Keats critics

Question 1

What was the fate of Hermes and the nymph’s relationship?

Answer 1

• The objects of male God’s affections in ancient Greek mythology are inevitably destroyed.
• We can assume that Hermes and the nymph do not ‘grow pale’ like ‘mortal lovers’ because the nymph is destroyed.

Question 2

What was Keats’ intention with Lamia?

Answer 2

he believed it had a ‘sort of fire in it’ that would inevitably ‘take hold of people in some way - give them either pleasant or unpleasant sensation.’

Question 3

Which text chiefly inspired Lamia?

Answer 3

• Paradise lost.
• ## Keats inverts the transformation of Satan into a serpent.

Question 4

What is Eros and Thanatos?

Answer 4

Life and death, emblematic of direct contradictions.

Question 5

How does Keats’ narrative voice in Lamia emotionally engage the audience?

Answer 5

• ‘O senseless Lycius! Madman! Wherefore flout the silent blessing fate’
• ‘Foolish heart… mad pompousness’
• He sympathises with the vulnerable, criticises mistakes and antagonists.

Question 6

In what ways can Keats’ poems be considered tragedies?

Answer 6

• Moments of emotional stability and comfort: the summer in LBDSM, Madeline and Porphyro’s tranquil room, Lamia and Lycius’ magical trance, are framed by harshness and stark suffering.
• In Lamia, a Platonic balance is established as they complete each other (e.g ‘side by side they were enthroned’)

Question 7

How does Lamia explore the power of imagination?

Answer 7

The poem paints a complex, ambivalent portrait of the imagination. On the one hand, imagination makes life worth living: without a sense of magic, dream, or fantasy, the world feels cold and dead. On the other, the imagination can be so seductive that it can spirit you away from the real world—and break your heart when you’re forced to return to that world.

Question 8

Keats letter:
‘I never knew before, what such a love as you have made me feel was…

Answer 8

…my fancy was afraid of it, lest it should burn me up’

Question 9

How does Keats depict sexuality in TEOSA?

Answer 9

• Tony Cavender suggests the poem is ‘pervaded by a heady sensuality and a voyeuristic approach is encouraged by the attention accordrd to physical details’
• the description of Madeline’s body saturates the reader’s senses.

Question 10

What does Trilling note about food’s euphemistic presentation in LBDSM?

Answer 10

‘for Keats, the luxury of food is connected with, and in a sense gives place to, the luxury of sexuality.’

Question 11

What does the depiction of sex in LBDSM infer about Keats’ views at that time?

Answer 11

• He perhaps believes sex is a distraction, particularly the kind of brief erotic encounter he describes in LBDSM.
• He suggests they deprive great men of the power to act/their masculinity.
• Reflects his frustations and confusions.

Question 12

What is problematic about TEOSA?

Answer 12

• When Porphyro ‘entered her dream’ she was asleep, perhaps her wish to participate in St Agnes’ tradition does directly translate into consent - is it rape?

Question 13

Why is Lamia difficult to come to a conclusion about?

Answer 13

• We cannot know how much danger she posed to Lycius.
• Perhaps she merely wished to change, to be loved, perhaps she felt a need to conform and ‘play woman’s part’
• She is undeserving of her cruel public exposition.
• Reflects Keats confusion about women; hard to balance mutuality with masculinity.