Slippery Blisses

[Wickers_Poet]

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?

[Malia]

Well,
I have to admit, next to "more happy love! more happy, happy love!" and the use of the word "bluey" (which I'm *sure* I read in one of his poems somewhere. . .), "slippery blisses" as a way to describe lips ranks up there with my *least* favorite (and most embarrassing) Keats words and/or phrases. Keats seemed to enjoy the "ee" sound a lot. Eeek. Don't get me wrong, though, I LOVE Keats. But to give an answer (an opinion anyway) to your question. ..

I think, by "milky soveringties" (oy, I can't spell--and there Keats goes again with the "ee" sound!), he means women's breasts. Of course, "slippery blisses" are lips. Overall, I'd say he's trying to make an erotic statement.

[Saturn]

I think this is Keats in his full-on 'Huntian' mode -the double ee's and the whole vocabulary is very reminiscent of Leigh Hunt.

I agree that it is an erotoc statement, which may shock those who tend to see Keats as some kind of ethereal, non-sexual being.

Thos of us who have studied and read him a lot know this is very much NOT the case at all.

[Malia]

You are absolutely right, Stephen. Keats was *anything* but a prude. This milque-toast perception of him started spreading with Adonais, I think, (the more feminine artistic representations of him made by Severn didn't help any, either) and for some reason it still lingers today. 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.

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.

[Saturn]

He did have a feminine side also, as many artists do of course - someone once said “In every writer... there is a man and a woman; genius is bisexual.”

He had a manly side, and a softer side too; as most well-balanced people do, he clearly had a great love of women and he was very effusive in expressing his feelings for his male friends too, though curiously, unlike say Shelley or Byron, there has never really been much specualtion that Keats was homosexual or I don't remember reading any.

If anything in ios love of puns and scatological humour he was somewhat immature and akward in front of women in general. We know of very few serious relationships of his and in the case of his final love Fanny I believe it was an unconsummated love.

[fleshyniteshade]

sounds like he fought hard, lusted well, and loved just as great.

[Malia]

He was a man of the Regency, to be sure

[Wynn]

“In every writer... there is a man and a woman; genius is bisexual.”

It is quotes like these that make people think that poetry was made so that losers can say anything sissy and get praised for it.
I myself am proud to be who I am——a man; I am proud that my dad is a man, and I am proud that my mom is a woman, 100%.

[Raphael]

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?

As the others said it's about kissing and sex really! Definetly the lines these tenderest, milky sovereignties mean women's breasts- he wrote about them a lot. He was a celebrator of the sexual and sensual to be sure.

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.

I like the bawdiness in his letters- some of it is very funny. Though I’ve not yet come across any proof in the letters or bios that he visited prostitutes- where’d you get that info from?

[Raphael]

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.

Oh yeah..I forgot about that- John must have been really STRONG!

[keatsclose]

Exactly! Male poets have a feminine as well as a masculine side, and naturally women poets have a masculine side.
What planet is this J-Dog on?

Hope you bother to read this sequence of emails, J-Dog!

[Raphael]

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.

[Wynn]

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.

The way culture defines the differences between genders is unreal—denying emotions is far from manly. A rounded man seeks to understand femininity, but that does not mean he has to be part woman!

[Saturn]

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.

[Raphael]

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.

I like your sentiments Saturn! I think our poet was very enlightened for the time he lived in- more so than most people I meet today. He was always striving for knowledge and understanding.