Keats

’s Odes – The Relationship Between Thought And Feeling Essay, Research Paper

.O for a life of sensations rather than thoughts!. What is the relation between thought and feeling in Keats.s odes.

Out of all his poetry, the odes appear to be the most sensually explored poems that Keats wrote. Through this collection of poetry he deeply explores the world of feelings and the enjoyment of them as well as the idea of a transient existence. Do the poems, however, show a separation between thoughts and feelings, and what evidence is there that Keats is trying to obtain his wish for a .life of sensations rather than thoughts..

One of the most striking things about the odes with respect to sensations is the language used. In all of his poems, but especially in the odes, Keats uses highly mimetic language to build upon whatever sensual idea he is trying to portray. In Ode to Psyche there is a seemingly endless use of alliteration. The sibilance of how .the secrets should be sung. and the .soft-handed slumber. and the alliteration of .t. in .these, though temple thou. among with many more examples create an almost dreamlike and transient atmosphere within which to set the poem. This use of alliteration is also found in To Autumn where Keats uses the alliteration of .m. and .s. to open the poem with .Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness.. In Ode to a Nightingale the same technique is used to rather different effects. Here the alliterative .d., .p. and .m. found throughout the first opening lines create a sluggish weightiness corresponding to Keats.s .dull. ache. Although the atmosphere being created here is much different to the one used in Ode to Psyche it is the sensations and feelings that are being highlighted through the use of alliteration.

Another technique used by Keats to create a sensuous mood to his poetry is the repeated use of ternary structure. In Ode to a Nightingale ternary structure appears a number of times with .the weariness, the fever and the fret. and .the grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild.. However, it is in Ode to Indolence where he use of threes is most obvious. The actual poem is centred on the three personified images of .Love / The second was Ambition. and then Keats.s .demon Posey.. The relevance of using a continued pattern of three is that throughout time, an element of mystery has surrounded the use of threes and it is unequivocally connected the Holy Trinity.

As well as the detailed use of alliteration and ternary structure to create a desired effect, Keats also uses a number of other literal techniques that give his poetry a much more sensual feel with which to match the topics he addresses. One of the most obvious techniques, as already seen Ode to Indolence is that of personification. Not only are the titles of his odes personified, Psyche, Melancholy, Indolence and Autumn, with a Nightingale and a Grecian Urn already physical enough to address, but also many of the other abstract nouns that appear in the poems. In Ode to Nightingale, .Death. is personified as Keats calls .him soft names in many a mused rhyme.. Beauty is both personified in Ode to a Grecian Urn and Ode to Melancholy where Keats states that .Beauty must die.. By personifying the untouchable, Keats makes feelings and other sensations much more obtainable. By making a more physical connection between him and such abstract ideas, sensations are made more .immediate.. However it also makes them much more material and therefore removing them from a purely sensual experience.

As seen already, Keats.s use of personification seems to contradict his views. However, it is not purely personification that seems to undermine his ideas on thoughts and feelings. By merely writing about feelings and sensations he has already shown his thoughts. What are his poems if they are not his views and thoughts on such matters. Not only is thought used by association, but the highly structured forms of language that are used in Keats.s poetry is one that requires a great deal of thought; if it did not, then anyone could write highly acclaimed poetry and become world famous. Therefore it can be concluded that there is an automatic level of thought connected to the sensations dealt with in the odes.

With this in mind we can look at any further relationship between feeling and thought other than the physically obvious. Although the language used is very sensual regardless of topic matter, the actually sensuality of the odes is only found by examining the content of the poem. By doing this, it appears that the odes can be divided into two groups, one of supposedly purely sensual poems and the others that have a much more intellectual atmosphere about them.

In Ode to Psyche there is a heavy sensual emphasis from the very being when a transient state is set up when it appears Keats.s .dreamt. the scene depicted by the poem. The limenal state where everything appears real but is in fact not, is seen when Keats questions whether he was dreaming, or .did [he] see. reality. By setting the poem in an apparent limbo state, Keats focuses closely on sensations, as when asleep you cannot explain things, nor think about them. The important fact about Ode to Psyche which places it safely into the sensually based grouped of odes is that there is no reflection. The majority of the poem is merely portraying a story of what the narrator supposedly saw as he .w