Greek and Roman Myths in the Poetry of John Keats

Abstract

This paper explores Greek and Roman myths in the poetry of John Keats, a poet of sensuous beauty of 19th century English Romanticism. For his romantic ideas of poetic inspiration, imagination, beauty, and love, Keats alludes to Greek and Roman myths including: Titans, Hyperion, Saturn, Oceanus, Cynthia, Hecate, and Phoebe; Olympian deities, Apollo with the Muses, Bacchus, Diana, Zeus or Jove, Venus, Neptune, Pluto, and Mercury; minor deities, Flora, Naiad, Dryad, Nymph, Psyche, Cupid, Vesper, Grace, Zephyr, Faun, Pan, Aurora, and Triton; mythological figures, Daedalus, Endymion, Leander, Orpheus, Syrinx, Narcissus, Echo, and Proserpine; legendary creatures, Phoenix and Pegasus, and so on. The mythical technique of manipulating Greek and Roman mythology employed in Keats’s poems unravels his complicated intentions, deepening his poetic symbolism, and broadening his romantic perspective.