On sitting down to read King Lear once again Flashcards
Form and structure
- Petrarchan sonnet form
- With a rhyming couplet ending the poem - as a tribute to Shakespeare
King Lear context
- Shakespearean tragic play (seen as one of his darkest)
- Includes themes of injustice, authority, chaos and betrayal
- Keats saw Shakespeare as his muse
- He felt that Shakespeare explored themes of ‘negative capabilities’ and the human experience of suffering in his works
“With serene lute”
- Classical and timeless image, presenting the genre as peaceful and delicate
- A feeling of temptation
“O golden tongued Romance”
- Personifies the genre of Romance genre
- Presenting it as outwardly beautiful, yet perhaps too idealistic
“Fair plumed syren! Queen of far away!”
“Plumed” - feathers, indicates soft and comforting nature of the genre
“Syren” - sinister aspects of romance?
- Portrays the genre as attractive yet out of reach, other worldly, unobtainable
“Leave melodising on this wintry day”
“be mute”
- Dismissal of romance
- Romantic view that it is not natural to read such light hearted material in the harsh nature of winter
“Adieu”
- Warm goodbye
- (temporary)
“fierce dispute, betwixt damnation and impassion’d clay”
- A battle between the cruel fate that the characters are facing
- The conflict creates a tragic and painful experience - suited for the tragic nature of the winter
“Must I burn through”
Harsh and contrasting image relating to tragedy vs romance
- Keats, as a true Romantic, is embracing his emotions
- Rapid and powerful breathing, enjoyment
“The bitter sweet of this Shakespearian fruit”
“bitter sweet”
- oxymoron
- two sides feeling of the pleasure of tragedy
- ‘Negative capabilities’
“Shakespearian fruit”
- metaphor
- presents literature as being nourishing and healing (Romantic)
“Chief poet! And ye clouds of Albion”
- Celebratory apostrophe (Shakespeare)
“Clouds of Albion” - metaphor of England, patriotic - celebrating English literature (Shakespeare is English)
“Begetters of our deep eternal theme”
- “Begetters” - portrays Shakespeare as the originator of English literature/ tragedy
- “eternal theme” of suffering, suffering in winter season
“Old oak forest”
“Barren dream”
- Referencing the atmospheres of winter
“Barren dream” - reflects unobtainable idyllic aspects of the romance genre - especially within the winter season
“burn through”
“Consumed in fire”
- Keats embracing his emotions - Romantic
- “fire” metaphor for inspiration
Reading works of Shakespeare fills him with great inspiraiton
“Give me new Phoenix wings to fly at my desire”
- Metaphor
- Phoenix’s burn and are reborn - symbolic of how reading tragedy is painful but the moment of catharsis is satisfying and rejuvenating
- After reading this book, his imagination will be reborn from his own ashes and fuels his poetry
“Fly at my desire”
- Keats is embracing all of his emotions - Romantic
- Focus on his own subjective experience reading King Lear
- Writing about a singular personal response, Romantic
