I found the descriptions of Urania
and Adonais in this poem as profoundly connecting to the depictions of the
Virgin Mary and Jesus. Lines like, “Where wert thou mighty Mother when he lay,
When thy Son lay, pierced by the shaft which flies in darkness?” (10-12) use
language (“pierced”) which calls to mind the Biblical descriptions of Christ’s
death. Also the capitalizations of Mother and Son suggest the sense of the
divine, as well as a dense of universality as the Mother and Son of mankind. As
Urania is mourning the loss of her son, Adonais comes to her resurrected with
an “ensanguined brow” (305) which is related directly to that of Christ’s. This
scene calls to mind Matthew 28:9-10 when Jesus appears resurrected to Mary and
Mary Magdalene. Also, the images in Stanza 54 such as “Light” and “Benediction”,
upon the description of Adonais/ Keats being resurrected also add to the
religious imagery at work.
I have yet to work out the exact meaning of
the Urania/ Virgin Mary character in the actual life of Keats, but perhaps the
image of the grieving mother provided the right sense of tragic emotion desired
by Shelley, while giving Keats that profound connection to the divine. By casting Keats as this Christ-like figure,
it gives him a sense of immortality and eternal presence in the poetic world.
From a classical standpoint, Urania was the muse of astronomy, prophetess, and mother of the musician Linus. Therefore, I think it is fair to draw a connection between Linus and Keats.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting because, although Linus is best know for teaching the musical arts to his eventual murderer Heracles, I believe he was first the instructor of Orpheus. I think this is demonstrative of Shelley's arrogance, in that the poem focuses on the influence of Keats on poetry and other poets; if Keats is Linus, Shelley becomes Orpheus, the greatest creative entity of the Classical tradition.