Trailer from 'Bright Star' - film directed by Jane Campion in 2009 and based on
Keats' final period.
sabato 24 settembre 2011
Ode on a Grecian Urn (Ode su un'urna greca)
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Tu, sposa ancora intatta della quiete,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Figlia adottiva del silente tempo,
Sylvan historian, who canst thou express Narratrice dei boschi, che fiorite
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: Storie sai dire meglio dei miei versi,
What leaf-fring'd legend haunt about thy shape Che leggenda rivive tra le fronde
Of deities or mortals, or of both, Della tua forma? Sono dèi o mortali?
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? A Tempe siamo, o nelle valli arcadie?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? E che uomini, dèi, schive fanciulle
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? S'inseguono qui folli? o cercan scampo?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? E i musici? Che estasi selvaggia!
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Dolce è l'udita melodia, più dolce
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; La non udita. Su, teneri flauti,
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, Non per le orecchie, dunque, ma per l'anima,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Più cari senza musica, suonate!
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Tu, giovane fra gli alberi, il tuo canto
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Mai smetterai, ed essi mai le chiome;
Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss, E tu, focoso amante, mai potrai
Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve; Baciare la fanciulla che t’è accanto:
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, La tua felicità mai non avrai,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! Ma non dolerti: lei non sfiorirà,
Così sempre amerai una sempre bella.
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Beati rami, che giammai di foglie
Your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu; Nudi direte addio alla primavera!
And, happy melodist, unwearied, E te beato, musico mai stanco,
For ever piping songs for ever new; Che sempre nuovi canti intonerai.
More happy love! more happy, happy love! Ma più felice, più felice assai,
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, Amore, amore ancora da godere,
For ever panting, and for ever young; Sempre ansimante e giovane in eterno!
All breathing human passion far above, Non come la passione degli umani,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, Che lascia il cuore addolorato e sazio,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. La lingua secca e il fuoco fra le tempie.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice? Chi siete voi che andate al sacrificio?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest, A quale altare, misterioso prete,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, Porti quella giovenca che muggisce
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? Ai cieli, i dolci fianchi inghirlandata?
What little town by river or sea shore, Da che borgo sul mare o della costa,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, O quieta cittadella alta sul monte
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn? Vien questa gente a questo pio mattino?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore Silenziose, o paese, le tue strade
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Saranno, e mai nessuno tornerà
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. A dire perché fosti abbandonato.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
Attica forma! Vaghi atteggiamenti!
Con figure di marmo ricamate,
Con boschi, fronde, erbe calpestate,
Tu, muta forma, fai come l'eterno:
Ci togli il senno, Fredda Pastorale!
Ma quando il tempo volgerà per noi,
Tu rimarrai, di nuovi, altri dolori
Consolatrice all'uomo, cui dirai:
"Il bello è vero, il vero è bello." - Questo
Sapete sulla terra, e questo basta.
venerdì 23 settembre 2011
The sources for the Grecian Urn
The Borghese Vase in the Daru Gallery, at Louvre Museum
Drawing of the Sosibios Vase, by John Keats, Keats-Shelley Museum, in Rome
Perhaps from Rome, Italy, about AD 5-25
The most famous cameo-glass vessel from antiquity
The scenes on the Portland Vase have been interpreted many times with a historical or a mythological slant. It is enough to say that the subject is clearly one of love and marriage with a mythological theme. The ketos (sea-snake) places it in a marine setting. It may have been made as a wedding gift. (British Museum)
The Townley Vase, Roman 2nd century AD (British Museum). Found at villa at Monte Cagnolo near Rome
John Keats
John Keats
1795-1821
'Here Lies One Whose Name Was Writ in Water'
John Keats is buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Italy. His grave is in a quiet corner close to the Pyramid. (Shelley is also buried in this cemetery.)
After leaving Clarke's school in Enfield, Keats became apprenticed to Thomas Hammond - an apothecary-surgeon in Edmonton. In 1814 he left Hammond and began studying at St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals.
It was at this time that he began to write poetry - influenced, in particular, by
Spenser and Milton. In 1816 he became licensed to practice as an apothecary but abandoned it to take up poetry full time.
Blackwood's Magazine - pejoratively referred to this decision as Keats
joining the Cockney School of poetry. At this time Keats met with many of the leading poets and artist of the day including: Leigh Hunt, Shelley, Wordsworth, Charles Lamb and Benjamin Haydon.
In 1819 he became engaged to Fanny Brawne but by the winter of that year he had started to develop tuberculosis.
