IndexIntroductionAnalysisBibliographyIntroductionBoth John Keats's 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer' and Christina Rossetti's 'In An Artist's Studio' deal with similar themes; adoration of art, be it one's own in Rossetti's poetry, or the art of another in Keats's, with Keats admiring George Chapman's translation of Homer. But there is a marked difference in tone, the first poem is more appreciative of the art form, a reflection on wonder and the “kingdoms of gold”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. This last poem seems to be a condemnation of the artist's ego and desires, evoking the Dorian Gray image of being completely consumed by one's In art, beyond this there is also a juxtaposition between the real and the 'idealized, the woman while "filling her dream". In this sense, both poems could certainly be seen as an appreciation of art, but Rossetti's poetry is much more narcissistic. Further similarities are found in the fact that both poems are Petrarchan sonnets, so stylistically they are also similar, but differ greatly in subject matter. Analysis In the first poem, we are first given a sense of how much Keats values art through the aforementioned “golden kingdoms” metaphor, but it is initially unclear to us whether or not this supposed journey is literal or figurative, unless we give a look at the title that is. The sense of awe and wonder is easily prevalent throughout, consider in lines 6 and 7 the words “sereno” and the half rhyme “demense”, there is a grandiose use of language throughout, elevating the arts to something divine in nature . Rossetti poetry in comparison is also about putting art on a pedestal, but in his case the artist is projecting his idealistic woman onto the model he is painting. There is at the same time a sense of lack of identity on the part of the model, the "nameless" girl, and this almost vampiric use of language which projects onto her the artist's desires and the "need to feed on her face ”. Again like Keats's, the poem uses many divine images; “saint”, “angel”, “queen”. Is this a commentary on the sublime beauty that can be found in hardcore, as Keats does with Chapman's Homer, or is it in reference to how a man can idolize a person, or art, to unrealistic proportions? Both interpretations are certainly valid, but I lean more towards the second since the language used in Rossetti's poetry consistently supports this idea of expectations. The Rossetti poem is told in the third person plural, using the word “we”, perhaps the “we” is representative of the reader, and we tend to come to the poem with preconceived ideas about what we want to see, most likely the “we” is the the artist himself, if one takes the poem as a criticism of the artistic ego in general. Keats in his poetry makes many references to classical literature and mythology, this makes sense as the poem is about admiration for art, the Homeric language compliments the thematic elements of finding new and surprising places, the “wild guessing ” of Cortez finding the New World, a metaphor for Keats discovering this new translation of Homer. His reaction is almost muted by amazement, “silent on a peak in the Darien” looking at this new world before him. It fits the impressionistic nature of Romantic poetry. This particular, silent line also disrupts the iambic meter of the poem, which would once again bring more attention to the idea described in this line, wonder, thus perhaps acting as a moment of introspection for both the reader and, 1996)
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