States of Existence in Keats' Poetry and Campion's "Bright Star" Arya Adami 12th Grade

The value of art is timeless to a great extent, with the exception of subtle nuances which can be attributed to the progressiveness of modern society. John Keats’ artistic style embraces the worship of nature and the exploration of the individual imagination, evident in his timeless odes “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “To Autumn”. Jane Campion’s 21st-century biographical film on John Keats, “Bright Star”, resonates with Keats’ exploration of Romantic tenets, but also introduces subtle differences such as realism and feminism. Through a comparative study of these texts, it is evident that, despite the continual change in perspectives, in conversation, these texts agree with the notion that there are two states of existence--the frustrating and transient physical world and the idealistic metaphysical world--and that art is timelessly utilised as a medium of escape from the former to the latter. Through the timelessness of art, composers illuminate their frustrations with the sensual physical world.

Keats expresses this by establishing cognitive dissonance in “Ode on a Grecian Urn” as he is suspended between whether the images of the urn are truly free. Keats, in “Sylvan historian, who canst thus express/A flowery tale more sweetly...