Reading Response #3

In the article “Population Thinking”: Keats and the Romance of Public Opinion, by Mark Jones, who works at Queen’s University, He writes about ways that public opinion coincides with the critical reflection on the population thinking in the Romantic time period. In 1859 John Stuart said “That public opinion now rules the world.” In the Romantic time period, “public opinion was romantic. For it involved two wonders: first, that something so amorphous as public should have something so definite as an opinion; and second, that mere opinion might do something.” (Mark Jones) Jeremy Bentham calls public opinion as a “tutelary power…by which so much is done.”  Opinion is a power and it does not bring violence but the law. Public opinion does not proclaim a single opinion but the voice of multitudes. Arthur Aspinall asked, “Did the Press Govern, or did it reflect the public opinion?” Mark Jones said “In the Romantic era the answer is yes: both the press and the government reflect and govern public opinion—and are seen to do both.” In John Keats’ lifetime, the power of literary reviews, whether real or imagined, meant that no writer with professional aspiration was unaware of the power of public opinion. Mark Jones also writes “Keats’ interest in public opinion is inspired not only by phenomena of the discursive public sphere but also, and perhaps primarily, by the market. In March of 1818, Keats writes, ‘As Tradesman say everything is worth what it will fetch, so probably every mental pursuit takes its reality and worth from the ardour of the pursuer—being in itself a nothing’” As Keats was aware, the public was in pressed by the reviews and by knowledge of their “trickery”. Yet his relation to the public opinion is not altogether negative. For Keats, the romance of the public opinion opens directly into critical reflection on the casualties me on the casualties of the population thinking. This article reflect the interpretation, on “The Headless Boyfriend” blog topic, that John Keats (who wrote the poem “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil”) was aware of the public opinion and he was also writing about the public opinion, when he was writing the poem “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil.”

            In Mark Jones’ article “Population Thinking”: Keats and the Romance of Public Opinion he says that the public opinion now rules the world.  I believe that this is true because the public has a say in our government, even though sometimes it does not seem like it. Our opinion matter in our government; if you do not want someone elected then you cannot vote for him/her and also get your friends to not vote for him or her. I wish some people had more opinion and care more because only 58% of legal, eligible American vote. I think that sad because about 58% of American complain about the government. In Rome, you receive a fine for not voting. Luckily John Keats had an opinion when he lived in Rome (even though I do not think that they had that law way back then). Mark Jones says that in the Romantic time period the public opinion was romantic. I think John Keats knew that when he was writing “Isabella; or the Pot of Basil.” It is a romantic love story. While John Keats was alive he wrote many poems, and most of them are romantic. That is why he is a Romantic Poet. The public opinion, or what the public like, may have been one of the things that made John Keats famous. What also may have made him famous, or helped make him famous, was the way he was aware of what the people (the public) wanted (opinion). He must have known that the public opinion had the power to make him famous and known. People are still talking about John Keats opinions. People still put his word in love letter, song, and even movies. John Keats may have die, but his works and opinion will never die. If you would like to read Mark Jones’ article, here is a link to “Population Thinking”: Keats and the Romance of Public Opinion. Please read and learn more about the public opinions and John Keats.

Blogging Community

As I was blogging today, I began to look around at other blogs. I came across a great student blog called “The Life and Works of John Keats.” This blog caught my attention because of the beautiful colors and with a closer look you can also see snow flakes falling, but while watching the video I would be distracted because the snow flakes would go in front of the video. “The Life and Works of John Keats” is an easy to navigate blog. On this blog, you will see that they do not just go over one poem (like ours does), but it goes over multiple poems of John Keats. A few of the poems are:  “Isabella or The Pot of Basil,” “Ode to Autumn,” “Bright Star,” “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” and I am sure there will be more to come. “The Life and Works of John Keats” did not just go over poems, but they also go over John Keats life, his love life, how Keats’ works has influents in today’s pop culture and music, and once again I am sure there will be more. They have also made their own poems. One of their own poems is called “Winter Break Prose Poem.” In this poem, I believe it shows what most of the kids are thinking before, during, and after winter break. I like the way the poem uses visual imagery, sensual representation, detail, metaphor, simile, alliteration, and symbolism. The authors of “The Life and Works of John Keats” are three students from Mr. Turner, fifth period class. The author’s names are Zack Richmond, Tina Ho, and Heidi McGill. I think that this group of brilliant student has cover “The Life and Works of John Keats” fully. Go and look at their blog yourself. Here is the link to the blog “The Life and Works of John Keats.” 

