"Ode to Psyche"by John Keats

 

"Ode to Psyche"by John Keats

 John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his work having been in publication for only four years before his death. 

 Born 31 October 1795, 

 Died 23 February 1821

List of poems by John Keats

• "Ode to a Nightingale" (1819)

• "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1820)

• "Ode to Psyche" (1820)

• "To Autumn" (1820)

• Ode to Psyche

  "Ode to Psyche" is a poem by   John Keats written in spring 1819. The poem is the first of  his 1819 odes which include  and "Ode to Psyche" is an experiment in the ode genre, and Keats's attempt at an expanded version of the sonnet format that describes a dramatic scene. 

     The poem serves as an important departure from Keats's early poems, which frequently describe an escape into the pleasant realms of one's imagination. Keats uses the imagination to show the narrator's intent to resurrect Psyche and reincarnate himself into Eros (love). Keats attempts this by dedicating an "untrodden region" of his mind to the worship of the neglected goddess.

   

  Theme

  

   

  The moment that Cupid and Psyche are revealed is an example of "Keatsian intensity" as they are neither in a state of separation nor are they united; they exist in a state somewhere in between in a similar manner to the figures depicted in Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn".

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•  The narrator's ability to witness the union is unique to Keats's version of the Psyche myth because the lovers in the original story were covered in darkness. However, the narrator questions if he was able to see them at all or if he was dreaming. 

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• This inability of the narrator to know if he was awake is a theme that appears in many of Keats's odes that followed, including "Ode on Indolence", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", and "Ode to a Nightingale". Regardless of the narrator's state of consciousness, he is able to relate himself to Cupid as he believes himself to be in love with Psyche, representing the mind.

Conclusion  :- 

                           In conclusion, John Keats, as a member of the Romantic Movement, viewed nature in a positive light. This is demonstrated throughout the poem by a number of positive metaphors and similes for nature. The most obvious metaphor being that of the goddess in stanza two who enjoys the changing season to such an extent it is compared to being under the influence of opium.