Keats’ is also fond of using Greek mythology to explain his poems and give them a personal touch. ‘On the Sea’ is a Petrachan sonnet, meaning it has an abba rhyme scheme. It was written in 1817; regarding Keats’ opinions of the way the sea make you feel and its ability to create an atmosphere. This poem explores movement, nature and power. It explains how the sea is personified with the movement and transportation of the waves. This sonnet creates a sense of persuasion, especially in the sestet as it explores the vast realms of what the sea has to offer.
The octet produces the idea of a calm abandoned shore which is monotonous. The word “desolate” helps to clarify this. The waves encourage you to enter the sea with their strength at high tide. The transition from the octet to the sestet is where you begin to travel to a better place. The idea of this transfer is very imaginative, the use of the senses helps to illustrate this. Keats uses sight, sound and taste to create the illusion of solving your problems in this dream world of the sea. “Feast them upon the wideness of the sea” is Keats interpretation of the sea’s appearance and importance of where it can take you.
The octet is showing you a clearer version of what it would be like while the sestet brings out a persons imaginary side by transporting them to the vision of a dream world. Throughout the poem he brings out the personality of the sea as at the beginning the voice of the sea is “whisperings” and by the end your “ears are dinned with uproar rude. ” This shows a change in nature, the oxymoron “gentle temper” is used to correspond with this. The idea of being removed from a quiet ordinary present on the shore to an exciting development under the sea is undeniably transporting us from our mundane state of lives to a better place.
The sea enables change to occur. Keats use of the human senses was able to put a personal and realistic effect on these two poems. He creates the feeling of traveling to a different place from the octet to the sestet of the poem. The transition is always to a place you can appreciate more. Reference to nature is also used in ‘On the Sea’ and ‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’ to help describe the locations. I agree with the statement, Keats’ popularity stems from his ability to engage the senses and take us away from our mundane lives to a better place as Keats has the great ability to secure the transition and engage the reader.
He was a very popular poet during the Romantic period as people felt they could communicate with his ideas. Strong use of the senses enables them to do this and you are able to relate with the situation in both of these poems, whether it is through the seas immense power or Homer’s discoveries. The reader is given the ability to be removed from a mundane life in order to find a better place. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE John Keats section.
