Keats: Poetry About Poetry Itself in "On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again" and Other Poems Eli Smith College

John Keats’ poetry revolves around what poetry itself is and what, for him, poetry is. The man is considered one of the late Romantics of the nineteenth century. During his short life, his poems were, for the most part, not well received by the public. Yet, today, he is one of the most pivotal canonical figures, considered as essential as Shakespeare and Milton in understanding English literature. The admiration for his poetry that has grown into the present is founded upon his ability to interweave his ideas with nature and impart his own perceptions onto the natural world. When interacting with the poetry we see that he emphasises poetry itself as an entity of seduction through which he can experience life. Through an exploration of several of his poems I will expound that Keats’ poetry is foundationally an expression of his interactions with the world through his poetry.

The centrality of poetry in his writing is evident in his extensive exploration of the maturation and growth of his style and content. This is most pertinent in his sonnet ‘On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again’. The poem chronicles Keats’ encounter with Shakespeare’s King Lear as a transition between styles in his poetry. He refers to the way in...