Analysis of John Keats’ “On the Sonnet” Essay

In John Keats On the Sonnet, he urges fellow poets to not let their poetical genius, their M intention die, because it is confined to the parameters of then- menstruum Petrarchan and Shakesp pinnuleean sonnet forms. While he follows neither form, (thus requiring raise analysis to determine the logic of his poem), his use of symbolism makes his message more than clear.He starts the poem with an allusion to Andromeda, who, according to Greek myth, was en arrange to a rock so that she would be devoured by a sea teras (Norton 799). He uses this image to represent the urgency of poetry, if it follows the unsatisfactory form of either Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnets. This image is portrayed in the first three lines, If by alter rhymes our English must be chained, /And manage Andromeda, the sonnet sweet /Fettered, in evoke of pain and loveliness, which tummy be translated as If our poetry must be confined by the watercourse sonnet forms, and shell the fate of Andromeda, desp ite our wakeful solicitudethen.The second clause of the thought introduced in lines one by dint of three, the implied then, is found in lines four by nine. Keats writes, Let us find, if we must be constrained, /Sandals more interlocking and complete /To fit the naked cornerstone of Poesy /Let us chew the fat the lyre, and weigh the stress /Of every harmonize, and notice what whitethorn be gained /By ear industrious, and attention meet. According to the footnote provided in Norton, Poesy extend tos to a learn utter in a letter, in which Keats wrote forth this poem and then discussed his impatience with the handed-dget Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnet forms I hit been endeavoring to discover a better sonnet stanza than we have.The word lyre can mean brood, only when if can also be a symbol for lyric poetry, and chord can mean a string of a musical instrument, such as a harp, but can also refer to poetry, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. With this in min d, lines four through nine can be interpreted to mean, if we must be chained like this, then lets find intricately woven sandals, (symbolic of new, unexplored sonnet forms Keats need), to fulfill my need lets inspect the harp (symbolic of lyric poetry), and listen to every chord (continuing the metaphor of the harp, chords are symbolic of lines indoors lyric poetry), and lets serve what we can accomplish through careful listening and attention. in the end, in the last louvre lines of the sonnet, Keats directly addresses his fellow poets as misers, which has a double meaning. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, misers direction poets, but it also means pitiful people. This intentional word pun expresses Keats clear that poets are currently miserable, because of the inadequacy of the current sonnet forms. In lines ten through fourteen, he writes, Misers of sound and syllable, no little /Than Midas of his coinage, let us be / greedy of dead leaves in the bay-wreath cr own /So, if we may not let the ruminate be free, /She will be bound with garlands of her own. Midas was a king who had the power to turn everything that he touched into gold. According to Norton, jealous meant suspiciously watchful.Also, in reference to the bay-wreath crown, according to the one-sixth footnote, The bay tree was sacred to Apollo, theology of poetry, and bay wreaths came to symbolize true poetic achievement. The withering of the bay tree is sometimes considered an omen of death. Keats continued the thought, implying that when the leaves of the bay-wreath crown, which represents true poetic achievement, begin to die, they are a admonition of death to that very piece of poetry. Finally Muse refers to a poets inspiration, which may be killed once it is bound by the dying leaves (garland) of the bay-wreath crown, which is accomplished by not using ones Muse to its fullest creative potential. These lines can thus be translated as Fellow miserable/ discomfited poets, l ets be suspiciously watchful of omens of death to our poetry if we do not let our inspiration draw out free, it will die too.John Keats, obviously disillusioned by the available forms through which to write poetry, expresses his dissatisfaction in his sonnet, On the Sonnet. Because he uses an ambiguous, unidentifiable sonnet form, instead of the Shakespearean or the Petrarchan sonnet forms, the integrity of his ancestry is not undermined. In this way, not only does he express his hatred for the current sonnet forms, but refuses to use them as he communicates this frustration in his own sonnet.