英国文学

Mythic Allusions in John Keats’ Poetry

济慈诗歌中的神话典故

摘要

摘要: 本文作者试图对济慈诗歌中神话典故的引用及其变体进行分析探讨，从而论述济慈对古希腊文明、圣经典故的爱好及其深厚的文学功底。在济慈诗歌中引用有各样的神话典故，如夜莺，圣·艾格妮丝，希腊古瓮，路得等典故，因此，神话典故在他的诗集中占有重要的地位。为了便于讨论，作者根据典故的来源，将神话典故分为古希腊罗马传说，圣经典故和其他神话三类进行分析。从分析来看，济慈诗歌不仅仅是对神话典故的简单引用，而是通过诗人对故事的理解，投入自己的感情在诗中，对古神话典故进行改动，从而使诗显得更为生动。同时从诗中也可窥见诗人的美学观点。因此，济慈诗歌中大量神话典故的引用同他本人的美学观点是有关系的，是诗人美学观点的反映。他认为"美即真，真即美"，凡是自然，真实的事物都是美丽的。想象力是诗歌创作的重要条件，同时强调感情的自然流露。因此本文作者认为，了解诗歌中的神话典故，对诗歌的理解及其诗人本人的美学观点的了解将会有很大的帮助，同时作者希望这篇论文能为读者提供一个新的角度来欣赏济慈的诗歌。

关键词: 济慈诗歌神话典故想象力美学

Mythic Allusions in John Keats' Poetry

Abstract

The author in this thesis attempts to analyze various mythic allusions and their variations in John Keats' poetry to show Keats' great interest in Greek art and Holy Bible and his profound knowledge in literature. In John Keats' Poetry there are various mythic allusions, such as Nightingale, St. Agnes, Grecian urn, Ruth and so on that play an important role. In order to make the discussion more clearly, the author classifies the sources of mythic allusions into three kinds: Greek legends， Biblical stories and other tales. From the analysis, it can be seen that many mythic allusions used in Keats' poetry are not only easily cited, but also are varied by John Keats through his understanding and spontaneous overflow of feeling in the poetry. So we can see that the poems are more moving and reflect his pursuit of aesthetics in his poetry. So many mythic allusions used in Keats' poetry are related to his pursuits of aesthetics in his poetry. He holds that, " Beauty is truth, truth beauty " , all the thing of natural and truth are beautiful. And considers that imagination is very vital in writing poems. Moreover, he emphasizes the spontaneous overflow of feeling in the poetry. Therefore, the author thinks that if readers are more familiar with mythic allusions in his poems, they will get a better understanding of his poetry and his aesthetics. Meanwhile, the author hopes this thesis will be helpful to readers to appreciate the poetry in a new way.

Key words: mythic allusions，imagination，Pursuits of aesthetics

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Analyze of Mythic Allusions in Keats' Poems 2.1 Allusions from Greek Legends

2.1.1 St. Agne

2.1.2 Nightingale

2.1.3 Grecian

2.2 Allusions from Biblical Stories

2.2.1 Ruth

2.2.2 Manna

2.3 Allusions from Other Tales

2.3.1 Lamia

2.3.2 Psyche

2.3.3 Isabella

3. Conclusion

1. Introduction

As one of the major Romantic poets, John Keats (1795-1821) writes many famous poems in his short life. Especially in 1819, Keats experienced a burst of energy and wrote many outstanding poems, such as The Eve of St. Agnes, Ode to Psyche, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to a Nightingale and so on. Then a lot of researches about John Keats' poems have been done on subject, love, sensuous imagery and others. While the author of this thesis attempts to analyze various mythic allusions and their variations in his poetry since there is no research in this aspect before. Like other Romantic poets, John Keats is interested in old stories and Medieval Romances. He studies other poets and reads many classical legends with an intense delight. So a great deal of his poetry is affected by the beautiful mythology. Then we can find a gallery of images, especially mythic images in his poetry.

2. Analysis of Mythic Allusions in Keats' Poetry

In order to make the discussion clearer, the author classifies the sources of mythic allusions from the poetry into three kinds. The first kind is the allusions from Greek legends. The second one is the allusions from Biblical stories and the last one is the allusions from other tales.

