Pocket analysis of Keats:
“POCKETS” ANALYSIS:
One way to mentally connect with other people is to think about the objects that they find of some importance: what they buy, what they discard, what they place in their environment, what they carry around with them. We know, for example, that when Shelley’s dead body was pulled from the sea, he had a volume of Keats’s poetry in one of his pockets. That is not simply a biographical detail; Shelley’s admiration of Keats’s poetry indicates something about Shelley’s own poetry. This time, you are going to write about Keats, what kind of object could be found in Keats’ pocket when he wrote his poetry?
come to class with a written analysis of Keats of 600 words (three full pages) that provides the following:
1. First (page 1), list three objects that the poet might have had in his pockets at any point when he was writing poetry. Think of objects that would be unique
to the poet—not “a pencil, a comb, and a handkerchief.”
2. Then (pages 2-3), select one of those items (more if you wish) and use it as a focus for discussing the features of the poet’s life and work that are suggested
by the object(s).
Your goal is to demonstrate your knowledge of (1) the poet (Keats)’s life, and (2) an aspect of his poetry. You will need to discuss a specific poem (or poems); do not limit yourself to biography.