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Name :
Gausvami Surbhi A.
Assignment
Topic : Negative capability in John Keats Odes
Paper no. 5
Roll No. :
24
Submitted to
: Dr. Dilip Barad, M.A. Department of English
MKBU University
Email id:
gausvamisurbhi17@gmail.com
Batch Year :
2016-18
* Definition
of Negative capability :
“Negative capability
means a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching
after fact and reason.”
* Negative
capability :
Negative capability was a phrase first used by romantic poet John Keats
in 1817 to characterize the capacity of the greatest writers (particularly
Shakespeare) to pursue a vision of artistic beauty even when it leads them into
intellectual confusion and uncertainty as opposed to a preference for
philosophical certainty over artistic beauty.
Keats is famous Romantic poet and he was the master and fonder of
”Negative capability.” The concept of negative capability is the ability to
contemplate the word without the desire to try and reconcile contradictory
aspects or fit it into closed and rational systems.
Keats was a romantic poet full of intense passion and desire yet shy and
reserved. He was a young man with all determination and melancholy of a
teenager on a romantic quest to be among the English poets when he died. He is
an inspiration to all of us. Full of colorful language and imagination. He
battled through Tuberculosis and only lived to be 25. He wanted to be famous
and he has well and truly lived up to his dream.
Keats longed to find beauty in what was often an ugly and terrible
world. He was an admirer of Shakespeare, and his reading of the bard is insightful
and intriguing, illustrating the genius of Shakespeare’s creativity. In a letter to his brothers, keats
descries this genius as “Negative capability”
“ At once it struck me what quality went to
form a man of achievement, especially in literature, and which Shakespeare
possessed so enormously. I mean negative capability that is when man is capable
of being in uncertainties. My Steris, doubts, without any irritable reaching
after fact and reason.”
This
description can be compared to a definition of conflict :
“An
emotional state characterized by indecision, restlessness, uncertainty and
tension resulting from incompatible inner needs or drives of comparable
intensity.” These two definitions are
very similar, the meaning of conflict sounds very negative and hopeless.
However, keats’ creative concept seems
positive and full of potential by leaving out ‘restlessness’ by avoiding an ‘irritable
reaching after fact and reason’
In order
for keats to be able to create true poetry one had to be able to remain in what
may be states of conflict without 'irritably' reaching after facts
or reasons. By not imposing one self upon the doubts and uncertainties which
make p a conflict, keats would rather we were open to the imagination.
“For
keats, negative capability is a sublime expression of supreme empathy. “
Empathy,
is the capacity for participating in experiencing and understanding
another's feelings or ideas. It's a creative tool to help us understand
each other, under stand different points, of view or different cultures so that
we able to express them.
What
does keats mean by ’negative capability ?’ clearly he is using the word
negative not in a pejorative sense, but to convey the idea that a person’s
potential can be defined by what he or she does not possess. Keats argues is a
certain passivity a willingness to let what is mysterious or doubtful remain
just that.
Writing
to his brothers George and Thomas in December 1817 letter found in
'Selected letters (public library) keats coins the phrase ‘Negative
capability’ the willingness to embrace
uncertainty live with mystery and make peace with ambiguity. Triggered by
keats’ disagreement with the English poet and philosopher Coleridge whose quest
for definitive answers over beauty laid the foundations for modern day
reductionism the concept is a beautiful articulation of a familiar sentiment
the life is about living the questions, that the unknown is what drives science
that the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.
Keats
set out what he believed was necessary to ‘man of achievement’ or one who is capable of being in
uncertainties, mysteries and doubts without any irritable reaching after fact
or reasons." As the famous couplet from ode on a Grecian urn reads :
“Beauty is
truth and truth beauty that is all/ ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”
We can
see this sentiment reflected in his letters. In 1817 in a letter to Benjamin
bailey he wrote that “What the imagination seizes as beauty must be
truth.” This letter was written just one month before
the negative capability and we can see keats setting out the ground work for
why would become the final concept. He stated that whatever a person perceived
as beautiful must be the truth. Whether it be art poetry or music. A person
must be able to accept whatever they perceive as true without questioning how
or why this is only way they can become “man of Achievement.”
Keats
never saw him self as a 'Man of Achievement' nor did he consider
himself to be a master of “Negative capability” We need only look at his self
written epitaph to get an idea of how the young saw him self. He died at the
age of 25. His gravestone bearing the words:
“Here lies
one whose name was writ in water”
It
is understandable, given his poor health and the deterioration of his mental state that his epitaph
reads in such a way however. We can see these uncertainties and doubts even in his earlier
poetry. Especially towards the
end of his life, after watching his mother and brother die of consumption the same disease
which would eventually claim his own life, Keats became more and more disillusioned with his
original concept of negative
capability.
