Keats vs. Coleridge: Overflow

Despite what Coleridge may say, there are some people that accomplish are and beauty almost by accident. There are the prodigies, the gifted, and the naturally talented. They exist and I am sure they really pissed Coleridge off. For some people, poetry is a beautiful accident. Their minds close off and their hearts spill over the page. Language can blossom in the mind or burst from the chest.

How does this affect how teachers think about poetry? Greatly.

We should take a look what Keats has to say about this topic. “If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all” - John Keats. That is a pretty tall order and definitely a different idea from Coleridge. Interestingly enough, Keats and Coleridge where not eras apart, only decades. Barely. They were both Romantics in England. Yet, they disagreed greatly on how one should approach poetry. Keats believes in this overflow of emotion. The page becomes an extension of the heart.

So when teaching poetry with this mindset, the focus of the poem would be how it makes you feel. Poetry would be a consumer's paradise. It would be all about how you feel after reading it, the tone of the poem, and the emotional impact. Instead of a poem being judged as successful based upon whether or not it made you think about important things, the worth of a poem would be found in how deeply it resonates with you.

Allow me to demonstrate. This is a poem I wrote. I have chosen one of my own because I know personally its intent. I was asked to write a poem for a friend about the insanity that comes with insomnia. I was asked to start with a feeling and convey a feeling. Let us see how I did, Keats would love us all to practice Feel First, so let's do that.

The Hollowness Between Stars

Midnight hops the wire fence;

Creeps in through the window.

Shadows flicker like stars over

Open eyes. He has not abandoned

The sleep he stalks. Now wilder

In desperation.  Back against

The headboard, legs crossed in bed,

Eyes wide open.

Cold tea is abandoned on the nightstand.

“I think I left the refrigerator open.”

 The pale light spills onto the cat, curled

And snoring. Envy in clenched fists,

Empty bottles strewn across the floor,

Eyes open.

“God, just let me sleep.”

It is Sunday.

It was Sunday and God is six

Days away now. Please leave

A message at the tone.

The sheep counted lie naked;

Dying in the bathtub. Their cries

Sound like boiling rubber, a dusty Bible

Hides beneath the couch, eyes remain

Open. Always open.

The mirror’s red eyes will not leave him.

Eyes filled with tears and bourbon.

This is why she left you.

                This is alone.

Because of open refrigerators and

Spilt orange juice he has not mopped up.

Because he drinks orange juice and talks to mops.

Because the mops are in league with

The hollowness between stars, but

His eyes are still open. 

So how would a Keats' teacher approach this poem? The focus would be on tone and mood. The first thing that catches you would not be the indentations or the the italics. The focus would be how certain images catch the imagination. What is striking? Naked sheep crying in a bathtub like boiling rubber. That is striking. That image sticks in my mind. The focus would be on the images the poem creates. The red eyes staring back at me in the mirror. The cold tea and a room full of empty bottles. These are creating a climate, a vehicle, for my emotions to fill. How do I respond to a room full of empty bottles? I am scared and sad for the person in that room. That is Rory's personal emotional response to that image. Perhaps if my father was an obvious alcoholic I would be filled with rage. I would despise the person in that room. 

The Keats' teacher thrives off of the impact of words rather than words themselves. They are more macro, big picture. They care about theme, tone, mood, images, emotions, and connotation. This gets them going when they read a poem. They want to relate to it and have their students relate to it as well. This is a great method for investment. 

They would care less about how I created that effect. They would probably say that the effect is not intentional. The reader is relating to the poet because they both subconsciously attach meaning to these words. There is less merit in discussing the author's intent as much as describing the author as a person with feelings and a need to create. There would be more focus on the author's biography and the social climate of the time of the poem. This is a Keats' teacher in action. 

Thanks for your time this week and I would love for you to consider what type of poetry consumer you are. Most would say Keats. Some are language sticklers and really care for the mind behind the poem rather than the heart behind it. What kind are you? 

Grace and Peace, 

Rory

Next time we discover what type Rory is. :-)