Broken Arm (Prose Poem)

Waking up to the sound of my alarm clock beeping, I knew it was going to be a great day of snowboarding. Looked outside to see the sun shining down on me, and it felt like a rush of energy just hit me. As I walked outside to my friend’s car, I looked over and saw the beautiful mountain. It was reflecting the sun, and giving it a nice shining, white look. As we pull in to Timberline parking lot, I noticed there was a lot of people. I felt as if there was a grain of sand for every person there. When I got out of the car I slipped of a pat of ice and almost landed face first. When I was putting my snowboard boots on, I could here two Timberline parking crew talk about how overnight they had received over six inches of new snow. As I was walking up the hill of the parking lot, my friend was said, “This is going to be a sick, blue bird day!” When we finish walking up the hill, we looked over the resort. As we began to strap in I noticed that one of my bindings was lose; so I asked my friend for his binding tool. When I was finish tightening my binding, and began to strap in again, my friend started to go down the run. I finish strapping in, and race down the mountain to catch up. The wind was beating against my face, and my face became num. When I got to the lift they were waiting for me. While on the lift I looked over, pointed at the park and said, “We should go there.” So when we got off the lift we headed over to the park. After doing three of the jumps I stop and waited. The next part of the park was rails. My friends did not want to do the rail so I said, “Go big or go home!” and went for the first rail. As I was doing a fontside board side, I cough my edge and it throws me off and landed in my right arm. I yelled, “I broke my arm! Where in the medical area?” One of my friends said it was just at the end of the run. So I stood up while hold my broken arm, and went were I could see the end of the run. I the medical area was not there. So one of my friend when and got ski portal and they took me down to it and they gave me a sling to put my arm in. And that is how I broke my arm.

John Keats Life Story

John Keats was born on October 31^st in 1795. His parents were Frances Jennings and Thomas Keats. He was born and raised in a town near London. When Keats was around 8 years old, his father was kick by a horse and fracture his skull. Just a few hours later his father died. About two months later John Keats was sent to his grandparents. His grandpa died not to long after he moved in. Keats had to live off of only his grandma’s income. When John Keats went to school, everybody knew him. He even got some teachers’ attention with his literature. Around 1810 Keats’ mother died and a little over 4 years later his grandma died. The lack of money made John Keats to leave school to help be an assistant for a surgeon. He wrote his first poetry while he was in training. The poem is called The Examiner.  Keats then left the medical area and gave himself to become famous. Shelley was a huge influence in John Keats’ works.  Around 1817, John Keats worked on poems and also came out with a book filled with the poems. Keats met a woman named Fanny Brawne in 1819. Keats could not afford to support his wife; so they kept the engagement a secret from all but from their closest friends. He did end up marrying her before he died. In that same year Keats was diagnosed with tuberculosis and he felt that he was dying. A year later, 1820, Keats came out with another book of poems and they are now known to be some of John Keats best work. This book includes some of his famous poems like:  Isabella; and the pot of basil, Eve of St. Agnes, and Lamia. Over the Year, John Keats became very weak, and started to cough up blood. While this was happing, Keats moved from his home town London, all the way down to Rome. In Rome, one of Keats’ friends took care of him. John Keats died on February 23 in 1821. John Keats is known as one of the best poets of his time.

"Isabella & the pot of basil"

This video I found on YouTube (Isabella & the pot of basil) and it is by JanuszMadej. The video is a short story, which is based off of John Keats’ "Isabella: or, the Pot of Basil." Now this video does not go straight off of his poem. It has major differences. One thing that is different is the time period. Elvis was never alive during John Keats life time. Something else different was the brothers. Although in the poem the brothers are greedy and evil, I think that, in the video, they are made greedier and more evil in the video. Beside the differences in the story they both go on the same line. They both had two people fall in love as if that’s not common in videos), they both had the brother kill  Lorenzo, they both have him appear in a dream to Isabella, and they both plant the head in the basil and it grows so much that the brother steal it and look what’s inside. I think that this video gives us a better understanding of how people take the Romantics Poets’ poems and turn them in to movies. Some of those movies are, Harry Potter, Inception, Star Wars, and even more. We don’t realize that poems have to do so much with today’s movies. And not only movies but also music. The Romantics Poets have also made new words. And the new words can go in to videos like Isabella & the pot of basil. There is always more to know about the poets and poems and how the affects our lives and culture. That is why this video is good to understand more about poems. There are two part to the short story. Please watch and enjoy Isabella & the pot of basil.

Part one:

Part Two:

Poem and Painting

John Keats’ poem "Isabella; or The Pot of Basil" was published in 1820, and the poem is about a lady, Isabella, and her lover, Lorenzo. Her brothers didn’t like them meeting together because they wanted her to marry a rich man. So they took him down and outside the city to kill him, and had they told her that they sent Lorenzo for a long business trip. When months past she was still in love with him and asked her brothers when he would return. The brothers gave her no answers; so Isabella called out to her lover asking him to return. He appeared to her in her dreams saying that he was killed by her brothers and then also told her where she could find his body. When she awoke she went outside the city to a forest and found his body. She cut off his head and put it in a pot and put basil on top. The plant was very big and made the brothers wandered what was in the pot of basil. The brothers pulled out the basil and saw the head of Lorenzo. The brothers then realized that she knew they killed Lorenzo. The brothers then took the pot and ran out to another town, never to be seen again. I believe that the poem is about a true symbol of undying love. And that undying love was showed in a painting titled Isabella and The Pot of Basil (painting showed below). That was painted in 1868 by a man named William Holman Hunt. The painting shows Isabella hugging the pot of basil that Lorenzo is buried in after he was murdered. When Hunt was drawing another painting, a scene where Lorenzo was working for her brothers, he came up with the idea to paint this one. When Hunt’s wife died he made this painting a memorial to his wife. He did that by making Isabella’s features like his wife. I think the painting shows us how Isabella was sad because of her loss. You can see next to her hair, there is the flourishing plant of basil. John Keats said that is flourished by her tears but I think it also flourished by her undying love because even after death her love made them grow.