Keats: On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again Flashcards
Form
Petrarchan sonnet
Octet: ABBA ABBA
Sestet: CDCDEE
Iambic Pentameter- nb last line as an exception!
Date of writing
.1818. Not published by Keats.
Context
King Lear was banned on stage at the time of writing due to the emotive end scene. The writer Nahum Tate rewrote the end scenes to be happier.
- Keats READ Shakespeare’s original version, valuing the play’s unflinching depiction of human suffering.
- The play itself is a tragedy & deals with questions regarding human existence.
1st half of octet
O Golden-tongued Romance, with serene Lute!
Fair plumed Syren, Queen of far-away!
Leave melodizing on this wintry day,
Shut up thine olden Pages, and be mute:
Begins with an apostrophe to a spirit of artistic inspiration- only to quieten her. Shows Keat’s power as the reader.
- “Romance”- an allusion to 16th century literature. LINK here to context.
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2nd half of octet
Adieu! for, once again, the fierce dispute
Betwixt Damnation and impassion’d clay
Must I burn through; once more humbly assay
The bitter-sweet of this Shaksperean fruit.
- “Betwixt damnation and impassioned clay”- Existential crisis of Hamlet.
- “bitter-sweet”- catharsis
Chief Poet! and ye Clouds of Albion,
Begetters of our deep eternal theme!
When through the old oak forest I am gone,
Let me not wander in a barren dream,
But, when I am consumed in the fire,
Give me new Phoenix Wings to fly at my desire.
- “Albion”- archaic poetic term for England
- “phoenix”- Keats wants to be reborn from the challenge of reading this text.
- “deep eternal”- Worthy of respect: deals with serious themes.
- “my desire”- he gains power through the reading.