Lucasta Miller
In her biography, Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph, Lucasta Miller breathes life into John Keats, the person. The strength of her work lies in portraying Keats as a fully embodied, living, breathing human being with both feet planted firmly on the ground while his genius soared to dazzling heights.
Keats emerges as a sensitive, complex figure. He was considered an outsider in class and social status. He came from a dysfunctional family; was abandoned by his mother; was plagued with money-issues as an adult; had no fixed abode; possessed an undying passion for sensual language and word play; and harbored a fierce commitment to composing poetry. Keats’ genius was cut short when he died at the young age of twenty-five. He struggled during his life and did not receive the recognition and acclaim he was to receive after his death. He is now considered one of the greatest poets in English Literature. His poems, especially his Odes, are a staple diet in literature anthologies.
Miller explores nine of Keats’ most famous poems and his epitaph. She begins each chapter by citing the poem or a short excerpt from it if it is lengthy. She then contextualizes the poem by discussing the circumstances that gave birth to it. Where was Keats living when he wrote it? Who was he with? What did his conversations and letters reveal about his thinking? What was the catalyst that triggered its composition? What/who were his influences?
Miller analyzes Keats’ family background; education; prolific letter-writing, especially to his brother George and sister-in-law Georgiana; living arrangements; and the conversations recorded by his friends. These form the backdrop to her discussion and interpretation of Keats’ most famous poems. But whereas her work presents a commendable guide to Keats’ life, and whereas she paints a compelling picture of Keats the individual, her interpretation of his poems is subject to debate, especially her predilection for seeing in them evidence of Keats’ ostensible ambivalence toward women, his frustrations, and his political leanings.
Keats’ poems, especially his Odes, deserve better than to be reduced to historical, sociological, or psychological evidence for what Keats the man was experiencing at the time. These poems are sensuous, beautiful, and brilliant works of literature that stand on their own merit. They are not fodder for sociology, psychology, or history. Any interpretation of the poems should be grounded in the actual words of the texts themselves since once pen is put to paper, a work of literature takes on a life of its own regardless of who, what, when, where, how, or why it is written. To read Keats’ poems as statements about Keats the man or as indicators of the internal conflicts within the mind of Keats the man is to perform a disservice to Keats the poet.
Keats the poet deserves more than this. And so do the poems that attest to his genius.