first stanza, deals with the meaning of “Aye.” Some critics believed that “Aye” was simply a sigh. However, according to Gaillard:

“’Aye in the Temple of Delight’ serves not as a sigh or lament,
but rather as an affirmation and reinforcement of the location
of Melancholy. Just as Pleasure turns to poison (stanza four),
so ‘Aye’ reminds us that Melancholy is found not in ‘any isle
of Lethe dull’ (deleted stanza one), but instead in her sovran
shrine in the temple of delight”(21).

The first stanza’s inclusion is also needed to understand “She” which is found in the fourth stanza. If the poem’s three stanza version is analyzed it appears the “She” is the mistress “dwelling ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.


CITE THIS PAGE:

Criticism Of Keats' Melancholy. (2008, February 20). Retrieved March 28, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Criticism-Of-Keats-Melancholy/79347
"Criticism Of Keats' Melancholy." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Feb. 2008. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Criticism-Of-Keats-Melancholy/79347>
"Criticism Of Keats' Melancholy." Essayworld.com. February 20, 2008. Accessed March 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Criticism-Of-Keats-Melancholy/79347.
"Criticism Of Keats' Melancholy." Essayworld.com. February 20, 2008. Accessed March 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Criticism-Of-Keats-Melancholy/79347.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 2/20/2008 02:32:52 PM
Category: Poetry & Poets
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1902
Pages: 7

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» Sojourner Truth
» Klinefelter Syndrome
» Collisions Of Two Objects
» Should There Be Stricter Laws O...
» Enders Game--enders Empathic A
» Diana, Princess Of Wales
» Who Is Free To Choose
» The Application of Internationa...
» African Slave Trade
» Why Go To University?
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved