Explore the ways in which the theme of death is presented in poetry of the romantic period

The romantic period started in 1700, it was a movement , or , mindset that was created in Europe .
The theme of death is a common and important topic in these poems as they suffered from anxiety
and most had lead difficult lives , loosing precious ones along the way. John Keats had a rough
upbringing , an abusive father, who died later on , and the loss of his mother and brother, his
feelings are very well reflected throughout his work.

John Keats explores the theme of death by articulating his concerns of not doing justice to nature in
ode to a nightingale through his words ; his anxiety is also stressed in when I have fears when he
doubts wether by the time he dies he has reached his full potential . This is shown is stanza four
when Keats wishes that the nightingale would go ‘away ! away!’. This repetition of the verb away
stresses the fact that he does no want the bird to come down to this planet because he is too good
for him , if the nightingale Approaches Keats too closely it might become sad and realise all the
horrors that exist ; the exclamation point emphasises Keats desperation for the bird to see the state
that he is in . This links to the poem when I have fears because Keats expresses his worry that
people. Will miss out on his work which is shown In the line ‘before my pen has gleaned my teeming
brain ’ the possessive pronoun my is indicating that he is not worrying about other people but
rather himself ; this also created a feeling of intimacy between the reader and the poet . The use of
the verb glean suggests that he still has many thoughts for his pen to obtain. This relates to the
topic of death because Keats explores the consequences that death can have .

Ode to a nightingale is a distressing and somber poem because it hints darkly towards the end of life.
John Keats writes ‘ my heart aches ,and a drowsy numbness pains him’ in the beginning of the poem;
he mentions, further on in the poem, that he wishes to die ‘ to Cease upon the midnight with no
pain.’ The first two quotes set a sensation of despair which strongly reflects the effect the rest of the
poem has on the reader. The noun heart emphasises the physicality of Keats’ Pain As well As the
importance of articulating his emotions. The verb aches exemplifies the impact of Keats’ distress ,
adding more exaggeration towards how he is feeling. Keats uses the oxymoron ‘numbness pain’ to
highlight the amount of pain he is in , to the extent that he is nearly incapable to feel, he is numb. In
the sixth stanza whilst regarding the nightingale Keats uses the verb to cease to stress that he wishes
to grab a hold of the midnight painlessly; moreover ‘midnight’ Is used as a metaphor to successfully
compare it to death itself -dark, mysterious and silent. This links to the theme of death prevalent in
when I have fears also written by John Keats, yet death is not seemed as the enemy in the poem.
the vividness of life Is hinted in the quote’ the night’s starred face’, and contrastingly the mystery of
death is referred to through the use of ‘shadows’. Keats describes the night has having a ‘starred
face’ using personification to do so . The imagery given presents the impression the poet wishes to
give of death , seemingly human with stars imagined as freckles on a sweet kind face. The ‘night’ is
seen as disguised with stars shining brightly and one could say amiably , once again reinforcing the
belief that death can be seen as approachable. The way in which Keats explores the theme of death
suggest that it is an important concept to reflect upon , as everyone will eventually experience the
effects however different ones experience may be to another , for example john Keatsl at the time of
writing this poem was dealing with the loss of his bother from tuberculosis, and had a childhood
where the loss of his parents deeply affected him , which reflected distinctly On his experience with
death.

Keats explores the theme of death by proving that he has nothing to lose and that love an fame , in
his experience, is fleeting . In his Poem ‘when I have fears’ Keats looks back upon love, ‘the fairy
power’, as he knows it, to be unreflecting . In the end of the poem he ‘stands alone’ on the ‘shore of
the wide world’ claiming that love and fam sinks to ‘nothingness’. Keats uses the noun ‘fairy power
’which describes love as magical , much like the magical. Creature, a fairy ,is . However fairies are not
real and are. Product of the imagination just like the ingenuine love Keats felt he had received
throughout his , and the love we may already be receiving. The metaphor, ‘the shore of the wide
world ‘ is used to underline the feeling of solitude one may feel when the time of death is near,
looking at a vast emptiness , of miserable ending. The alliteration used in wide world illustrates the
immense loneliness Keats fells.the description that john Keats uses in the last lines of the poem
concludes the overall idea that he wants portrayed, which is the idea of love and fame being
temporary . Throughout his traumatising and tragic life , he has always been on the giving end,
which has impacted his literature, as by the end of his life , he had no one to share his love with
satisfactorily , and no one with whom he could proudly share his work without bing criticised- he had
nothing else to give, and therefore nothing else to lose .
This links to the theme of death and relates to the preservation of love and life In ode to a
nightingale .Keats writes that in human life ‘beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes’. Keats faintly
hears the nightingales song fade away and asks himself,’d I wake or sleep ?’. Keats describes
beauty’s eyes by using the adjective ‘lustrous’, which emphasises how much beauty can be worth in
the present , but eventually, it does not matter and should not be prioritised over other things.
Beauty and love lose their charm over time. The rhetorical question. Is used in the very last line of
the poem, asking the reader , maybe even death itself, where he stands at this point, stuck in limbo
between consciousness and sleep. He has managed to spend all his time stuck in his head, trapped in
his words, unable to distinguish reality from his imagination. This links to the theme of death
because he is so self absorbed purely because his reality is empty and full of of worries were as his
imagination is becoming his reality. And therefore at the end of the day no imagination is strong
enough to overcome death.

In conclusion , One could believe that both poems had a powerful meaning . the reader gets a
stronger and deeper understanding from ode to a nightingale as it is such a relatable poem , human
beings are evolving in a world where a future is not a guarantee and being forgotten and replaced is
a worry , which is why ode to a nightingale is able to express this better . By describing in detail the
majestic bird and its significance in this world , the reader will be provoked to think harder about
nature and its true beauty ; and how true beauty is more free and is able to enjoy life as its worries
and end to life and things that they do not have to worry about.