Doctor Who modern era Essay

“Painéd Loveliness”: Beauty in Contrast in Keats’s “On the Sonnet” The traditional subject of the sonnet is the love or perfection of an idealized beloved, but oftentimes sonnets are also about the poetic process and the beauty of the perfect poem. John Keats’s 1819 sonnet “On the Sonnet” makes no pretence toward celebrating a beloved, but while it is about sonnets, rather than celebrating the perfection of the form it seems to complain about its constraining nature. As it complains, the sonnet conforms to rigid sonnet structure, arguably limiting itself even more by creating a different and more complex pattern of interwoven rhyme. On the surface, the poem is somewhat boastful, showing that the poet has the ability to master the structure he despises. An examination of the metaphors and similes in combination with the rhyme scheme tempers this reading however, showing that difficulty is what creates beauty. The figurative language of “On the Sonnet” switches between positive and negative comparisons, and the interwoven rhyme scheme echoes this back and forth movement, emphasizing the poem’s message that seemingly separate or opposite ideas are mutually dependent, and that beauty is created in part through hardship. Keats draws on classical mythology for negative images, figuring sonnet structure as sacrificial and overly greedy. The first of these comparisons is between the sonnet and Andromeda, as the speaker complains that “our English” is “chained” “by dull rhymes” (1) just as Andromeda, tied to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster, was “Fettered, in spite of painéd loveliness” (2). The simile suggests the terror of the woman awaiting her death and the idea that it is in part because of her loveliness, innocence, and weakness that she is an appropriate sacrifice. The tragic fate that awaits her adds to her beauty through the contrast of “painéd loveliness” (3). Andromeda’s story has a happy ending, but the image in the poem comes before her rescue and its unpleasantness is emphasised by the repeated language of bondage: “chained” (1), “Fettered” (3), “constrained” (4), and “bound” (1). Thus, the Andromeda simile insists on the oppressiveness of sonnet structure. The other character from classical mythology who appears in the poem is the foolish and greedy King Midas, as poets are exhorted to become “Misers of sound and syllable, no less / Than Midas of his coinage” (10 /11) and to be overly vigilant or “jealous” of every mistake or imperfection of rhyme or rhythm. While this image is not as traumatic as that of Andromeda, it is not a flattering comparison. Alternating with these allusions to classical myth in the poem are the positive but rather urbane images of clothing and ornamentation for the muse. The first of these is the metaphor of rhyme scheme as “Sandals more interwoven and complete / to fit the naked foot of poesy” (5/6), suggesting something not oppressive but rather useful, and perhaps beautiful. Sandals are protection for that “naked foot,” allowing it to go places it might not otherwise be able. The speaker goes on to argue that the careful inspection and measurement of the mechanics of the poem and attention to every detail is needed to create a rhyme scheme, or sandals, which are fit for poesy. Poesy’s careful cobbler is a very different and much pleasanter image than the pathetic sacrifice or the jealous hoarding king. The final metaphor of the poem also has to do with garmentry, as the fetters and chains of the sonnet turn to “garlands” which now bind the muse. These “garlands of her own” (14) are chains which have become ornaments. The poem transforms the fettered maiden to a decorated one, and it is the knowledge of transformation that creates a positive feeling at the end. The garland is only as lovely as it is when compared with the chain. This alteration between negative and

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