To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent by John Keats - Essay Example

Close Reading of Keats’ “To One who has been Long in Pent” John Keats, 1795-1821, falls within the classification of the Romantic poets because of his tendency to appeal to the emotions as a means of providing aesthetic experience to his readers, which was a popular movement during this time period. This artistic philosophy was based on the idea in a connection between the human mind and the outside world in which each affected the other to a great extent through the emotions. Toward that end, Keats often made appeals to the emotions as a means of affecting his readers and bringing about more positive feelings. He is well-known for his ability to lift his readers beyond the mundane everyday aspects of life and bring them to a higher level of thought and existence. This ability is well-illustrated in his poem “To One who has been Long in City Pent.” In this poem, Keats argues that each day should be enjoyed, provides a means of doing so and reminds his readers that their time to enjoy their days on earth is limited by employing a heavy use of imagery, appealing to the senses, calming readers with a soothing varied Italian sonnet format and allowing the analogy to develop slowly. Keats begins the poem by addressing it to all individuals who have been stuck in the city for long periods of time and are beginning to feel trapped, “To one who has been long in city pent” (1). By doing this, he is calling attention to the idea that he may be able to offer some relief from their suffering by having them do nothing more difficult than looking up. Exhorting them to “look into the fair / And open face of heaven, - to breathe a prayer / Full in the smile of the blue firmament” (2-4), Keats directs the memory to happier times spent in the country while also reminding them of their more permanent eternal home in heaven with the use of the unusual phrase ‘blue firmament’ which typically suggests solid land. He calls forth rich images of a relaxing day spent in beautiful weather and blissful activity, “Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair, / Of wavy grass and reads a debonair / And gentle tale of love and languishment” (6-8). Not only has he presented the blue sky above, but with phrases such as “pleasant lair” and “wavy grass,” the reader instantly thinks of wild places with the suggestion of a lair, most commonly associated with the beasts of the field, and can almost smell the long grasses of a sweet country meadow untouched by interfering hands far from the factories and businesses of the city. Describing the book as ‘debonair’ and ‘gentle’ provides the reader of the poem with a sense of subdued excitement in just the right measure to remain interesting yet not to overly tax a fatigued brain in search of a little lighthearted diversion. Further defining the book as containing a tale of ‘love’ and ‘languishment’ provides a similar combination of being just pleasurable enough to be relaxing and just painful enough to be interesting, all without putting any undue pressure upon the mind, body or spirit and thus allowing the day to pass without any unnecessary exertions. This daytime excursion, or simple memory break from the hustle of the street, is brought back to the attention on the sky, now placed at evening time, with “an eye / Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright career” (10-11). The concept of a ‘sailing cloudlet’ at once invokes a feeling of floating relaxation without the pressure of gravity or self-propelled motion while the use of the term ‘cloudlet’ removes any sense of impending unpleasantness, such as a storm. The poem ends with an image of “an angel’s tear / That falls through the clear ether silently” (13-14). This image brings forward the impression that the angels are crying for all those individuals who cannot see the beauty around them or enjoy the day they’ve been given and don’t realize that they are being watched over and cared for – the angel’s tears are silent and clear and, presumably, unnoticed. In addition to this rich imagery, Keats appeals strongly to the other senses throughout this poem. He introduces this concept in the second line of the poem with the mention of the word ‘sweet’, which invokes at once the pleasant sensation in the mouth before taking on its intended connotation of a pleasant feeling as the line is completely read. From there he goes on to “breathe a prayer” (3), bringing forward an impression of a deep, cleansing breathe. Since people who are under stress or upset about something, such as a difficult day spent at work or stuck within the confines of the city, have a tendency to breathe shallowly, this subtle reminder to take a deep breathe has a strong tendency to result in an actual deep breathe being taken upon reading these words and reaffirming the life-giving suggestion contained within. The warmth of the “smile of the blue firmament” (4) is felt as a warm ray of sunshine arcing down just where the reader stands while the suggestion of being happy and achieving heart’s content is offered in the following line. The city-dwelling reader, feeling fatigued himself, can then begin to feel himself sinking into the softness suggested by grass long enough to wave in the breeze