Adonais

I have a couple of comments in regards to “Adonais.” First of all, I found it intriguing that Shelley blames the negative reviews as the reason for Keats’s death’s early arrival. When Shelley scorns the “noteless blot” and “nameless worm” in stanzas 36-37, he is obviously referring the reviewers. I find it interesting though that the reviews that were produced are texts that will be permanently in circulation. Keats’s work, along with these criticisms, is his legacy. I think that it is interesting to think about this in terms of how Keats viewed the Grecian Urn and marbles. Keats wrote about the moments of perfection and anticipation before something great happened (example: the kiss), and how the moments displayed in art are never affected by time and change. I think it’s ironic then that his poetry (which as we talked about is progressive in nature because the words continue it within the poems) is defined by the moments that occur after something is produced, the total opposite of the art Keats discusses in his poetry. However, I like the twist that Shelley incorporates, that Keats is in fact “not dead” (stanza 39+). Shelley makes it appear that although the criticism/response that came after Keats’s publications harmed him, Keats is now in a place where these elements cannot touch him. Shelley puts Keats in a perfect place that is apart from the evil elements (time, change, criticism, etc.) that Keats despised in his poetry. Keats is now like the urn and the marbles that he once described.