When you examine the works of John Keats, you can notice the different themes, styles and techniques that he uses. These elements include the importance of friendship, the characteristics of human nature, the contemplation of life and death, as well as the effects of the passing of time. Keats also uses several stylistic techniques such as sensual imagery, alliteration, and personification. Through these themes, styles, and techniques, Keats is truly able to connect with the reader and allow them to truly understand the message he conveys in his many works. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A central theme in many of John Keats's works is the importance of friendship. For example, Keats writes: “My chest of books is divided among my friends.” (Sharp 1:124), which shows that he wants his most prized possessions, his books, to be given to his closest friends after his death. Keats giving these possessions to his friends is representative of the fact that without the support of his friends during his illness, he would not have been able to pursue his passion of being a writer. In essence, Keats recognizes that he owes a lot to his friends who support him in times of need and gives what little he has to show his appreciation. As Sharp also states on page 124, “No one familiar with Keats's poetry, letters, or life should be surprised that the emphasis falls on the friends. Because, to a virtually unparalleled extent, the story of his life and work is truly a story of friendship." This shows that in both of Keats's works, and in his own life, friendship had immense value for Keats. Due to his impending death and debilitating illness, it was important for Keats to surround himself with close friends so that he could navigate the paths that would surely confront him towards the end of his life. These friends would not only support him, but would also be the subject of many of his literary works. The theme of friendship is also touched upon in one of Keats's early works, “The Great End of Posey,” in which Keats describes the qualities of someone who might be seen as a good friend. Keats emphasizes the fact that a good friend is someone who should “soothe, care for, and relieve the thoughts of man.” It is easily apparent why Keats would describe these as good qualities as his closest friends inspired him to write works such as "Written on the Day Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison". These qualities would be personified in works such as “To Autumn.” A final way Keats talks about friendship is through his poem “To Autumn.” In this poem, Keats introduces Autumn at its best, flourishing, but also keeping in mind That winter will come and with it Autumn will end/die. Keats, however, consoles autumn so that, while it lasts, it can express its full potential as a season and do its work. By writing in this way, Keats is able to personify the characteristics of a good friend through his care for Autumn and reflect his friends' characteristics towards her as she grows weaker by the day due to her metastasizing cancer. In addition to the characteristics of friendship, Keats also uses human nature as a theme. As seen in Keats's Ode to the Nightingale, the relationship between the narrator and the nightingale's voice reflects the human relationship with nature in the sense that we are its destroyers. In this quote from Elizabeth A. Lawrence, "The aesthetic significance of natural phenomena such as birdsong to the human psyche - an idea that is often unappreciated - isemphasized", shows that through the narrator's interaction with the nightingale, the narrator's own psyche is affected in such a way that he begins to contemplate the effects of humans on nature. This also serves as a metaphor for the effect of the disease of Keats on his own body, and how in both the circumstances of Keats's nature and life are deteriorating over time Another area where we can see Keats using human nature is through the sense of tranquility evoked by the poem "Ode to the". nightingale." Lawrence writes: “Keats took a quiet and continuous joy in his song; and one day he carried the chair from the breakfast table into a meadow under a plum tree, where he sat for two or three hours. Subsequently, Keats returned from his two-hour stint with pieces of paper in his hand filled with his feelings for the Nightingales' songs Once again, the poem reflects the way nature evokes a sense of tranquility in humans, and in doing so is only part of it. of the human nature that we all experience. A final example where we can see Keats referring to human nature is in the vast majority of his writings. The reader is asked to remember that Keats was faced with the realization that he would die. Looking deeply into his poems, it is evident to see Keats's human nature playing a role in the questions he asks about the uncertainty of how much time he has left. Keats asks the question of how the knowledge that we are about to die relates to the pleasure we experience in this world through our senses. This moves on to the next theme, which is probably referred to the most in the group, the contemplation of life and death. As we know, Keats struggled with illness very early in his life and knew with absolute certainty that it would be the illness that would end his life abruptly. This contemplation can be seen in Keats's Ode to a Nightingale, where he struggles with whether or not to embrace death, or rather live vicariously through the Nightingale's song. What the reader notices here is that Keats is at odds with himself and is unsure whether he should simply give up and wait for death to come, or live his life to the fullest until he dies. Another area where the theme of contemplation of life and death can be seen is in “When I Fear That I May Cease to Exist.” The title of this poem reveals more than anything, but the reader really gets the sense that Keats is afraid of dying. As explained by Boldizsár Fejérvári on page 1: “The first four lines of the poem raise the question of death clearly and directly. The speaker (who, based on Keats's personality, we can identify as a male character) considers his fear of death and its relation to the lack of time necessary to complete his mission which, as he states in The Sleep and poetry, it is undertaken.” What Fejérvári means by this is that from the beginning it is clear that the poem is an examination of death. Death brings with it a sense of urgency for Keats to accomplish what he set out to do, to impact the world through his writing. By examining the poem, the reader can come to the logical conclusion that Keats desires to impact the world through writing. As Zillman says, “The speaker sees death as the ultimate end and wishes to make an impact before ceasing to exist.” Another theme, related to death, used by Keats is the effect of time passing. In many of Keats' works, we see him referring to the importance of making the most of one's life while living. Although we can see how he wants to make an impact through his writing in poems like "When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be", the message is widely applicable asserves as advice to the reader. In