More on Keats...

1 March 2018: I walked into my ENGL 311 class feeling a bit crummy. I might have a cold coming on--and I have no time for it. But by the end of the class, my mind was far from any impending crumminess--almost entirely because of the wonderful students and the great work they did with Keats' poems and letters.

I really knew we had hit our stride when we got to the last stanza of "Ode to a Nightingale." After one student read it out loud, I said, "I always find that last sentence so unsettling" And another student jumped right in: "This whole stanza is wild. It goes crazy here." That's the kind of reaction a teacher dreams of. On the surface, there's nothing wild or crazy about that stanza. You have to be really deeply engaged to see it. And they were, so they did.

I suppose it's all a bit meta, too, since in the poem Keats writes about wanting to escape materiality (including sickness) through poetry. For a good hour, I did just that.

Poor Keats...

27 February 2018: "Forgive me if I wander a little this evening, for I have been all day employ’d in a very abstract Poem and I am in deep love with you, two things which must excuse me." --John Keats, in a letter to Fanny Brawne

We are tackling Keats' letters in ENGL 311 on Thursday and the lines quoted above made me smile. I can imagine Fanny's face when she read them, as the sentence took the turn from high-minded excuse (working on a "very abstract Poem") to an excuse that must have made her grin and maybe sigh. I also appreciate the insight on Keats' mind--his ability to be occupied by two very different yet related concepts: the work he wants to do and the love he has for this woman.

You can read more of the letters here. And careful readers will also notice in this particular letter language/ideas that appear in "Bright Star."

Sorry for two romantic/tragic posts in a row (and I am being silly with my back-to-back post titles), but what can I say?