Reality and Illusion in Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci", The Eve of St. Agnes and Lamia: A Bridge Between Plato and Nietzsche

• Main Authors: Yu-wen Huang, 黃郁雯
• Other Authors: Jerome F. Keating
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/98880932014725331289

碩士 === 中國文化大學 === 英國語文學研究所 === 95 === “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”; seeking eternal beauty and truth is always the main theme of John Keats, the great Romantic poet. In fact, his searching for the relationship between beauty and truth is not only reflected in his imaginative poems, but also contributes to philosophy. In this thesis, I will transform his idea of beauty and truth into an exploration of reality and illusion, and also prove that his thought has a close relationship between that of Plato and Nietzsche. First of all, by analyzing Plato’s dualistic worldview and Ideal Form, Plato’s definitions of reality and illusion will be found out. He believes that truth is an unchangeable concept in the ideal world, and illusion is a changeable feeling in the material world. They belong to the highest and the lowest levels of knowledge respectively. However, Keats thinks that reality and illusion are not totally opposite; there is an ambiguous relationship between the two. Moreover, he believes that reality and illusion can be combined, and that the union of the two can reach the realm of eternal perfection. Besides, through Lycius’ tragic death in Lamia, Keats expresses that neither reality nor illusion is relative to good or evil. Keats’ thought is similar to Nietzsche’s Apollonian and Dionysian impulses of art. The Apollonian beautiful dream can be seen as illusion and the Dionysian powerful vitality as cold reality. In Nietzsche’s view, these two elements should complement to each other and be kept balanced in order to attain the summit of art. After comparing the three thinkers, we can know that although they lived in different periods of time, their ideas are related to each other. Especially for Keats, he is surely influenced by Plato’s ideas, but he is not satisfied with them. He creates more ideas which can be proven so that he anticipates Nietzsche. Therefore, Keats can be sees as a bridge between Plato and Nietzsche in their relationship.