John Keats: The Enigmatic Poet’s Journey through Spirituality and Existence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/jlapsu.2024.17Keywords:
John Keats, English Literature, Poetry, SpiritualityAbstract
This paper explores the spiritual journey of the narrator in John Keats’s poems and shows how themes such as loss and illness make the narrator reflects on life, death, and spirituality. It examines Keats’s admiration for Shakespeare, particularly how the balance of good and evil influenced the narrator’s view of human experiences. By comparing the spiritual beliefs presented in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth with those in Keats’s poems, this study highlights the narrator’s evolving understanding of suffering and joy, especially in works like The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream. The narrator’s appreciation of the divine is also examined, particularly through the connection between beauty and philosophical truth, as illustrated in Ode on a Grecian Urn. Through an analysis of key poems like When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be, Bright Star, To Autumn, and Ode on Melancholy, this paper shows that Keats’s spiritual ideas are shaped initially by personal experiences and later by literary influences like Shakespeare. The study emphasizes how the narrator’s journey moves beyond traditional Christianity, reflecting a deeper search for meaning through beauty and truth. Although it is challenging to interpret Keats’s narrator from the perspective of Southeast Asian readers, this paper aims to offer a new perspective on how Keats’s spiritual themes resonate with a broader audience, transcending cultural and religious boundaries.
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