2.1 Allusions from Greek Legends

2.1.1 St. Agnes

There is a folk legend, in which, a Roman virgin called St. Agnes sacrifices

herself to Christianity. So there is a Feast on January 20th each year to commemorate her. And it's said that if virgins perform certain rites on the eve of St. Agnes, they will have a magic vision of their lovers at midnight in their dreams. "…upon St. Agnes' Eve, Young virgins might have visions of delight, And soft adoring from their loves receive Upon the honeyed middle of the night, If. ceremonies due they did aright". [1] Based on this legend, Keats writes a poem. The Eve of St. Agnes, where his imagination is fully displayed. It is about a story that a young lover slips into the castle and steals his love from her violent and boorish family. In the poem, the setting is a medieval castle and the time is the eve of the Feast of St. Agnes. Madeline, the daughter of the lord of the castle, is looking forward to midnight, for she believes in this old legend. And in the same evening, Porphyro who is in love with Madeline gets into the castle unobserved. After knowing the legend of St. Agnes, he wants to make Madeline's belief become true by his presence in her bedroom at midnight. Then with the help of Angela, Madeline's old nurse, he enters Madeline's chamber where he hides himself in a closet. "Even to Madeline's chamber, and there hide him in a closet, of such privacy [2]. Soon Madeline enters and she does all rites that is required and then falls asleep. "Her soothed limbs, and soul fatigued away-flown, like a thought, until the morrow-day. "[3] Then Porphyro comes out of the closet and awakens her with her lute. Finally in order to live together, they leave the castle undetectedly and go out into the storm. The whole story is about the fragile and beautiful love of Madeline and Porphyro.

It is like a painting that is filled with carefully observed and minute details. The reader's attention is immediately captured and held by the richness of description. Because of Keats' great imagination, from the beginning we are immediately attracted by Keats vivid description and follow the onwards sight that is very cleverly narrowed down to Madeline's room. The description starts from the cold chapel, to the dancing room, then Angela's room and finally up the stairs. ' There is a very powerful sense of moving towards the central part of the plots. Then we are in Madeline's bedroom where her wish on St. Agnes' Eve comes true. Then Madeline and Porphyro escape. "And they are gone-ay, ages long ago These lovers fled away into the storm." [4] And here Keats suddenly changes the tense and turns the present into the past. We are suddenly aware that what we have subconsciously known is just an old story. While in the reading, we are transported consciously to another period. Our surrender to the story is like Madeline's fascination with the legend, and her determination to act it out. " She closed the door, she panted all akin To spirits of air, and visions wide-No uttered syllable, or, woe betide!" [5] Madeline's entry into the storm is like the readers' entry into the poem. And as the lovers flee away into the storm, Keats sharply and neatly reminds us that the legend is in a different time from us. The legend may have come true, but we are living in another time and another place. It is a marvelous example that shows creative power of the imagination. When we have come to believe in the story of Madeline and Porphyro and are worried about their destiny, they

are suddenly distanced from us. Only at that time do we realize that they are just the creatures of the poet's fertile brain. Then we can see how important the imagination is in Keats' poems. In another long poem Endymion, the significance of the imagination is also fully displayed.

Endymion involves a romance from Greek legend, in which, the handsome shepherd Endymion as a mortal, is loved by the goddess ' Diana and finally wins immortal bliss. "Endymion, a shepherd'" Diana saw him naked as he slept on mount Latmos, and was so struck with his beauty that she came down every night from heaven to enjoy as the original Greek legend. In the poem, Endymion is searching for the ideal beauty or ideal love. Keats thinks that writing a long poem on this legend is a test of his ability, his creative ability. We can see the original Greek legend is only a-paragraph long but Keats is to write a long poem with 4000 lines. So he has to fill in the space that is left by the narrative with his imagination.

2.1.2 Nightingale

Nightingale is a frequent allusion in western poets' world. It implies a beautiful and moving Greek legend. It's said that a virgin is raped by her brother-in-law and after that she is suffering the loss of her tongue. Then she changes herself into a nightingale. Every night she whines plaintively to tell her poignant past. So Keats feels very grievous when he hears the plaintive song of nightingale, which stimulates his inspiration to write Ode to a Nightingale. At the same time, the song of nightingale makes Keats happy momentarily, forgetting the tears and frustrations of

reality. "Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, but being too happy in thine happiness?" [7] So Keats longs for a draught of wine, which will take him out of himself and allow him to join his ' existence with the nightingale. "That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, and with thee fade away into the forest dim? " [8] But in fact, his taste of happiness in hearing the nightingale has made him more aware of the unhappiness of life. "Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget what thou among the leaves hast never known. The weariness, the fever, and the fret here, Where men sit and hear each other groan; Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs, Where but to think is to be full of sorrow and leaden-eyed despairs." [9] Then he wants to escape from life, not by means of wine, but by a much more powerful agent? The imagination. "Away! away! for I will fly to thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, But on the viewless wings of Poesy." [10] Then as he realizes this, he is, in spirit, lifted up above the trees and can see the moon and the stars. Since there is only a glimmering of light, he can't see what flowers should be in bloom at the time, but he can guess the answer according to the flowers' odor and his knowledge.