* What is
negative capability ?
After keats put a name to
it, philosophers latched onto the term and expounded upon it. “Negative capability as seen as
not just denying the need
for correct answers, but denying humanity’s ability to fully understand any kind of phenomena. “ In
other words negative capability says that for some things, those correct answers might not be
available. In fact, they might
not exist at all.
* Example of
negative capability :
* Negative capability in “Harry potter”
Think of
the harry potter universe. Most of us aware that magic doesn't exist in
real life. But J. K. Rowling dumps us right into the world of witches and
wizards, giants and dwarves goblins and ghosts and she fully expects her
readers to keep with her.
She
explains some of the terminology but we don’t know where the magic comes from or why some
wizards are born of muggle parents, or where the name muggle comes from. No one
explains why platform g ¾ exists or how exists.
* Negative capability in keats’ ode :
* Negative capability in ode to a Nightinagle :
“According
to brown, a nightingale had built its nest near the house keats and brown shared in the
spring of 1819. Inspired by the bird’s song keats composed the poem in one day. “Ode to a
nightingale” is a personal poem
that describes keats’ journey into the
state of negative capability.
We
can find negative capability in ode to nightingale a poem written in 1819 and
published in 1820. The speaker describes his wish to fly or imaginatively
transport himself to the nightingale rejecting his previous discussion of using
alcohol as his means of doing so instead the speaker declares that the viewless
wings of poesy will be the vehicle of his transcendence the speaker comes to
the realization that he is in fact already with nightingale. Through he beings
the stanza desiring to the nightingale
he ultimately realizes that his imaginative engagement with it through poetry
demonstrates that he is already with it. In all of its manifold complexity. The
speaker demonstrates negative capability
the ability to simply perceive and
experience rather than pursue some fulfillment of it.
Keats
attempted to use negative capability technique in ode to nightingale. He delves
into his fears about his own mortality. Throughout the poem he tries to escape
his fears, but keeps bouncing back into anxiety. Throughout the poem he never really
finds a satisfying answer to his depressing situation. This is why ode to
nightingale is a brilliant exploration of negative capability.
* Negative
capability in ode to Autumn :
Keats moves away from examining
the conflicts and harmonies existing in the search for beauty and truth to the
purity of the image and the here and now. He lowers his guard and ceases to
fight and instead accepts what is bringing the idea of negative capability to
fruition and maturation as a mode of understanding
To
autumn is a celebration of the present as the exploration of negative
capability ceases. It’s a total embrace of the human condition, including
death. Death is present but even so does not distract from the Poem’s
intention. Keats reminds us very clearly that summer will cease that life comes
full circle and part of that circle is
“Until they think
warm days will never cease for summer has o’erbrimm’d their clammy cells.”
In ode to
autumn the poet merges himself with the spirit of autumn. The poet finds
pleasure in light as well as in shade. He does not care full spring when he
treats of autumn. As he says:
“Think not
of them thou hast thy music too.”
The
negative capability of a take poet is not the result of any intellectual
process it is the result from imagination.
* Negative
capability in ode on a Grecian urn.
As we
know that John keats life was full of sufferings, his mother’s death, Tom’s death his own
ill-health the faithless of fanny, financial difficulties, his fierce criticism as a poet by the
critics of his time etc. But his
poetry does not show all these sorrows. To find these effects we have to read his poems carefully and
deeply.
Keats
odes are best example of this capability. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn” keats avoids personal statements in his
narration rather choosing to focus on imagery instead of the impact of the
imagery and allows the urn to communicate its message to create a poem without
self interest achieving negative capability. As the poet says in the second
stanza.
“Forever
will thou love and she be fair “
Here the
focus remains on the image and not on the image’s effect. This quality is
related to the concept of beauty. The ability of discovering beauty in
everything overpowers all other consideration. As the poet says.
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, That is all ye know on earth
and all ye need to know !”
Here, truth
and beauty are understood by the negative capability, of the artist. The urn’s
message is one that is finally open ended and mysterious.
Conclusion
:-
Negative
capability is strongest imaginative power of keats. Many a time poet or writers
want to live in mysterious and doubts. Which can not be answered and the reader
can have answers whatever they like. Most of the literature are formed on this
theory. In which imagination plays a vital role.
* Citation :
* arshiaislam.blogspot.in
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