Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Negative capability in John Keats Odes



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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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