Research Paper On John Keats

After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for

John Keats was an English romantic poet in the early 1800s. One of his best works “To Autumn” is beautiful and lyrical, the words creating an entire scene painting a picture in our minds of great imagery through words that create color, tone, and environment. The poem means much more than just the description of the season. While some critics have considered it a static poem, there are others who disagree with that assessment. The poem discusses time and the seasonal nature of life. The poem can sometimes be thought of as symbolizing a life that has reached its peak and is drifting towards the sleep of winter. The construction of the poem as a piece of language art has been done with skills that are surprising and inventive. While it is

o     He sought in his writing to create a fresh tradition and a unique style. He attempted to create a literature that was Irish in subject matter and tone.

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

Ezra Jack Keats, the son of Jewish Polish immigrants, was born in 1916 and brought up in Brooklyn, New York. He was originally named Jacob Ezra Jack Katz, but legally changed his name after WWII. It is speculated that it was a result of anti-semitism at that time. Keats did not have much, if any, formal art training. He painted murals for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in the 1930s and went on to become a comic book illustrator. During World War II, Keats designed camouflage patterns in the US Air Corps. After the war, Keats became a successful artist and illustrator. In 1954, Keats illustrated his first children's book, Jubilant for Sure, by Elisabeth Hubbard Lansing.

During the Romantic era which began in the late 18th century, there were many authors and writers who lived during the time of an expansive movement of art, literature and knowledge. Romanticism was focused on attacking rationalism with naturalistic thought and also focused on self-preservation and death. Authors of this time period are noted for reviving older methods of thought to convey the way people use their imagination. Two noted authors in era who were able to successfully do this were authors John Keats and Henry Longfellow. Both men wrote extensively on their life experiences and death but they mainly focused their writings on their earthly experiences. However both men conveyed their messages in a variety of different methods and used poetic and literary techniques to tell about their life.

John Keats did not live a long life, only surviving from 1795 – 1821, his original goal in life involved working in the medical field (Motion 76). After some exposure to literature, he soon abandoned his medical passions and shifted his focus onto writing poetry (Motion 328). In fact, he became an apprentice for an apothecary-surgeon in 1811, passed all of his medical exams in 1816 and decided one day that the medical field was just not for him (Motion 47-48). Keats new goal involved surpassing his predecessors in poetry. His true

The early life tragedies of Keats caused him to declare his feelings on the fleetingness of life, happiness, and beauty. Keats is often known for writing his poetry in the romantic ode form. Literacy critic Jack Stillinger states why poets use the form:

Ezra Jack Keats was born on March 11, 1916 in New York City. Keats was a very young age when he was interested in illustrating books. His dad was Benjamin Katz, there mother was Augusta Katz. He was the third child of his family. The school he attended was Thomas Jefferson High School. January 1935 was the year he graduated his school. He really wanted to pursuit his dream of being an illustrator or a book writer. Keats was in a lot of contest in his life, he won 6 contest in his life. After winning all those contest it gave him a lot of courage to get more into his writing. His biggest win for a contest was the Caldecott Medal. This is the book that won him the medal was “The Snowy Day”. Some of the characters in “The Snowy Day” is Peter,

Born in Moorgate, London, 1795, John Keats proved to be a promising poet during the short course of his life - he is hailed as one of the greatest poets of the Romantic period, one of his greatest literary works include To Autumn and The eve of St Agnes. The Romantic Movement was a reaction to the emphasis on society and logic present in the enlightenment era – the period focused extensively on individuality, human emotion and the relationship between man and nature (Abram, 283). On the Sea portrays the sea as an embodiment of nature which provides relief and freedom to man and suggests that humanity refrain from rejecting nature. This essay aims to illustrate the relationship between nature and man and re- iterate the mightiness and the spiritual effect of the sea both as a divine and a liberating force for humankind.

John Keats contributed Romanticism in the “Bright Star” by emphasizing the redemptive qualities of a star which purified his inner body and he connected this to expressing his beauty and inspiration of the love he felt towards his fiancé. His imagination in this poem is a great example of the poetry during the Romantic Age. Keats is dissatisfied with mortality and longs for eternal life, “Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art”. Here Keats is revealing his inner thoughts and feelings to the bright star and is comparing his short life to the star’s perminence in life. He also gives the star human qualities through the use of personification, “And watching with eternal lids apart, Like nature’s patient,

Of all the great poets of the early nineteenth century, John Keats (1795-1821) was the last to be born and first to die. Born in London, England, on October 31, 1795, to a poor stable keeper, John Keats devoted his short life to the perfection of poetry marked by intense imagery, great sensuous appeal and an attempt to express a philosophy through classical legend. Although he was brought up amid surroundings and influences by no means calculated to awaken poetic genius. Rendered an orphan at the tender age of eight, his father’s death had a deep rooted effect on the young boy’s life. In a more metaphysical sense, it shaped his understanding of the human condition, both its suffering and its loss. This tragedy and others helped Keats’ later

John Keats was a famous British author in the nineteenth century. He was born in London, England in 1795. His mom died early in his life from tuberculosis and his father died from fatal injuries after falling off a horse. This led him and his younger brothers to be placed under the care of Richard Abbey. At age fifteen Keats was an apprenticed to an apothecary. He wanted to write and not go into to medical but Abbey would not let him. Keats secretly wrote on the side and used some inheritance to fund his writing behind Abbey’s back. In 1816 Keats met Leigh Hunt and decided to pursue being a poet. Hunt actually published Keats first poem and helped him jumpstart his career. His first major poem was “Endymion: A Poetic Romance” . Soon after Endymion was published, Keats started show early symptoms

The Romantic Period of prose of poetry created a form that promoted the focus on the supernatural, the natural world, and newfound interest in what was once overlooked. Born in different times and with distinct circumstances, both John Keats and Christina Rossetti took to poetry to convey their own ideas, shaped by this revolutionary time. Keats faced the brevity of life much more severely and took on a more grandiose, dramatic form of romantic poetry when compared to Christina Rossetti. However, both had a similar tone in observing the natural world and conveying the emotion that compelled from within. The impact of the Romantic Movement can be felt as one reads through both John Keats and Christina Rossetti. While differences may exist, and their portrayal is a unique experience of one’s own, elements of the great Romantic time permeates through both of these marvelous poets.

The twenty-four old romantic poet John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” written in the spring of 1819 was one of his last of six odes. That he ever wrote for he died of tuberculosis a year later. Although, his time as a poet was short he was an essential part of The Romantic period (1789-1832). His groundbreaking poetry created a paradigm shift in the way poetry was composed and comprehended. Indeed, the Romantic period provided a shift from reason to belief in the senses and intuition. “Keats’s poem is able to address some of the most common assumptions and valorizations in the study of Romantic poetry, such as the opposition between “organic culture” and the alienation of modernity”. (O’Rourke, 53) The irony of Keats’s Urn is he likens