Sonnet on the Sea - John Keats

Question 1

When and where did Keats write the poem?

Answer 1

-Holiday in the isle of Wight
-April 1817

Question 2

Where was ‘Sonnet on the Sea’ taken from?

Answer 2

-Letter to a very close friend > Critic and poet John Hamilton Reynolds
- spur of the moment - raw emotion

Question 3

What is the form of the poem?

Answer 3

-Petrachan sonnet
-An Octet
-sestet

Question 4

What

Question 5

What is significant about the Octet?

Answer 5

-Two long sentences, limited punctuation and extensive enjambement > fluidity, mirror the waves and the sea
-Repeated rhyme scheme > reflects cyclical rhythmic tide
-High concentration of onomatopoeic sounds, liquid vowel sounds and sibilance > link to the fluidity of seas motion, and establishing the restorative power of the waves outlined in the sestet

Question 6

What is the rhyme scheme of the first stanza?

Answer 6

ABBA

Question 7

What is significant about starting Stanza 1 with “It”?

Answer 7

-Sense of ambiguity > sea as an all-powerful element > the sublime
-almost personifying the sea

Question 8

What is significant about “eternal” in stanza 1?

Answer 8

-Sea outlives the human legacies of time > cyclical structure

Question 9

what is significance about the sibilance of ‘shores’ and ‘swell’ in stanza 1?

Answer 9

• Soothing nature of the sea > all encompassing > anyone can access nature and use its powers to feel complete

Question 10

What does the paradox of the harmlessness of the sea and the danger of the sea present?

Answer 10

-Duality of nature
-preserver and destroyer
-The sublime
-Harmonies within nature

Question 11

What is significant about “Gluts” in stanza 1?

Answer 11

-feeding as a nourishing image
-Sea as greedy > gorging itself on what the world has to offer > Keats wants the reader to similarly take in what nature has to offer
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Question 12

Who is Keats referring to in “the spell of Hectate”?

Answer 12

-Hectate > greek goddess of magic
-‘Spell’ > Enchanted by the sea

Question 13

Why does Keats refer to female characters within his poems?

Answer 13

-female mythological figures > thematic link to the Romantic perceptions of Nature> powerful feminine force
- poem can be said to celebrate the mystical, the powerful, and the feminine, through the lens of nature.

Question 14

What is significant about “in such gentle temper found”?

Answer 14

-The calm and soft imagery > direct contrast to the powerful imagery.
-Keats alternates between the soft soothing effect of calm seas and the powerful, dangerous seas.
-Oxymoronic/ paradox

Question 15

What is significant about “Oh ye! who have your eye-balls vex’d and tir’d”?

Question 16

What is significant about “feast upon the wideness of the Sea;”?

Answer 16

-The Sea is capitalised > suggests an abstract idea of the Sea, the essence rather than the reality, a reference probably to Plato’s Theory of Forms > The physical world is not as real or true as “Forms”.
-‘feast’ echoes ‘gluts’ > sensual gorging > Sea has healing properties, and its qualities can provide comfort to a weary individual.
-The ‘wideness’ suggests its pervasiveness; it is vast and constantly present.

Question 17

What is significant “dined with uproar rude,”?

Answer 17

-the dynamism of the sea captured > capture the cacophony of the sea but also the noise of mankind

Question 18

What is significant about “Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs quirked”?

Answer 18

-Temporal nature of the sea
-Sea nymphs > female deities of the sea
- honouring women was a key inspiration for romantic era works > linking the beauty and wonder of the sea to women.

Question 19

What is the tone of the poem?

Answer 19

-Urgency to tone in what the sea gives > wanting the reader to involve themselves in nature > could be due to the shift away from natural life and towards industry due to the Industrial Revolution