Keats left England in 1820, on the advise of his doctors, and headed for Italy with his friend Joseph Severn. By now, he was in the final stages of consumption. He arrived at Naples and then proceeded to Rome where he rented a house on the Spanish Steps. He died on the 23 February, 1821 aged only 25.
Keats requested that only the phrase:
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water
be inscribed on his headstone. However, his two close friends Joseph Severn and Charles Brown, who cared for him during his illness, decided to add the following:
Brown and Severn felt that Keats had been badly treated by the critics - in particular by harsh reviews of Endymion which appeared in Blackwood's Magazine and in the Quarterly Review. However, both men later regretted adding their own words to the headstone.
Severn is buried near Keats and between them lies Severn's son. Shelley wrote a long elegy for Keats entitled Adonais.
Keats' short life was beset with tragedy. His father died when he was eight and his mother when he was fourteen. In 1818, his younger brother Tom also died.
Keats' letters were not published until 1848 and 1878 but provided a fascinating insight into his everyday life and his thoughts about poetry. In them he makes reference to various theories including the one about negative capability. Eliot regarded them as 'the most important ever written by any English poet'.
October 27th, 1818
My dear Woodhouse,
Your Letter gave me a great satisfaction; more on account of its friendliness, than any relishof that matter in it which is accounted so acceptable in the 'genus irritabile'. The bestanswer I can give you is in a clerklike manner to make some observations on two princple points, which seem to point like indices into the midst of the whole pro and con, about genius, and views and achievements and ambition and cetera. 1st. As to the poetical Character itself (I mean that sort of which, if I am any thing, I am a Member; that sort distinguished from the wordsworthian or egotistical sublime; which is a thing per se and stands alone) it is not itself it has no self it is every thing and nothing It has no character it enjoys light and shade; it lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevated It has as much delight in conceiving an Iago as an Imogen. What shocks the virtuous philosopher, delights the camelion Poet. It does no harm from its relish of the dark side of things any more than from its taste for the bright one; because they both end in speculation. A Poet is the most unpoetical of any thing in existence;because he has no Identity he is continually in for and filling some other Body The Sun, the Moon, the Sea and Men and Women who are creatures of impulse are poetical and have about them an unchangeable attribute the poet has none; no identity he is certainly the most unpoetical of all God's Creatures. If then he has no self, and if I am a Poet, where is the Wonder that I should say I would write no more? Might I not at that very instant have been cogitating on the Characters of Saturn and Ops? It is a wretched thing to confess; but is a very fact that not one word I ever utter can be taken for granted as an opinion growing out of my identical nature how can it, when I have no nature? When I am in a room with People if I ever am free from speculating on creations of my own brain, then not myself goes home to myself: but the identity of every one in the room begins so to press upon me that I am in a very little time annihilated not only among Men; it would be the same in a Nursery of children: I know not whether I make myself wholly understood: I hope enough so to let you see that no despondence is to be placed on what I said that day.
In the second place I will speak of my views, and of the life I purpose to myself. I am ambitious of doing the world some good: if I should be spared that may be the work of maturer years in the interval I will assay to reach to as high a summit in Poetry as the nerve bestowed upon me will suffer. The faint conceptions I have of Poems to come brings the blood frequently into my forehead. All I hope is that I may not lose all interest in human affairs that the solitary indifference I feel for applause even from the finest Spirits, will not blunt any acuteness of vision I may have. I do not think it will I feel assured I should write from the mere yearning and fondness I have for the Beautiful even if my night's labours should be burnt every morning, and no eye ever shine upon them. But even now I am perhaps not speaking from myself: but from some character in whose soul I now
live. I am sure however that this next sentence is from myself. I feel your anxiety, good opinion and friendliness in the highest degree, and am
Your's most sincerely
John Keats
Comprehension
1. Read the above letter where Keats makes a distinction between two types of poet.Then consider the two kinds of poet and fill in the notes below.
his task is ...................................................................................................................
his main features are ....................................................................................................................
difference from the other creatures .....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2. Explain the metaphors used for the two types of poets
1st kind
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
2nd kind
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
Summing up, what literary theory by Keats can you find explained in his letter?
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
1795-1821
'Here Lies One Whose Name Was Writ in Water'
John Keats is buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Italy. His grave is in a quiet corner close to the Pyramid. (Shelley is also buried in this cemetery.)
After leaving Clarke's school in Enfield, Keats became apprenticed to Thomas Hammond - an apothecary-surgeon in Edmonton. In 1814 he left Hammond and began studying at St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals.
It was at this time that he began to write poetry - influenced, in particular, by
Spenser and Milton. In 1816 he became licensed to practice as an apothecary but abandoned it to take up poetry full time.