In the darkness he listens to the nightingale, and he wants "To cease upon the midnight with no pain." [11] When the nightingale will continue to sing ecstatically, many a time he confesses that he has been "Half in love with easeful death."[12] He wants to die as easily and painlessly as he can by falling asleep. Here Keats' death?

Wish is not purely fictitious. It is mostly related to the worse in Keats’life. It is the spontaneous overflow of his feeling. When he wrote the ode in 1819, his family life was shattered by the departure of one brother to America and the death of the other because of tuberculosis. ' His second volume of poetry had been harshly reviewed at that time. He had no gainful occupation and no- bright prospects, since he had abandoned his medical studies. What's more, he could not marry Fanny Brawne because his financial condition was insecure at that time. Therefore, the troubles and frustrations from reality lead to Keats' death wish. But the word "forlorn" brings Keats back to consciousness of what he is and where he is. He cannot escape even with the help of the imagination. To appreciate the great beauty, Keats should be alive. So he comes back to the reality.

2.1.3 Grecian Urn

Keats' poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" brings us back to the ancient Greek age for the scenes on the Greek um are from Greek legends. Through Keats' asking a series of questions and his imagination, we are attracted by a scene where some men or gods are frenziedly courting the maidens, who are probably the nymphs of classical mythology, and others are playing musical instruments. "What men or gods are these? What maiden loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild esctasy?" [13] Then Keats thinks that imagined melodies are lovelier than those heard by human ears. "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tune:" [14] Because ' unheard melodies give more place for us to imagine. And imagination is always more beautiful than reality. So in the state of imagination on um, we have entered the world created by the scenes on the urn. Then we see another scene: a youth in a grove is playing a musical instrument to his beloved. But he can never win a desired kiss from his beloved. Though they can' t get the kiss, they don't feel grievous. Because his beloved will never lose her beauty, just as the trees on the urn will never lose their leaves, and the musician is forever playing songs forever new. "Bold lover, never, never earnest thou kiss. Though winning near the goal? Yet, do not grieve: she cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, forever wilt thou love, and she be fair! "[15] So the lovers on the urn enjoy a love forever warm, forever panting and forever young, and better than actual love, which eventually brings frustration and dissatisfaction.

Then come to next scene: a group of people are on their way to perform a sacrifice to some gods. The sacrificial victim, A lowing heifer, is held by a priest. Instead of imagining the sacrificial procession, Keats mentions that the emptied town which is abandoned by people. The desolated town will forever be silent. So through Keats' imagination, the scenes on the urn become alive and vivid before us. At the same time the imagined urn makes the succeeding generations have a vision of happiness by means of sharing its existence, as long as it will last. The imagined urn has been able to preserve the temporary and happy scenes in permanence. " What the imagination

seizes as Beauty must be truth" [16] So the poem is about the truth of imagination. Then we can see Keats' aesthetics in this poems pursuits of beauty and truth and true feeling of his heart's affections which dwells on beauty, and on love, and is linked with the poets' imagination. Writing to his friend Benjamin Bailey, Keats said " He was certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart' s affections and the truth of imagination."

[17]

2.2 Allusions from Biblical Stories

The English Bible markedly influences many Romantic poets in the nineteenth century, such as Shelley, Byron and Wordsworth, while Keats is less influenced by it. "Keats least of all and Bums most. They are omitted here not because they did not feel the influence of the English Bible, not because they do not constantly show its influence, but because they are not so creative as the others; they have not so influenced the current of literature." [18] In spite of this, we cannot deny that John Keats is influenced by the English Bible. So some allusions in Keats poetry are from Biblical stories.

2.2.1 Ruth

Ruth, in the Old Testament, is a Moabite widow who leaves home with her mother-in-law and goes to Bethlehem, where she later marries Boaz. She is celebrated for her devotion to her mother-in-law. "But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and

your God my God' " [19] While in Ode to a Nightingale, when Keats hears the plaintive song of the nightingale, he feels very loneliness and images that Ruth stands alone in tears in the middle of the corn field. " She stood in tears amid the alien corn." [20] Her mood is the same as his loneliness.

2.2.2 Manna

Manna, in the Old Testament, is the food miraculously provided for the Israelites in the wilderness during their flight from Egypt. " This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.' " [21] While in the poem "La Bella Dame Sans Merci", A ballad, manna refers to some kind of plants found by the beautiful lady in the wilderness. " She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew, And sure in language strange she said? (! love thee true'." [22] In a word, the influence of the English Bible in Keats' poetry is very obvious.