and the ear catches the incomparably beautiful song of the nightingale, “Philomel” (10), as he walks through the pleasant evening air and regretfully sailing into night (12). These appeals to the sense involve the reader’s entire body in the reading of the poem and hint at a deeper meaning contained within that could be vitally important. This hint of a deeper meaning can be found within the varied sounds of the Italian sonnet form Keats chooses to employ for this poem. The rhyme scheme of the poem follows the classic format of abbaabba with lines ending in ‘pent’, ‘fair’, ‘prayer’ and ‘firmament’, but then takes on a varied scheme in the concluding six lines, moving into a cdcede rhyme that interrupts the flow and calls greater attention to the conclusion. After flowing through the comforting sing-song of the first eight lines of the poem, the shift in rhyme pattern causes the reader to slow down and take greater notice of what’s being said. In addition, this is approximately the time at which Keats is bringing his reader home in the language of the poem and introducing the concept of the angel’s tear. This final clue found in the angel’s tear directs the reader’s attention to what the actual end words are for each line, which provides yet another subtle clue as to the deeper meaning captured within the poem. Linking words such as ‘pent’ and ‘firmament’ in couplets brings to mind the idea of being trapped on earth while linking ‘fair’ and ‘prayer’ bring out the hope of finding forgiveness and a more permanent and pleasant home in the after-world. This is followed by the rhymed couples ‘content’ and ‘languishment’ and ‘lair’ and ‘debonair’. The first of these suggests a state of perfect equanimity touched perhaps with only a pleasant twinge of longing or desire for something that will eventually arrive while the second promises a pleasant, carefree home. The rhymed group that ends the poem takes on a more warning note, grouping the words ‘eye’, ‘by’ and ‘silently’. Read for its deeper meaning, this grouping of words takes on the suggestion of God’s all-seeing eye that stands by to watch each individual’s progress through life, silently allowing them to make their own decisions, mistakes and successes. This ‘career’ is coupled with an angel’s ‘tear’ for the harm created with each sinful thought and deed. As this analysis of the rhyme scheme has shown, the poem creates an analogy between the day spent relaxing in the country to contemplation over the blissful peace of heaven. This is first suggested with the concept of looking up “into the fair / And open face of heaven” (2-3) and the suggestion “to breathe a prayer / Full in the smile of the blue firmament” (3-4). The tired man is allowed to sink into the soft, sweet grass of the field and relax, employed in nothing more taxing than enjoying the scenery around him or reading a pleasant yet frivolous book. However, as evening comes on, he begins to feel a bit sorry that he has not employed his time more devotedly. The nightingale sings for him as he watches the cloudlets sailing past in the evening of his life, mourning that it has passed him by so quickly. This concept is underscored by the concept of the angel crying for him, that he has spent his life in pursuit of pleasure and relaxation rather than giving more time for devotion and appreciation of God’s creation. Through this double meaning, the poem becomes an intense experience full of pleasure and pain, promise and warning, hope and loss. Through the text of the poem, it can be seen that Keats viewed death as the ultimate in pleasurable indolence, yet also felt that life had to be appreciated on earth if this pleasurable state of the after-life was to be achieved. While the surface of this poem seems to suggest nothing more than a peaceful afternoon spent in the country, almost as a tease to the individual who is stuck in the city, a close reading of the poem reveals a much deeper meaning. Keats carefully fills his poem with detailed imagery that paints clear pictures in the minds of his readers, allowing them to place themselves within the context of the scene and enjoy the peace being described. This visual sense is highly augmented by Keats’ use of other sensual language that allows his readers to not only see, but smell, breathe, feel, hear and almost touch the textures included within his concept. The rhyme scheme is carefully selected so as to provide the reader with the same sense of lulling complacency that is described within the country scene. Far from the hustle and bustle of the city, the flowing rhythm carries the reader on wave after wave of sensation until he is at last interrupted by the variations of the final four lines. These lines are varied from the traditional sonnet scheme and bring the reader into a strong awareness that something deeper than the country scene has been described, instigating a closer inspection and further interpretation of the scenes and actions described. Reading through the lines again carefully, the reader begins to comprehend the suggestion of heavenly peace contained within the lines, including the promise of peace, the admonition to pray, the warning not to allow the joys of nature to go unnoticed and the concept of the angels watching over humans and crying for their neglect. Read More