"Keats's Odes of May 1819 articulate a Profoundly Divided Self.
The poetry of John Keats articulates an astonishing literary liturgy, which has influenced much of the study of nineteenth century literature; though during his short lifetime he was deemed to be a "lower class cockney," and an ignorant, unsettled "pretender" to a higher culture. Barnard (1999) asserts that Keats is one of the great English romantic poets, whose prime belief was in art and beauty. The most famous of Keats's poems, the Odes, can be seen to reflect the notion that he was a poet preoccupied by the nature of imagination and that these Odes are the "product of the reaction of his poetic faculties to the facts of his experience" (Finney 1936:3).
The Odes, Ode To Psyche, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy, Ode on Indolence and To Autumn were written in a period of around two weeks in May 1819. These short romantic poems can be seen to be linked both structurally and thematically by a sequence of closely related problems and, as an effect, show Keats both at his most vulnerable and possessing the literary genius he has subsequently been accredited with. These works, although they have been subjected to much critical analysis, remain the "ultimate expression of Keats's genius" and as such "secure his reputation as a great poet." (Englishhistory.net). The Odes are poems of imaginative meditation, exploring the reaction of Keats to an intense contemplation of an object, creature or mythical goddess (Hollindale 1988:54). These all signify for the writer an understanding of his own predicament both as a human being and as an artist. The Odes themselves reflect a development of his thoughts and emotions; and hence are pliable to accommodate differing significances. They are, it can be said, a contemplation and overtly subjected response to a reading of a particular human condition. Keats hence goes about teaching the reader of his own humanity and identity, which can be grasped, from his own experience.
