The structure of Keats’s Poems (1817) begs several questions as to the circumstances of their publishing. The title page of this work reveals several curious aspects of its printing. In the quote from Spenser and in the woodcut vignette of Shakespeare, Keats illustrates how these writers have influenced his imagination in undertaking this work. It also serves to place him in the literary tradition of these writers, and a reader would become aware, from the first instant of opening the book, that Keats has liberal ideas, just like these two. The highlighted quote from Spenser’s Fate of the Butterfly makes Keats’s viewpoints very clear: ‘What more felicity can fall to creature / Than to enjoy delight with liberty.’
Keats’s dedication, ‘To Leigh Hunt, esq.’, reveals a bit more about Keats’s feelings regarding the contemporary political climate and the role of poetry within it. He views the period of social unrest in England as ‘…a time, when under pleasant trees / Pan is no longer sought’ and is delighted that an artist he admires, Leigh Hunt, finds value in his work: ‘A leafy luxury, seeing I could please / With these poor offerings…’
The pages following the dedication are unusual in a few key ways. For one thing, there is no listed table of contents. Keats’s work is separated into four main sections: ‘Poems,’ ‘Epistles,’ ‘Sonnets,’ and finally, ‘Sleep and Poetry.’ However, the reader is not informed as to this structure prior to starting reading. In his essay, ‘First Fruits or “First Blights”: A New Account of the Publishing History of Keats’s Poems (1817),’ John Barnard suggests that Keats may have been forced to choose between including his dedication to Leigh Hunt or including a contents list, and chose the latter (79). Additionally, the lack of a contents page could have been an intentional method of guiding the reader to read the collection in chronological order as presented, rather than skipping around between sections. On the page following the one where a contents list would ordinarily appear, the heading ‘Poems’ is an unusual placement. It comes directly above the epigraph from Story of Remini and the opening lines of ‘I stood tip-toe upon a little hill.’ This confusing display places the heading of the section and the epigraph on the same page as the start of the first poem in the series. This differs from the three other headings in the work, as ‘Epistles,’ ‘Sonnets,’ and ‘Sleep and Poetry’ all have their own pages directly before the start of each new section. As this was Keats’s first published collection of poems, perhaps such editing details escaped him, or the cost of blank space on a page proved to be too much. Either way, the design lends itself to a cluttered and slightly disorienting first view for the reader.
Keats’s first poem in the series, ‘I stood on tip-toe upon a little hill’, appears to be a log of observations of the natural world. He particularly describes several aspects of nature in motion, or watching ‘Nature’s gentle doings.’ For instance, he describes a swarm of minnows that ‘show their little heads, / staying their wavy bodies ’gainst the streams’ and ‘the moon lifting her silver rim / Above a cloud.’ The poem also openly questions and explores the role of the poet within the natural world. Among his observations, Keats remarks that what he sees inspires him to write poetry: ‘For what has made the sage or poet write / But the fair paradise of Nature’s delight?’ By bringing in the names ‘Psyche,’ ‘Jove,’ ‘Pan,’ and ‘Narcissus,’ among others, Keats makes the reader aware of the literary tradition in which he places himself and makes their presence among the natural world customary. His preoccupation with his own role as poet is clear, as well. He writes ‘…that I might / Tell but one wonder of thy bridal night!’, foreshadowing his own future poems and what he hopes to achieve through writing them. This same sentiment is echoed in the last lines of the poem, ‘Was there a Poet born? –but now no more, / My wand’ring spirit must no farther soar.–’ These words reveal Keats’s thoughts and wonderings regarding not only the words he has already written, but what is to come in his future poems.
