The Still Image in Keat’s Poetry

(Institute for Anglistic and Amencanistik, Universitat Salzburg, Austria, 1981). Price 25 $.

Keat’s imagery has been the subject of frequent critical comment. W. J. Bate, Earl R. Wassermann, R. H. Fogle, David Perkins and oth­ers have dealt with this subject with such a remarkable thoroughness that one might doubt the possibility of another book. But Professor Swaminathan’s The Still Image dispels any such doubt and it takes us far beyond where the other critics have left us. Keats’s poetry, according to professor Swaminathan, matures with his “deepening contemplation of the nature of things, the still image grows in its con­notation and expands into a metaphor for reality.” The main argument of the book is the evolution of this meaning of the still image. As we read the book many of our doubts are cleared and we get a better understanding of the development and ramifications of Keats’s im­agery.

The first three chapters deal with nearly the entire body of Keats’s poetry, classifying, comparing and contrasting the element of stillness in his landscapes of Nature, his portraits of the human form, and his imagery of sound and silence, and trace the growth of their symbolic implications. The succeeding chapters consider the major poems individually in their chronological sequence. Portions of the book are based on some of the material in his doctoral dissertation on the imagery of Keats and Shelly accepted by the University of Oxford in 1958.

Truth lies in the stillness beyond the turbulence of the objective world. Stillness, silence and eternity are one and the same reality. This stillness or eternity reveals itself only in flashes. It is this moment that Keats’s strives to prolong and, if possible, make permanent. This moment is Beauty; it is also Truth. He captures this moment in his contemplation of the beauty of the crecian urn, the melody of the nightingale, and the fruitfulness of the season of autumn. He does not indulge in sensual imagination as is supposed by some readers. He is looking for stillness, stasis, Being in the world of Becoming. The phrase ‘still stream’ epitomises his attempt at stationing the fleeting objective world.

Professor Swaminathan’s treatment of Enuymion, Hyperion, and The· Eve of St. Agnes is highly original and shows his long acquaintance with the poet’s work. With the massive evidence he has collected from various and hitherto unexplored sources he brings new facts to light in his analysis of The Eve of St. Agnes. Madeline is associated with Mary Magdelene in the poet’s mind. Porphyro appearing to Madeline ‘cloaked up in dard disguise’ has a parallel in Christ’s appearance to Mary Magdelene disguised as a gardener. Again, Prophyro’s walking of Madeline from herdeath-like sleep has the semblance of Chirst barely touching Magdelene and rousing her from sleep. The word ‘redeem’ according to professor Swaminathan, suggests Prophyro’s role as that of Christ the redeemer. Magdeline’s putting off her ‘warmed jewels’ and her ‘rich attire’ before going to sleep has at its basis the idea that one must divest oneself of the various garments of mortality. Jesus said: “when you take off your clothing without being ashamed then shall you behold the Son of the Living One and you shall not fear.” The garments of mortality are the senses, the mind the intellect or reason. In Hindu philosophy they are referred to as panchakosha (five sheaths). The analysis is not only food for thought but also a feast for the eye as beautiful paintings of Mary Magdelene are included by the writer as supportive evidence for his argument. In all, there are thirty-five rare and attractive illustrations that add to the interest of the book.

Professor Swaminathan notices two fundamental quests that oc­cupy Keats’s mind and art throughout his intense though brief life. The first is his search for the utmost stillness at the heart of the cos­mos. The second is his stylistic search for the utmost stillness that the temporal medium of language can achieve. Nowhere in poetry word and idea, sound and sense have been so well limited. It has been rightly held that he gives us things and not mere wordy descrip­tions. He can communicate silence, stillness and even transcendence.

Professor Swaminathan’s book is a major advance in Keatsian criticism and scholarship.

V. Rama Murthy.