On Plants Writing In Keats’ Endymion

John Keats(1895-1921)is one of the most important romantic poets in the history of British literature.He only published three poetry anthologies,Poems in 1817,Endymion: A Poetic Romance and Lamia,Isabella,The Eve of St.Agnes in 1818 and Other Poems in 1820 during his lifetime.As Keats’ first narrative poem composed of 4books with over 4000 lines,Endymion is widely recognized as a turning point in his writing career.He puts his poetics into practice when composing this poem,which lays the foundation for the later masterpieces.It is adapted from a love story between a shepherd Endymion and the goddess of moon Diana in ancient Greek mythology.Previous studies have examined themes and social background of this poem.Besides,other scholars have studied Endymion’s influences on later works and Keats’ view on poetry,politics,female and nature;however,the relations between Keats’ affect changes and his plants writing haven’t been fully explored.The thesis writer finds that Keats has written a number of plants endowed with abundant symbolic meanings,on which this thesis mainly focus while analyzing Keats’ writing of plants.Some symbols are conventional,like “daffodils”,“myrtles” and“poppies”,whose symbolic meanings are restricted by western culture;Besides,Keats also uses personal symbols by connecting one certain plant with a particular concept,for example,the general association of buds with youth,of yellow leaves with senescence,and of scarlet roses and impure love.This thesis thinks that Keats utilizes the two kinds of symbols to convey his affect changes when he confronts the choice between ideal and reality in the three stages of poetry writing: At the beginning of writing this poem,the poet is enthusiastic towards beautiful ideal;In the middle of poetry composition,he realizes that reality is cruel as well as beautiful and expresses his hesitation between ideal and reality;When he is going to finish writing,he shows his affect for reality due to the disillusionment of the previous ideal and the unity of current ideal and reality.The thesis author is going to probe into the poet’s affect changes by analyzing the symbolic meanings of plants and utilizing the theory of PANAS.The main body of this thesis is divided into three chapters.Chapter one explores Keats’ affect for ideal when starting to write this long poem by exploring the symbolic meanings of these plants in BOOK 1,such as buds,daffodils,poppies,reeds,yew trees and etc.The affect for ideal will be manifested from two parts: The first part reflects Keats’ determination and interest towards ideal;the second part reveals Keats’ scare and distress towards reality.Chapter two demonstrates Keats’ hesitation between ideal and reality in his exploration of himself by analyzing the symbolic meanings of these plants in Books 2and 3,such as myrtles,thorns,marigolds,mosses,and jasmine.This idea is reflected from two parts: The first part expounds Keats’ contradictory affect towards reality;the second part explains Keats’ interest and enthusiasm towards ideal.Chapter three illustrates Keats’ affect for reality in his accomplishment of the poem by studying the symbolic meanings of these plants in BOOK 4,such as grapes,cowslip,hyacinth,primroses,basil and etc.This idea is expressed from two parts: The first part interprets Keats’ distress towards the ideal world;the second part illustrates Keats’ enthusiasm towards the real world.Through the analysis above,this thesis draws the conclusion that the plants writing in Endymion demonstrates the conversion of Keats’ poetics when writing this poem.The affect changes expressed by plants writing are caused by the conflicts between the obstacles in reality and the ambition Keats possesses.In terms of the academic meaning,this thesis focuses on the detailed descriptions to disclose the poet’s affect changes,which provides future researchers with an innovative perspective.As for the realistic meaning,the way that Keats deals with the conflicts can tell the readers how to face the setbacks and adversity for individuals.