His following poems carry the same amount of reverence toward earlier poets and inspirations. For instance, in ‘Specimen of an Induction of a Poem,’ he asks Spenser to inspire him in his poetry: ‘great bard, I not so fearfully / Call on thy gentle spirit to hover nigh / My daring steps…’ He humbles himself in comparison to Spenser and ‘Libertas,’ which was the nickname given to Leigh Hunt by Keats and Cowden Clarke (Roe 52). ‘Calidore. a Fragment,’ follows suit in providing a narrative ‘tale of chivalry,’ following the young knight Calidore. However, like ‘I stood on tip-toe upon a little hill,’ Keats blends the narrative with natural observations of ‘…the pleasant green / Of easy slopes, and shadowy trees that lean / So elegantly o’er the waters’ brim.’ Keats’s ‘Imitation of Spenser’ enters an idealized landscape, and he utilizes the material riches of jewels, such as ‘ruby,’ ‘emerald,’ and ‘silver’ in his language to describe the beauty of the natural landscape. Again, Keats reflects introspectively on the poetry he has written and will write: ‘Ah! could I tell the wonders of an isle.’ In doing so, the reader learns more about Keats’s aspirations and preoccupations as a writer.
The next section, ‘Epistles,’ in many ways explores similar themes as those in ‘Poems,’ but Keats ties in some of his own anxieties and darkened moods in his writings addressed to his friends and family. In ‘To George Felton Mathew,’ he speaks wistfully of those poets ‘who strove with the bright golden wing / Of genius, to flap away each sting / Thrown by the pitiless world,’ and respectfully mentions ‘…those who in the cause of freedom fell,’ the martyrs for liberty in the contemporary climate of social unrest. This adds further to his title page, which clearly signifies Keats’s liberal sympathies to the reader. In ‘To My Brother George’ Keats expresses feelings of bewilderment and distress, stating that his mind is ‘…o’ercast / With heaviness…’ However, by the end of the epistle he has turned the focus to his own aspirations, and the poet’s role in society. The lines ‘These are the living pleasures of the bard; / But richer far posterity’s reward’ reveal his hopes for posthumous fame and glory through his poetry. ‘To Charles Cowden Clarke’ again combines the theme of natural beauty with extraordinary happenings, opening with “Oft have you seen a swan…’ but then also describing its movements as ‘a beam of light / Come from the galaxy…’ In this way, Keats brings together an idealized and natural world in his poetry.
Keats’s sonnets continue many of the earlier themes. ‘Written on the day that Mr. Leigh Hunt left Prison’ clearly shows Keats’s respect for his fellow poet, claiming Hunt was imprisoned ‘for showing truth to flatter’d state,’ and that his spirit, even while imprisoned, joins the company of other great literary writers. Contrasted with the ‘wretched crew’ mentioned in the last line, Hunt’s fate is preferable. Keats’s take on the affair reveals his own belief in the cause of liberty and demonstrates how he stands behind Hunt in his imprisonment.
‘Sleep and Poetry’ closes Keats’s collection, and begins with a pastoral scene and the pleasures that result from looking upon such a beautiful sight. Keats later asks, ‘And can I bid these joys farewell?’, in which he leaves the idealized realm of which he had been describing and declares that he must enter the real world of experience: ‘Where I may find the agonies, the strife / Of human hearts…’ Despite the harsh realities of life, however, Keats promises to ‘keep alive’ the extraordinary visions he experiences. ‘Sleep and Poetry’ also explores the purpose of poetry more broadly, offering a few ideas: ‘that it should be a friend / To sooth the cares, and lift the thoughts of man,’ or ‘heart-easing things’ to lend itself to a form of escapism to the reader. Overall, what becomes most clear in this poem is Keats’s sense of urgency and purpose in writing; he declares that ‘…there ever rolls / A vast idea before me, and I glean / Therefrom my liberty…’ This suggests that Keats feels that he must write and deliver his ideas. In fact, his last lines of the poem portray what Keats sees as his role as poet, leaving his lines ‘as a father does his son,’ to be read and enjoyed by posterity. This also secures his place in the line of literary figures he sees as his own forefathers, such as Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton, by offering his contribution to the literary world.