John Keats: The Man Who Had Love But Could Not Keep It John Keats was a man who almost was able to conquer fate. He is remembered as one of, if not the most profound and influential poets of the Romantic Era. However, he was dealt a horrible pair of cards before he even antied into the game. Keats knew that he was going to die young. He was orphaned at age 14 when his mother died of tuberculosis. That same disease had killed his brother and would later come back to kill John Keats himself when he was only 25. Keats knew that his time on this earth was limited, but he certainly made the very most out of it. In addition to writing poetry, Keats loved a woman named Fanny Brawne. This woman got him through his most depressing times (which he tended …show more content…
Her personality, attitude, and overall way that she conducted herself was what made her truly beautiful. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Keats expresses this message when he relates his love to the tune of the unheard pipes that were being played for the lovers on the urn: “Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;\Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d” (12, 13). Keats conveys the same subliminal messages in “Bright Star” as he tells us that love is more than sex, but often times chastity. This symbol of chastity is represented by untouched snow when Keats says, “Or grazing on the new soft-fallen mask\Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--”(7, 8). There is a distinct difference between beauty and physical sexual attractiveness. The two characters on the urn seem to possibly belong in both camps, as their love is both lustful and cordial. However, Keats and Brawne seem to have the upper hand in this category of love for the reason that their love is based off of what they both think. It is not based on what they look like. It is genuine, mutual, real, heartfelt love that is hard to come by, and it is Fanny Brawne and John Keats who possess that very