Saturn wrote:“In every writer... there is a man and a woman; genius is bisexual.”
Wickers_Poet wrote:Those lips, O slippery blisses, twinkling eyes
And by these tenderest, milky sovereignties —
These tenderest, and by the nectar-wine
The passion”————“O lov’d Ida the divine!
(ENDYMION).
What do you think Keats means?
I have the impression of Keats as being extremely "manly"--all his close friends testify to the fact that he was a "man's man" and a gentleman. He loved bawdy jokes and definitely visited prostitutes. . .though I don't think he gloried in that.
Malia wrote:I don't think anyone who could beat up a butcher's boy ask Keats did (and butchers boys were known to be big and muscular due to the nature of their work)--beat him up so badly that he had to be carried *away* from the fight--could be considered a wilting violet.
keatsclose wrote:Exactly! Male poets have a feminine as well as a masculine side, and naturally women poets have a masculine side.
Raphael wrote:keatsclose wrote:Exactly! Male poets have a feminine as well as a masculine side, and naturally women poets have a masculine side.
What is "masculine" and "feminine" as regards to behaviour is often culturally determined. It is often said that men don't cry and feel less than women- but John keats was very in touch with his feelings and yet a strong man ( look at his braveness when dying of consumption...). He was able to show his deepest feelings to Fanny despite sometimes fearing what she'd think of him- that shows real courage.
Saturn wrote:The more we free ourselves from gender and cultural straightjackets the more enlightened we will be, the freer we will be to explore what being human truly is, and not just what being a member of one or the other sex is, or is supposed to be.
Being human should be our first concern, treating our fellow sentient creatures with the same respect we would like to be afforded to ourselves and living a life which is meaningful and fulfilling and beneficial to both yourself and those around you.
Keats was not quite as enlightened coming from the time he did, and brought up in the prevailing attitudes of the times, but I like to think had he born in a freer age like now he would have had a more progressive view of human nature like this.
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