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A THING OF BEAUTY: JOHN KEATS

About the poet

John Keats was born in London in the year 1795 and died in Rome in 1821 at the young
age of 25 due to illness. He is a romantic poet and his poetry is characterized by sensual
imagery in his most popular work which is a series of odes, (a lyrical poem which is
meant for a particular subject). Today, his poems are one of the most sought after
creations in English literature. The above given poetry is an excerpt from his poem, -
Endymion : A poetic Romance-(1818), considered to be an epic poem.

1. A thing of beauty-------quiet breathing

The poet says that beauty stays forever. It never fades away. Rather, it increases with
the passing time. The perception of the poet regarding beauty is that it never goes off
with the passing time, rather it beautifies more and more. For the poet, beauty is like a
beautiful shady tree under whose shade all the creatures can sleep peacefully and enjoy
good health.

Literary devices:
Alliteration: Use of consonant sound at the start of two words which are close in series
(Sleep-Sweet)
Metaphor: bower Quiet (calmness of the bower is compared to the calming effect of a
beautiful thing)

2. Therefore, on every morrow ------From our dark spirits.

The poet says that every day, it is the beauty which fills us with the spirit to live. It is the
beauty which builds the desire in us to live though there are sad moments and cruel
people around us. So here the poet wants to say that without beauty the earth will be full
of cruel people, sad and gloomy moments. It is the beauty which is created by god which
helps us to remove the sadness from our hearts.

Literary devices:

Alliteration: Use of consonant sound at the start of two words which are close in series
(‘b’ in Band Bind, ‘n’ in Noble nature, ‘s’ in some shape).

Imagery: creating a sensory effect of beautiful things lined up in a string ( A flowery band
to bind us)

3. Such the sun, the moon,---------the mid forest brake.

Here the poet describes the beautiful things which are present on earth. These are the
sun, moon, trees, flowers (daffodils) and the rivers. Poet says that all these things are
like a blessing bestowed on all the creatures by earth. He further describes that the trees