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The Poetry of John Keats: Beauty is Truth (Lecture) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-08-24 18:22:38
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

John Keats (1795-1821) was one of the first poets I fell in love with, and his poetry continues to affect me today.

In this lecture, I hope to make your love my love with a deep-reading of three incredible poems:

  • Ode on a Grecian Urn
  • Ode to a Nightingale
  • La Belle Dame sans Merci

We'll begin by talking briefly about Keats' tragically short life, his aesthetic theory of negative capability, ekphrasis, beauty and truth, his relationship with Shakespeare, Proust, Wilde, Blake, and more.

Good volumes of Keats' poetry

The first volume below is a cost-effective Wordsworth paperback edition of Keats' poems. This was my first volume of Keats, and I still have it, albeit lovingly dogeared with a cracked spine.

The second volume is a beautiful hardback selection from Everyman's Pocket Poets series. This portable treasure has all three poems explored today, and more.

Lecture Timestamps:

  • 0:00 the tragic life of Keats
  • 2:00 my personal relationship with Keats
  • 3:30 negative capability
  • 8:40 Keats' influence
  • 12:00 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'
  • 12:30 what is ekphrasis?
  • 28:00 "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"
  • 29:00 early critical responses to the poem
  • 35:00 'Ode to a Nightingale'
  • 36:00 appreciating the sounds of Keats
  • 40:00 appreciating Keats' 'language strange'
  • 45:00 early critical responses to the poem
  • 47:00 'La Belle Dame sans Merci'
  • 49:00 the poetic tradition of flowers
  • 55:00 your poetry reading assignment

Your reading assignment sounds like a simple one, but is actually rather complex:

Read and relish these three poems, then isolate any part of them that you most love - and, of course, share that with us in the comments below.

As Keats, along with Shakespeare, is one of my favourite poets, we will continue to appreciate him together.

Happy reading!

Files

Previews only

The Poetry of John Keats: Beauty is Truth (Lecture One)

0:00 the tragic life of Keats 2:00 my personal relationship with Keats 3:30 negative capability 8:40 Keats' influence 12:00 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' 12:30 what is ekphrasis? 28:00 "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" 29:00 early critical responses to the poem 35:00 'Ode to a Nightingale' 36:00 appreciating the sounds of Keats 40:00 appreciating Keats' 'language strange' 45:00 early critical responses to the poem 47:00 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' 49:00 the poetic tradition of flowers 55:00 your poetry reading assignment

Comments

Annie

I love John Keats, and I don’t know where to begin. The dreamy quality in Ode to a Nightingale becomes textural for me in the fifth stanza, with what looks like a litany of fragrant notes. In traditional perfumery, a fragrance is conceived as having brief top notes, enveloping heart notes, and lasting base notes. John Keats cannot see the flowers at his feet or on the boughs, but ever the painter of illusions, he plays a game in that embalmed darkness, guessing layer upon shimmering layer of soft incense, white hawthorn, pastoral eglantine, fading violets, and mid-May musk rose. It’s a wild thought, but Myrrhe Eglantine (a fragrance created by Christine Nagel for Hermes) recreates John Keats’ tender night for me. I like to think of it as an olfactory, reversed ekphrasis, one that brings full circle the shift from form to words and back to form again. Does that make sense? I'm grateful for it either way, as I am for all these wonderful things everyone here so generously shares.

Emma Yap

Coming to this late, but so thrilled by all the wonderful comments on this thread! I read all three poems very quickly before watching Ben's video and tbh, I struggled, especially with Ode on a Grecian Urn - I think the archaic language put me off. I'd just come to it from reading Wordsworth, and I found it difficult to adjust. But Ben's video really unlocked the meaning of each of the poems for me. My favourite poem of the three is Ode to a Nightingale. I don't really have anything to add beyond what's already been said, but I found it hypnotic - I love the recurring use of fading and dissolving. It strikes me as incredibly beautiful and sad. My favourite line is "it seems rich to die, to cease upon the midnight with no pain". Like Keats is welcoming oblivion. It was quite illuminating to me to read in the comments that he was addicted to opium. My favourite line from 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' is 'And little town, thy streets for evermore will silent be; and not a soul to tell why thou art desolate'. I like how the figures painted on the urn are treated as if they were real people who have left their town and somehow become frozen in time, so they can never return. It's very moving