John Keats & the Poetry of 'fine excess' | Midsummer Lecture

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On February 27, 1818, John Keats wrote to his friend John Taylor the following passage:

"In Poetry I have a few Axioms, and you will see how far I am from their Centre. 1st I think Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by Singularity—it should strike the Reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a Remembrance--"

But what does Keats mean when he says that “Poetry should surprise by a fine excess”? This lecture answers this question by looking carefully at some instances of fine excess in some of his Odes. The period from 1818 to 1819 was particularly productive for Keats. It was during this time that he composed his famous odes, a series of poems that are now considered some of the finest works in English literature. The odes were written in a burst of creative energy." These poems—"Ode to Psyche," "Ode on Melancholy," "Ode on Indolence," and "Ode on a Grecian Urn"—are characterized by their rich imagery, emotional intensity, and exploration of beauty and transience.

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