works such as “Ode to a Grecian Urn,” Keats argues that although time may pass, art will remain in the world forever. As Douglas G. Atkins states, "The love of art does not die, Keats encapsulates the work of art in the urn and translates it into literature." In essence Keats captures the beauty of the images on the urn and describes them vividly to the reader. In doing so he is able to capture the beauty of the urn and achieve his goal of creating his own art through writing. In the poem “To Autumn”, Keats also uses the theme of time passing. In this work Keats shows the passage of time through the change of seasons from autumn to winter and represents himself as the autumn season. When autumn arrives, it is beautiful, vibrant and in full bloom. However, autumn has to deal with the fact that winter is upon us and will surely overcome it. So Autumn, like Keats, must enjoy its time until Winter, which symbolizes death, overtakes and takes Autumn. In short, the passage of time is shown as a central theme, and through it Keats sends the message that we must make the most of our time while we have it, otherwise, like autumn, we will be snuffed out unexpectedly by winter. . By using certain literary styles, Keats is able to convey his emotions more clearly through his writing. One such example would be his use of sensual imagery in the poem “To Autumn.” As Khan states on page 134: “In the third stanza we hear the songs and music of autumn. We hear the “barred clouds blossom in the sweet dying day. And touching the stubble plains with a pink line” we hear the “obstinate chorus” of the small midges, in mourning”. We hear "adult lambs making noise at least from the hill towns". In the same way we hear “the crickets sing” and the gathered swallows chirp”. And be careful, these are all images of a masterpiece by Keats, namely that of autumn.” Here it can be seen that Keats uses imagery to appeal to the reader's senses. Autumn is depicted with the sound of a “stubborn chorus,” demonstrating that the season has a purpose and a great desire to impact the scope of the land while it can. Keats provides the reader with images such as the sounds of small midges, lambs, and crickets allowing them to truly visualize his setting and make a connection between the features it presents and the autumn season itself. In addition to sensual imagery, Keats is also able to make excellent use of personification. Once again, in the poem “To Autumn,” the reader is able to visualize the characteristics of autumn as it is personified throughout the work. As Khan points out on page 134: “To autumn” 'the ripening', the vines surrounding the thatched roof on the eve of the sun”, “the moss-covered trees”. lending itself fully with the load of “Apples”, the swollen “pumpkin”, “the stone shells” which become “fleshy” with a sweet stone “the late flowers” ​​assuring the bees that “the hot days will never cease” because “ summer is over filled their slimy cells” such beautiful and vivid images are found in the very first verse. In the second stanza the poet leaps forward and personifies autumn through different images of a person doing different things. Sometimes we see Autumn, “sitting carelessly on the barn floor” with her soft hair lifted by the winnowing wind.” Other times we see it "on a half-harvested furrow" which sounds "asleep" because it is "slumbered" by the smoke of poppies" and its diseases are spared", the next windrow and its intertwined flowers". Sometimes we see her in the form of a “gleaner” holding her “charged head over a stream.” And a very – seductive image concludes the verse whenwe see Autumn standing “next to an ayder – press, with a patient book” watching “the latest exudations hour after hour”. This excerpt shows how Keats is able to give the reader an idea of ​​who Autumn is as a person and therefore develop a personal connection with her. Autumn is relatable as she experiences many of the same human emotions as us. Autumn can be apathetic and careless, but she can also get involved in something, like a book, showing that although she may be bored, Autumn can still find enjoyment in literature. Keats seems to write about the autumn as if it were a representation of himself. Keats suffered, even though he may have been tired and bored, he managed to find solace in reading and writing poetry. Autumn is almost identical to Keats in this regard as she is consumed with reading, but grows weary as the days pass and winter is on the verge of arriving. Concluding his analysis, Khan also states that: “The second stanza reveals the germ of personification which is amplified in the beautiful imagery and conveys to us the maturity of autumn. In the second stanza we find several images of the seasonal reaper, the reaper, the gleaner, and the signs of the helper. They all personify autumn.” Here we see how autumn is personified throughout the work. The qualities that autumn possesses are determined by how far the season has progressed. At the beginning she can be thought of as a reaper, while towards the end, as she becomes weak and sad, the entrance of a reaper is shown to personify the death of Autumn and, in turn, Keats's final death. Keats also makes use of alliteration in many of his works. The repetition of words with s-sounds in “To Autumn” is an excellent example of how Keats uses this technique. The repetition of words such as "cease", "summer" and "cells", "seen", "sometimes", "seek", "sit", "soft", "sound" and "swath", all serve to establish a somewhat sleepy demeanor to the poem and adds to the theme of time passing and the eventual end of the season. Alliteration can also be seen in Keat's “Ode to a Nightingale”, where words such as “the same song” and “forsaken fairy lands” are used. The main purpose of Keats's use of this alliteration is to create a certain rhythm and mood "a memorable expression of his melancholy mood", as Smith would say. When writing, Keats uses the techniques of tone and rhythm to capture his audience's attention and develop his themes. For example, in “To Autumn,” Keats establishes a tone that “is romantic. His choice of words shows his love of nature, love of beauty, imagination, love of the past and tired sadness. Keats's attitude is quite optimistic and positive." (Khan 3:135). This tone is used to convey Keats' thoughts when it comes to making the most of the time he has left in life. “To Autumn” serves as examination of Keats's conscience and personality. The lighthearted tone he takes in this work shows that Keats is looking forward to what he can accomplish through his writing and the lasting legacy that Keats is able to erase the thought of death and focus on the fact that his work will inspire a new generation of writers, as well as allow him to make his mark on the literary world as a whole. In the poem “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be,” the tone by Keats is visibly darker than “To Autumn. By taking on this dark tone, Keats is able to effectively convey his concern about the certainty of his death. The reader is able to perceive the tone of urgency in the vocabulary Keats uses, as when he constantly reuses the previous word. First it serves as, 1939.