Table Of ContentINSPIRATION IN MILTON AND KEATS
INSPIRATION IN
MILTON AND KEATS
Meg Harris Williams
M
MACMILLAN
© Meg Harris Williams 1982
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First published 1982 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-05639-2 ISBN 978-1-349-05637-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05637-8
Reprinted 1993
To Gawain
disguised as fiction, the truth occasionally slips through.·
Wilfred Bion
We may make a beginning by acknowledging the obvious,
that every psycho-analytical discovery IS a self-revelation and
every paper an autobiography.'
Donald Meltzer
In the conclusion
Is the dedication
Of what is worthy
To the creator.
I send back these songs
For signature;
To be corrected by
The making eye.
Roland Harris
Contents
Preface ix
1 On the Meaning of Inspiration 1
2 Milton's New-enlightened World 22
3 Milton and the Genius of the Shore 40
4 Milton's Search for the Idea of the Beautiful 76
5 Keats's Commitment to the Vale of Soul-making 103
6 The Principle of Beauty in All Things 143
Epilogue 197
Selectz"ve Bibliography 202
Index 207
Preface
This book is concerned with a more specific definition of
inspiration than that commonly implied by the term, and poems
which may be called 'inspired' are therefore correspondingly
limited in number. The term is not used simply to revalue or
rearrange a hierarchy of poems, but to describe the experience of
the poet hirnself, and the nature of the knowledge he has gained
by writing a particular poem. Inspired writing is an experience
for the poet which fundamentally changes his view of the world,
and which is therefore more often associated with disturbance
than with enjoyment. And although all inspired poetry is artisti
cally excellent, not all good poetry is inspired; the categories are
divided by the point at which the poet's primary feeling is no
longer that of total command of his powers, but that of an obli
gation to tell 'the truth', as it is told to hirn, by apower greater
than his own. Inspiration is the means by which poets become, in
Shelley's terms, 'the legislators of the world'. And the inspired
poet is like Plato's philosopher-in-the-making, painfully dragged
from his Cave-dwelling into the sunlight, and then forced to
apply his new vision back in the old darkness, his eyes being
'unsighted in two ways': new knowledge brings no release from old
discomfort, and the knowledge-seeker is thrown back into his
habitual medium of work - which, for the poet, is the craft of
verse.
It is now a critical commonplace that 'poetry should not mean,
but be': a fact about poetry which is as true for the poet writing as
for the reader reading. In my investigation of the meaning of
inspiration, I found that the collection of isolated, out-of-context
remarks by poets and others about 'inspiration' was relatively
unilluminating. Anthologies of this nature exist and are of some
interest, but it seems to me that the most effective way to examine
inspiration systematically is through the analysis of poetic
language itself; and that it is a characteristic of inspired poetry
for an image, or extended metaphor, of the process of inspiration
IX
x lnspira#on in Milton and Keats
to exist within the poem, representing the poet's concern with his
own experience as an aspect of the wider subject of the poem.
For, however dramatically the poet's identity may be subsumed in
different chara"cters and situations, his own inner poetic history
has some part in the unfolding of apoern, wh ich is an exploration
and shows hirn in the process of learning. Inspiration is not
merely a figure of speech, but a complex state of mi nd for which
poets themselves have the greatest respect, love and hatred. If we
are to pay more than lip-service to the value of poetry as ex
perience and as a model for experience in life itself, then some
attention must be paid to that central experience of the poet's on
which the action of the poem depends.
In the following chapters, therefore, after an introduction
based primarily on the major images of inspiration of Plato,
Dante and Spenser, I attempt to explore the his tory of inspiration
in two poets: John Milton and John Keats. These two were chosen
for several reasons; they include: the wealth of material docu
menting their early development; their standpoint in different
eras ('Renaissance' and 'Romantic') which are often considered to
present antithetical ideas of the poet's role; and the fact (much
neglected in criticism) of Milton's pervasive influence on Keats.
The book consists of a personal reading of their poetry, pursued
more or less chronologically, which for reasons of space and to
balance the short life-span of Keats, treats the later poetry of
Milton much less fully than his early poetry. The validity of the
subjective, imaginative factor in criticism is, of course, dependent
upon the accuracy of the interpretation. One way to read a poem
is to write a story about it, just as one way to observe a Grecian
Urn is to write a poem about it, and one way to defend the
Harmony of the Spheres is to deliver an 'open-handed' oration in
the face of logic's 'closed fist'. In the context of controlled
technique, a subjective analysis can unearth evidence which
studiously evades close-fisted scholarship. The highest possible
aspiration of any literary critic is to enrich the appreciation of the
reader when he turns again to the literature; and my main hope is
that this account of two poets' related development embodies a
story reflecting something of the truth of the poetry itself.
I would like, here, to express my affectionate thanks to
Kathleen Lea, who with courage, care and insight supervised my
five years' research at Oxford; to Joie Macaulay, who taught me
at school to read poetry, introduced me to Milton and has often
Preface
Xl
discussed the drafts with pleasure and interest; to other friends
and teachers: in particular Gillian Beer; Catherine Belsey;
Raffaella Ferrari; Hannah Hammond; BrianJackson; NaliniJain
Soni; Mary Ann Radzinowicz; Susanne Wofford; to my family,
who read the manuscript at every stage and whose influence
pervades the book: in particular to my husband Adrian who, with
the additional delights of a small child to bring up, seems to have
enjoyed the experience.
The edition from which Milton's poetry is quoted is that of
Carey and Fowler (Longman, 1968); Wright's transcription and
facsimile of the Trinity Manuscript (reprinted by the Scolar Press)
is also used for the poetry and for the Letter to a Friend. Other
wise the text for Milton's prose is the Yale Complete Prose, edited
by Don M. Wolfe et al. (1953); though Of Education is available
in paperback selections (edited by Lea or Patrides). Milton's
Latin prolusions are quoted only in translation, as are incidental
references to other Latin writings. I have used Miriam Allott's
edition of Keats's poems (Longman, 1970); in some cases (e.g.
for spontaneous verse, or early drafts) his poems are quoted from
the Letters, for which the text is Rollins's complete edition
(1958). Gittings's selection (1977) contains all the important
letters. Once or twice I have without comment corrected Keats's
slips of the pen when they might distract the reader (e.g. 'itsef'
for 'itself'), and expanded abbreviations; and I have not (unless
for specific comment) reproduced erasions when quoting from
manuscript transcriptions. EIsewhere, cu_v' and 'i-j' spellings have
been normalised. I have not cumbered the text with footnotes,
because all the major references are easily found, and the others
may be researched by any interested person. Unless otherwise
stated, comments on Keats by his friends will be found in the
Rollins's, The Keats Circle (1965). Keats's marginal notes on
Milton are printed in Buxton Forman's Hampstead edition
(1938-9), volume 5, and reprinted in the Penguin Complete
Poems (1976), edited by John Barnard. I am, in addition, parti
cularly indebted to Parker's biography of Milton; to Bate's bio
graphy of Keats; to Irene Samuel's work on Milton; and to
Sperry's Keats the Poet.
M.H.W.
February 1980
