John Keats’s Creative Skepticism: In Relation to William Hazlitt’s and David Hume’s Ideas

Abstract

In this paper John Keats’s idea of poetic self or the personal identity is explored in relation to William Hazlitt’s and David Hume’s ideas. The main argument of this paper is that Keats has expressed his creative skepticism in many of his letters and poems, and that Keats’s ideas have been influenced by Hazlitt’s and Hume’s ideas. To understand Keats’s creative skepticism more fully, Hazlitt’s ideas on self-love and natural disinterestedness will be discussed as a relevant ideas to Keats’s ideas expressed in such famous passages as “the vale of soul making” and “negative capability.” Further, Hume’s “mitigated” skepticism revealed especially in Book I of A Treatise of Human Nature will be introduced in some length as a background information. As a result of this process, I would hope that we can understand Keat’s ideas about meaning and value of being a poet in this world. (Chonbuk National University)