2.3 Allusions from Other Tales

Besides allusions from Greek legends and Biblical stories, there are some other mythic allusions from other tales in Keats' poetry.

2.3.1 Lamia

Its source is a short anecdote in Robert Burton' s "Anatomy of Melancholy". The story of Lamia is about the dangers of enchanting love, the contradictions between illusions and reality. As we know that, Lamia in Keats' poem is a serpent turned to be a beautiful woman. On seeing her,

Lycius, a Corinthian youth immediately falls in love with her. Then they live together happily, avoiding the company of others. But their marriage destroys their happiness. Since the magnificent marriage ceremony attracts the philosopher Apollonius who exposes Lamia and thus indirectly kills Lycius, " 'A Serpent ('echoed he, no sooner said. Than with a frightful scream she vanished. And Lycius' arms were empty of delight, As were his limbs of life, from that same night. On the high couch he lay! His friends came round. Supported him. No pulse, or breath they found, and, in its marriage robe, the heavy body wound."[23] The contrast between marriage and death is poignant. The effect of the contrast just fits Keats' purpose. To remind us of the conflicts between illusions and reality. The dreams and reality are not the same. The consuming love in Lamia is like Keats' experience when he writes the poem. His letter to Fanny Brawne indicates that he is obsessed by her beauty, and at the same time, he is also worried about losing his freedom. Keats thinks that love should harmonize with or be a part of life, rather than dominate or control it, otherwise it will be a vital destruction.

2.3.2 Psyche

Psyche is a goddess created by the Latin author Apuleius in his book " The Golden Ass" in the second century A.D. Psyche is a merchant' s daughter whose beauty arouses the jealousy of Venus; Venus orders her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a vile, deformed creature. But Cupid falls in love with her himself. While in Ode to Psyche, he imagines that he himself has seen the winged goddess Psyche when he is wandering in a forest. He thinks

she is "Lastest born and loveliest vision far Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!" [24] Although she is fairer than all other goddess, there is no temple to her with an altar and a choir of virgins to sing hymns to her. So Keats wants to build a shrine in his imagination world for her and leaves one window open for Cupid to enter. In the story of Psyche, Keats finds an opportunity to show his young, warm and ideal love in his imagination world.

2.3.3 Isabella

The story of Isabella is from Boccaccio's " Decameron ". It tells a moving story: In Isabella, there are two cruel brothers who find that their little sister Isabella is in love with their employed butler, Lorenzo. So they kill Lorenzo in private. Later Isabella knows the truth and finds Lorenzo' s corpse. Then she brings his head back and buries it into a flowerpot, planting a sweet basil above the head. Then she waters the basil with her tears every day. But before long their brothers find the secret of the flowerpot and steal it from Isabella. So she is heartbroken and dies soon. Through imagination, Keats makes the story more vivid. It wants to say that the beautiful and sweet love is also fragile. The love between Isabella and Lorenzo is easily destroyed by her two violent brothers. So the contradictions between the reality and ideal love in imagination world is very striking.

From the above-mentioned analysis, we have found out a great number of mythic allusions in Keats' poetry. Then why does he use so many mythic allusions? What he has done is not because of the desire to show off how

profound he is in literature, but because of his pursuits of aesthetics in his poetry. Keats holds, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." ,[25] and considers that imagination is very vital in writing poems. "What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth. Whether it existed before or not for I have the same idea of all our passions as of love. They are all in their sublime, creative of essential ' Beauty. "[26] Then he stretches his imagination through time and space. So we can see many pictures in his imagination world. Just as he says that when our imagination strengthens,-we not only exist in the reality world, but simultaneous in a thousand worlds. [27] According to Keats' aesthetics in his poetry, he emphasizes the spontaneous overflow of true feeling. He says, " If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all." [28]

So a poet should be aware of the tears and frustrations of the reality, then he could feel the true beauty through imagination. As we know that the Romanticists in the nineteenth century consider the imagination vital and enjoy creating of a world of imagination. They also emphasize the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling. At the same time, they are very interested in old stories and Medieval Romances. They pay more attention to the past matter. Just as Robert E. Spille says, " The essence of romanticism is the ability to wonder and to reflect. In searching the meaning of the known, the human spirit reaches for the unknown in trying to understand the present, it looks to the past and to the future. "[29] Since Keats belongs to the

Romanticists in the nineteenth century, he is also keen on the beautiful mythology. That' s why he uses so many mythic allusions in his poetry.