Blackwood's Magazine - pejoratively referred to this decision as Keats
joining the Cockney School of poetry. At this time Keats met with many of the leading poets and artist of the day including: Leigh Hunt, Shelley, Wordsworth, Charles Lamb and Benjamin Haydon.
In 1819 he became engaged to Fanny Brawne but by the winter of that year he had started to develop tuberculosis.
Keats left England in 1820, on the advise of his doctors, and headed for Italy with his friend Joseph Severn. By now, he was in the final stages of consumption. He arrived at Naples and then proceeded to Rome where he rented a house on the Spanish Steps. He died on the 23 February, 1821 aged only 25.
Keats requested that only the phrase:
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water
be inscribed on his headstone. However, his two close friends Joseph Severn and Charles Brown, who cared for him during his illness, decided to add the following:
"This Grave contains all that was mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET, who on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his heart, at the Malicious Power of his enemies, desired these words to be Engraven on his Tomb Stone"
Severn is buried near Keats and between them lies Severn's son. Shelley wrote a long elegy for Keats entitled Adonais.
Gravestone of John Keats
Graves of Keats and Severn
John Keats
Keats' short life was beset with tragedy. His father died when he was eight and his mother when he was fourteen. In 1818, his younger brother Tom also died.
Keats' letters were not published until 1848 and 1878 but provided a fascinating insight into his everyday life and his thoughts about poetry. In them he makes reference to various theories including the one about negative capability. Eliot regarded them as 'the most important ever written by any English poet'.
October 27th, 1818
My dear Woodhouse,
Your Letter gave me a great satisfaction; more on account of its friendliness, than any relishof that matter in it which is accounted so acceptable in the 'genus irritabile'. The bestanswer I can give you is in a clerklike manner to make some observations on two princple points, which seem to point like indices into the midst of the whole pro and con, about genius, and views and achievements and ambition and cetera. 1st. As to the poetical Character itself (I mean that sort of which, if I am any thing, I am a Member; that sort distinguished from the wordsworthian or egotistical sublime; which is a thing per se and stands alone) it is not itself it has no self it is every thing and nothing It has no character it enjoys light and shade; it lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevated It has as much delight in conceiving an Iago as an Imogen. What shocks the virtuous philosopher, delights the camelion Poet. It does no harm from its relish of the dark side of things any more than from its taste for the bright one; because they both end in speculation. A Poet is the most unpoetical of any thing in existence;because he has no Identity he is continually in for and filling some other Body The Sun, the Moon, the Sea and Men and Women who are creatures of impulse are poetical and have about them an unchangeable attribute the poet has none; no identity he is certainly the most unpoetical of all God's Creatures. If then he has no self, and if I am a Poet, where is the Wonder that I should say I would write no more? Might I not at that very instant have been cogitating on the Characters of Saturn and Ops? It is a wretched thing to confess; but is a very fact that not one word I ever utter can be taken for granted as an opinion growing out of my identical nature how can it, when I have no nature? When I am in a room with People if I ever am free from speculating on creations of my own brain, then not myself goes home to myself: but the identity of every one in the room begins so to press upon me that I am in a very little time annihilated not only among Men; it would be the same in a Nursery of children: I know not whether I make myself wholly understood: I hope enough so to let you see that no despondence is to be placed on what I said that day.
In the second place I will speak of my views, and of the life I purpose to myself. I am ambitious of doing the world some good: if I should be spared that may be the work of maturer years in the interval I will assay to reach to as high a summit in Poetry as the nerve bestowed upon me will suffer. The faint conceptions I have of Poems to come brings the blood frequently into my forehead. All I hope is that I may not lose all interest in human affairs that the solitary indifference I feel for applause even from the finest Spirits, will not blunt any acuteness of vision I may have. I do not think it will I feel assured I should write from the mere yearning and fondness I have for the Beautiful even if my night's labours should be burnt every morning, and no eye ever shine upon them. But even now I am perhaps not speaking from myself: but from some character in whose soul I now
live. I am sure however that this next sentence is from myself. I feel your anxiety, good opinion and friendliness in the highest degree, and am
Your's most sincerely
John Keats
Comprehension
1. Read the above letter where Keats makes a distinction between two types of poet.Then consider the two kinds of poet and fill in the notes below.
1st kind
defined as ...................................................................................................................his task is ...................................................................................................................
2nd kind
defined as ...................................................................................................................his main features are ....................................................................................................................
difference from the other creatures .....................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................
2. Explain the metaphors used for the two types of poets
1st kind
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
2nd kind
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
Summing up, what literary theory by Keats can you find explained in his letter?
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................
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