Masters Dissertation: Beauty is Truth: John Keats’ Odes and Navigating the World through Beauty

My masters degree wrought a challenging time in my life both academically and personally. At the time, I had rerealised my adoration for the Romantic Era as we were studying prominent figures in the literary and political field. Namingly, Wordsworth had particularly inspired me as I read his ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’ during a tutorial. Whilst this drew on the particular political beliefs at the time of literature feeling too complex and elaborate and therefore inaccessible to the lower class, it also awoke a sense of appreciating the beauty of nature for how simplistic and unapologetic it is in its most natural form; overgrown, gargantuan, beyond one simple understanding. As I write this, currently away from the city life of Coventry in a small town in Norwich, I find I have once again lost this appreciation in the chaos of what is everyday life and find myself compelled to…well, walk through fields and lose myself in them, temporarily.

In this dissertation I not only cover the political landscape of the late 18th- mid 19th century, but also the threats of the time and how Keats particularly was so envigored by nature, he escapes the mundane into the extraordinary, seeking solace in the realm of his imagination, accomponied by gods of long ancient eras, voices of heavenly figures, and of course, nature. I have reread it recently to remind myself of the inspiration Keats is to me. I hope you find some enjoyment in my exploration of the era and his works.