A comparison between Keats

             There is a definite likeness between these poems, as they are all thematically linked. An example of this is that in each, there is some sort of conflict between man and natures representations i.e. the knight and the faery, the boy and the rat, and also the man and the deer. Beyond the words of the poem, an on-going interaction between man and nature can be found.
             In 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', this interaction results in man, or the knight in this case, losing out in a spiritual conflict to nature, or the faery's child, "And I awoke and found me here, On the cold hill's side". The quote itself actually is a good example of how Keats brings about a cold feel to the poem at this point, which is ironic as we associate cold temperatures with loss.
             However, this conflict takes a new twist in the Heaney poem, 'An Advancement of Learning'. This time the conflict goes one step further and is ironically portrayed in a militaristic style with "I established a dreaded bridgehead" and "This terror (the rat)...retreated..." and was actually won by man, or the boy in this case, "He trained on me. I stared him out". This is also a good example of Heaney showing that man, in this poem, is dominant over nature.
             This idea of man winning the conflict brought over from 'An Advancement of Learning' is not the main feature in 'Roe-deer', as here a conflict ceases to exist. In this poem, it is the outcome of this on-going conflict that is affecting nature at this point in time. This conflict, which for man took a new turn after the industrial revolution, has resulted in man and nature living separate from one another even though they are symbiotic. In this poem, nature is trying to get back to man, as "The deer had come for me". But is faced with the barrier, which is symbolised by the car, and it seems as if man, who has manipulated and corrup...

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A comparison between Keats. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 04:53, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/82477.html