In the following essay, Matthey argues that Keats employs within his poetry an increasingly complex structure, characterized by "rising and falling" imagery and symmetrical patterns, in order to complement the themes of the poems and heighten their emotional effects.

In the following essay, Tate explores how Keats's later poems reinforce his "myth of the poet." Tate explains that several major themes—including identity, "soulmaking," the visionary nature of a poet's quest, the role of the imagination, and the relationship between beauty and truth—exemplify Keats's belief that the role of the poet is to achieve a "mythic understanding of human life."

In the following essay, McGann first reviews the principles of historical literary analysis and then argues for the significance and necessity of using the historical approach in studying Keats's work, despite the "virtually unanimous decision of Western literary critics " that historical analysis is irrelevant to the understanding of Keats's poetry.

In the following essay, Homans examines the reaction of female readers of Keats to his poetry, and observes the manner in which Keats viewed females and female readers. Homans also studies Keats's letters to Fanny Brawne, noting how he objectified and distanced himself from her; Homans compares this tendency to Keats's resentment of the power of female readers and to his attempts to exclude female readers from having access to his poetry.

In the following excerpt, Levinson surveys aspects of Keats's life and writing within their original social context and studies the relationship between his life and works, noting that Keats was born into a lower social class than many other Romantics, including Wordsworth, Byron, and Shelley. After discussing the way social disadvantages affected Keats's writing, Levinson reviews some of the early criticism of Keats's work, particularly that of Byron.

In the following essay, Newey explores the influence of other poets' political ideals on Keats and argues that Keats was "rather more conservative in outlook than is commonly assumed. " Newey states that despite Keats's "libertarianism and exposure of abuses," he appears to have assumed the superiority of the English over other cultures while favoring democratic, anti-authoritarian ideals.

In the following essay, Ellis discusses the pervasive association between feasting and sexual fulfillment in Keats's poetry.

In the following essay, Hirst demonstrates the significance of Keats's letters, asserting that within them, Keats reveals the details of his theories regarding "negative capability, " "soul-making," and the "truth of Imagination."

In the following excerpt, published originally in 1949, Fogle examines the characteristics of what many critics describe as the "concreteness" of Keats's imagery. Fogle demonstrates that Keats's technique of focusing his perceptions upon single objects results in the extraction of "the last drop of beauty and meaning" and also affects the metrical structure of the poetry.

In the following examination of the function of beauty in Keats's poetry, Eruvbetine maintains that beauty is idealized by Keats because it serves as the medium for apprehending truth. While Keats resolves beauty and truth into one aesthetic ideal, Eruvbetine explains, beauty is the primary concept and the focus of the ideal.

In the following essay, Stillinger asserts that poetry should be read as fiction, in the sense that poems have plots, characters, points-of-view, and settings. Stillinger then reviews the several plots of Keats's poetry, arguing that examining the poems as narratives may yield a more complete understanding of them.

In the following essay, Minahan investigates the various functions of music in Keats's poetry, noting that music serves as an enjoyable escape, as a magical, "special" experience, and as an imaginative experience which offers insight into the ordinary. Minahan also observes the connection between music and one of Keats's most lauded ideals, truth.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1945, Bate analyzes the style and structure of Keats's early poetry, particularly the sonnets. Bate explores the influence of Leigh Hunt, most notably in Keats's word and image choices, and in Keats's use of the caesura and metrical variations.

In the following essay, Eruvbetine examines Keats's conception of the poetic imagination, stating that to Keats, the poetic imagination enabled the poet to "suspend his rigid instinctive and egotistical identity," and to become his subject by exploring and capturing the distinctive characteristics of the subject. Eruvbetine identifies several qualities of Keats's poetic imagination and argues that Endymion illustrates the qualities and function of the imagination.

In the following essay, Roe suggests that one of the reasons Keats's politics and poetry were largely neglected by his contemporaries, and why his political interests are rarely recognized even today, was due to an effort by critics such as John Lockhart to discredit Keats as a man and a poet. Roe maintains that Lockhart and others took such measures because they recognized Keats's potential for subversiveness, and for threatening the "discourse of masculine authority" and the &...

In the following essay, originally published in 1948, Chew and Altick offer a brief overview of Keats's life and works. The critics conclude by observing the impact of Keats on Victorian arts and literature.

In the following excerpt from her chapter, Ball argues that Keats 's poetry is marked by both egotism, in the poet's focus on his poetic vision as well as his own emotional needs, and by his chameleon-like response to his subject matter, that is, his ability to identify with and lose himself in the object of the poetry.

In the following essay, Alwes surveys Keats 's treatment of women in his poetry, asserting that the female is exploited "not only as an ideal to be achieved but as an obstacle to that achievement. " Alwes states that in Keats's poetry women symbolize the imagination and all it entails, from the joy of creation to the fear over its possible loss.

In the following lecture, given in 1983 and published in 1986, Dickstein argues that critics have wrongly "walled off Keats from the unseemly political passions of his contemporaries, " and goes on to identify the political aspects of Keats's poetry.