3. Conclusion

To sum up, in Keats' poetry there are various mythic allusions that reflect his pursuits of aesthetics in his poetry. Thus, mythic allusions play an important role in his poetry. If readers are more familiar with mythic allusions in his poetry, they will get a better understanding of his poetry and his aesthetics. So the author in this thesis analyzes those mythic allusions in details to help readers appreciate the poetry better. In order to make the discussion more easily understood, the author classifies the sources of mythic allusions into three kinds: Greek legends, Biblical stories and other tales. In the thesis many mythic allusions such as nightingale, St. Agnes, Grecian um, Ruth and so on are analyzing in details as the typical examples. That's to say, besides those mythic allusions that this thesis has mentioned above; there are many other mythic allusions in Keats' poetry that the thesis could not show them one by one. Since there is no research in this aspect before, what has been discussed in this thesis is preliminary. So the further researches in this aspect are needed. Since there is so much glamour in Keats' poetry, we can appreciate his poetry from many other different angles.

Bibliography

Keats, John. John Keats Selected Poems. Harmondsworth Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. 1988.

MacEachen and Dougald B. Keats & Shelley. IDG Books World wide. 1996. McAfee, Cleland Boyd. The Greatest English Classic .Project Gutenberg, 1912. Ayumi, Mizukoshi. Keats,-Hunt And The Aesthetics Of Pleasure. New York: Palgrave Publishers Ltd., 2001.

Watkins, Daniel P. Sexual Power In British Romantic Poetry. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 1996.

Watson, J.R. English Poetry of the Romantic Period 1789—1830. London and New York: Longman,1985.

Holy Bible (New Revised Standard Version, Chinese Union Version) Nanjing: China Christian Council, 2000.

安妮特.他。鲁宾斯坦(美), 1998年英国文学的伟大传统?从彭斯到兰姆(中)[M]·上海:上海译文出版社。

辜正坤(主编)，1990。世界名诗鉴赏词典[2]·北京:北京大学出版社。

黄宏照(主编)，1988。英国浪漫主义诗人抒情诗选(下)[2]·江苏:江苏人民出版社。梁实秋，中华民国74年。英国文学史(第三卷)[M]·台北市:协志工业丛书出版股份有限公司。

王佐良，1991。英国浪漫主义诗歌史[M]·北东:人民文学出版社。

吴伟仁 1988.英国文学史选读(第二册)[M].北京:外语教学与研究出版社。

约翰·济慈，1983。济慈诗选(朱维基译)[2]·上海:上海译文出版社。

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Notes:

[1] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard (Penguin Books, 1988), 143, L47—50.

[2] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard (Penguin Books, 1988), 147, LI 64—165.

[3]Ibid,150,L238—239.

[4]Ibid.,154,L370—371.

[5]Ibid.,148,L201—203.

[6] J. R. Watson, English Poetry of the Romantic Period 1789—1830 (Longman literature in English series) (Longman, 1985), 264.

[7] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard (Penguin Books, 1988), 169, L5—6.

[8] Ibid., 170, LI 9—20.

[9] Ibid., 170.L21—28.

[10] Ibid., 170, L31—33.

[11] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard (Penguin Books, 1988), 170, L56.

[12] Ibid., 171, L52.

[13] Ibid., 167,L8—10.

[14] Ibid., 168, Lll—14.

[15] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard (Penguin Books, 1988), 168, LI 7—20.

[16] J. R. Watson, English Poetry of the Romantic Period 1789—1830

(Longman literature in English series), (Longman, 1985), 287.

[17] Ibid., 267.

[18]Cleland Boyd McAfee, The Greatest English Classic, ( Champaign,Ⅲ. Project Gutenberg, 1912), 51.

[19]Holy Bible,(New Revised Standard Version, Chinese Union Version) (China Christian Council, 2000), Ruth 1:16.

[20] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard ( Penguin Books, 1988), 171, L67.

[21] Holy Bible (New Revised Standard Version, Chinese Union Version), (China Christian Council.2000), Exodus 16:31.

[22] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard, (Penguin Books, 1988), 161, L25—28.

[23] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard, ( Penguin Books, 1988), 195, L305?311.

[24] Ibid., 164, L24—25.

[25] John Keats, John Keats Selected Poems, edited with an introduction and notes by John Barbard ( Penguin Books, 1988), 169, L49.

[26] J. R. Watson, English Poetry of the Romantic Period 1789—1830 (Longman literature in English series), (Longman, 1985), 287.

[27]转引自张亚玲:《论济慈及其颂诗的独特魅力》，社科纵横，1999年第1期。

[28]梁实秋:《英国文学史》(第三卷)，协志工业丛书出版股份有限公司，中华民

国74年8月，14300

[29] https://www.360docs.net/doc/325408615.html,