How has Keats changed your life?

[Saturn]

I would like to know if the poetry, prose, or the life of Keats has profoundly influenced anyone in any way?

Has anyone for instance been influenced to write poetry by reading Keats' inspirational verse?

Has anyone decided to become a "physician to mankind"?

[Steen]

Heh...I think it's taking it a little bit too far but I admit I have become a lot more romanticly minded and often confont some of my more sientificly minded friends on what love is. They go on about pheramones and chemical signals and I claims it's the meeting of minds and souls rather then just bodys...
It winds them up that I should have a naive view, but I can't stand their cold logic....
Still I am winning my sientificly-minded girlfrend round who is seeing the adavtages of a romantic for a boyfriend...
I am at least enjoying english this year, which is helping the ol' grades!

[MonroeDoctrine]

Keats and Shelly changed my life but I must give credit to the man who introduced me to Keats and Shelly none other than :

LYNDON LAROUCHE Jr.! Read the first Children of Satan Pamphlet: The Ignoble Liars Behind Bush's No Exit War and see what he says about John Keats.

[vinny]

Hello. First post so here goes...

I can't say that Keats has changed my life but he has definitely fulfilled many uncertainties I've had over people and their natures. His awesome talent is certainly inherent in his expression and it is this that attracts me to read his poetry and imagine what he intends to mean in his verse.

[Steen]

I just like the fact that in some poems you get the feeling that he is writing not for fame or money, but because he wants to write.

[DreamingofKeats]

I would like to know if the poetry, prose, or the life of Keats has profoundly influenced anyone in any way?

Has anyone for instance been influenced to write poetry by reading Keats' inspirational verse?

Has anyone decided to become a "physician to mankind"?

To me has had so influential in many aspects, but above all when has come to write.

[nightingale]

hmm...ok Keats has changed my life totally! Until recently I was more likely to be the sort of guy to spam a site like this-I hated poetry til I discovered Ode To A Nightingale. Wow! Keats just seemed to write my thoughts! Anyway, he's been a huge inspiration-I'm writing poetry of my own now too!

[Saturn]

I was the same a few years ago myself - would have laughed out loud if you told me I would be reading and writing poetry

Good for you - Keats is a great place to start - from there you can tackle the biggies like Shakespeare and Milton who were huge influences on Keats

[RandiKeats]

Believe it or not I think of Keats as like a best friend. I would have given anything to meet him. Ive always written poetry on my own though even before I knew of him. But this is my story. when I was about ten years old, I had a book of barbie doll fashions. I didnt care about the fashions but I would wander about the scenes in the pictures just like John did in " Ode on a Grecian Urn." I was a romantic mind from then on...even at ten!!! So years later when I first read the poem, I was shocked because thats exactly how my mind has always worked! I became devoted to keats when it came to influence and thought. And now, thanks to him and his beautiful, and at times a little questionable, spirit, I constantly live in search of romance stemming from the same nature. unfortunately in this day in time it is so hard to find anyone of that mind set I actually wrote kind of an "Ode to John," if you will. If anyone would care to read it just give me a holla... so in answer to your question, YES!!

[Despondence]

I actually wrote kind of an "Ode to John," if you will. If anyone would care to read it just give me a holla

Why don't you just post it here - I think if you used the search engine you would already find a couple of "Ode to Keats" buried somewhere in here..

[Saturn]

Yes and all as equally fawning and corny, but equally well intentioned

[Despondence]

Quite....except for the one by "JustMe" (which I think was the first one). I like the imagery in that one, and she kept the cheese out of it..

[Malia]

The poem "To Autumn" was the first poem I read where I actually felt the physical power of poetry. Before Keats, I'd read a poem and at the end think "That was nice"--but I wouldn't feel anything physically. Then one day, while re-reading "To Autumn," the power of poetry hit me. When I'd reached the end of the poem, it took me a few moments to realize I'd been holding my breath through the last stanza. There was a fullness in my heart and my mind awakened in an almost palpable way to the vast expanse of wonder that poetry held in store. It was as if I'd been blind and suddenly the shadows were lifted and I could see with new eyes the bold color and textures of the world as if for the first time.

[jamiano]

Dear Friends,


I remember the awe throughout me upon first
hearing "Ode to a Grecian Urn". Perhaps, my imagination
skipped over the intellect of the poem. I recall I wrote
an essay of the figure on the vase, a maiden or a goddess, playing a lute
for humankind, and lulling all the sheep to sleep
by the pastoral tone of her voice. Years later, after college,
I discovered the lyricism within Spenser, his romantic realm, often a stress to my intellect, always a comfort for my senses. Today, Spenser reminds me of the toil within each artistic endeavor. As I am of the first generation of my family born native to the English language, Spenser's lyricism eased me into the enjoyment of English Poesy. To prosper in the luxurious prose afforded by Keats, recite, pause and reflect on the genuis of a singular verse.I delight in the reading "The Eve of St. Agnes", soluble wthin its grand romance, as a dream voyages within one's sleep.
Discovering the realization that Keats admired the verse of
Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, and Spenser, immersed me within their works. A dose of Keatsian verse reflects the glory in the monuments of prose. Today, I admire Keats equally for style
and content. Critical studies of Keats' themes and styles, enlighten me of Keats' wisdom.
The wonder of the dream exists by a touch upon the art.
The gems of Keats, stars of passion, enchant one's horizon for beauty.
A critic is a base, beyond the upholding of a master genuis. I have discovered that If am reading harsh critical studies of Keats, I become a mercy to heal the tears.

Whereas, if I am immersed within the humanity of his naturalism and his passion for the fancy, a poesy streams, joyful of wonder. Keats' sonnet to Spenser is a daily reading. Well, ideas for poesy swell during the multiple edits of this posting. Perhaps, I am to discover, a wonder of the intellect, to yield a dream realmed of the vistas within eternity...


peace,

jamiano

[dks]

Here, here, Jamiano...I took the proverbial literary criticism class waaaayyyy back in undergrad-(I'm feeling old today) and I remember always thinking, "Dear God! After the autopsy there's always a bloody mess!" That's how it is when poetry is picked apart and beaten so thin--it becomes transparent and once again, everyone can see right through it--thus, missing all its intricate designs, patterns, workings...good exegesis (the only kind ever found on here) is one thing and an important thing...but hardcore criticism needs be tempered with smoke and fire--like glass.