Ans: John Keats is regarded as one of the finest flowers of the Romantic Movement. In the history of English Romanticism, he possessed a unique position. In his poetry, we find several romantic criteria such as escapism, imagination, love for beauty, love of nature, supernaturalism, sensuousness, music and melody, romantic suggestiveness, etc.
Escapism is one of the most striking features of romanticism. In this respect, we can undoubtedly mention the name of John Keats because he is often considered an escapist among romantic poets. Dissatisfaction with life and the real world and the constant search for an ideal are at the root of Romanticism. Hence the tendency to seek escape from the harsh realities of life is common to all romantic poets. With a view to finding relief from the weariness, the fever, and the fret of the real words, the Romantic poets have created a world of dreams and imagination in their poetry. Keats is the most romantic in this regard. In his odes, Keats has created a world of imagination beyond the world of harsh realities of life the inhabitants of which are not subject to pains and sufferings, pangs and sorrows, decay and death.
In “Ode to a Nightingale”, Keats keenly desires to fade far away, dissolve and quite forget what the nightingale living among the leaves has never known. Being dissatisfied with the present world, he wants to escape to the dream forest of the Nightingale where he finds all the sensual enjoyments of life. The song of the Nightingale seems to him to be a symbol of ever-lasting joy.
In “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, the poet creates an ideal world in which it is eternal spring and creatures there are immune from the negative aspects of time.
Love for beauty is another criterion/feature/trait of romantic poetry. This very trait is traceable in the poetry of Keats. The remote, the distant, and the unknown fascinated him. The beauty of the unknown attracts him the most. He imaginatively enjoys beauties that are hidden from the physical eye. Thus the song of the Nightingale becomes for him a symbol of eternal beauty.
John Keats is a remarkable figure in the galaxy of Romantic poets. The poet’s poetic creed which is the identification of beauty with truth has been expressed very effectively and powerfully. Actually, John Keats is a great worshipper of Beauty. He thinks whatever is beautiful is true to him and whatever is true is beautiful to him. Beauty and Truth are inseparable. He says—
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty-that is all.”
Nature is a dominant theme in romantic poetry. Keats is no exception. His poetry is replete with sensuous descriptions of nature. In “To Autumn”, Keats enters fully into the life of nature and gives a graphically sensuous description of the season with all its tastes, sounds, and sights. “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “Ode on Melancholy” are also full of natural images which appeal to our senses.
Supernaturalism is one of the most striking qualities of romantic poetry. Though in the poetry of Coleridge, we find this quality the most, Keats is also fully alive in this respect. It is the magic and mystery, the belief in ghosts and fairies, of the middle ages that captivates his heart.
In his poetry of Keats, there is a romantic touch of suggestiveness by which more is meant than meets the ear. In his poetry, Keats suggests much more than he describes. Each of his images opens before us the view of far-reaching perspectives and each of his epithets is highly suggestive and each of his words is laden with a wealth of meaning. He has also used simple language to make his poems understandable.
In light of the above discussion, we can say that his poetry bears a high stamp of romanticism. So undoubtedly we can mark John Keats as a romantic poet as he possesses the criteria of romantic poetry.
