CBSE Class 12 English A Thing of Beauty Notes Set B

About The Poet

English romantic poet John Keats was born on October 31, 1795 in London. His first volume of poems was published in 1817. His poems, dealing with mythical and legendary themes of ancient, medieval and Renaissance times, are rich in imagery and phrasing. He died at a young age of twenty five in 1821.

Summary

In this poem, the poet tells about how nature and its wonders mesmerise us and how they take away all the sorrow that surrounds us from time to time. A beautiful thing is a source of eternal joy, its attractiveness grows with a passage of time and its impact never fades away. It is as cool and pleasant as a quiet lover or like one sleeps a sound sleep with sweet dreams. It ensures good health and tranquility. It provides the one who possess, an ever existing peace and solace. The earth minus the beautiful things is despondent, spiteful place thriving in callous insensitive dearth and is rough towards humans. Each day in life one encounters sadness along with unhealthy spite and darkness.

In spite of this, a thing of beauty may eradicate these gloomy clouds which burden our soul. Hence, the poet says that we, human beings, create an ornate bond every day made up of all lovely things we see. This bond keeps us bound to the despondent earth, otherwise we would have lost all hope. Then the poet reiterates few beautiful things that we see on earth. As beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder-everyone of us can find something beautiful in anything. The example given by the poet are of the sun, the moon, trees, flowers, stream, musk-rose blooms, architectural tombs, even fairytales or stories of heroic legends. The ‘simple sheep’ are human beings – the poet sympathises with the human beings and their innocence. Keats sees the beauty in innocent human looking out for solace in nature and mother nature in its own way develops a shady abode of relief and consolation.

The clause, ‘Lily of the Valley’ is quite well known and incites image of a subtle unique white flower holding up its head amongst a setting of thorns and tips and everything contrary in nature to delicateness, are daffodils cited as an example by the poet. The poet also sees beauty in death of martyrs and legends. ‘The mighty dead’ are the warriors who died for a cause. In order to honour them magnificent and tall sepulchers are erected. One may see beauty in that as well. When we look around there are numerous beautiful things which are immortal and are created by gods above for pitiable human beings so that they are able to cope up with the harshness of life.

About the Poet
John Keats was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His work included Endymion, Isabella, Lamia, The Eve of St. Agnes and Other Poems. He died at a very early age of twentyfive of tuberculosis after leaving an indelible mark on English poetry.

Source
‘A Thing of Beauty’ is an excerpt from his poem, ‘Endymion: A Poetic Romance’ which was first published in 1818. It begins with the line “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. Endymion is written in rhyming couplets also known as heroic couplets. The theme of Endymion is love, beauty and youth and it reflects the poet’s attitude towards beauty.

Theme
A thing of beauty is a source of constant joy. Beauty can be found everywhere. It is something that has the ability to transform life. It also highlights the fact that beauty has a therapeutic quality, i.e. the ability to remove negativity. It can be any object, nature, tales or even noble deeds of our ancestors.

Form
‘A Thing of Beauty’ belongs to the Romantic genre.The poem is written in rhyming couplets and the rhyme scheme is aabb.

Justification of the Title
In this poem, ‘A Thing of Beauty’, the poet describes the glory of beautiful things of the world. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Keats was a worshipper of beauty. For him beauty was truth and truth was beauty. Worldly life is full of hardships, heartbreaks and disappointments. Yet, beauty removes the ugly sheets of sorrows and sufferings, sadness and pain. There is a ceaseless flow of heavenly beauty pouring into our souls and making us happy day and night. Thus, the title of the poem is quite suitable.
 

Message
The poem conveys the message that a thing of beauty is a joy forever. It transcends time. It will never fade away. Beauty has the power to remove darkness and negativity and helps us survive when there is a ‘dearth of noble nature’ or when one is surrounded by evil. It has a positive impact on one’s health. It helps one get a sound sleep. Moreover, it highlights the fact that beauty is not only physical but also spiritual and seems to flow down from heaven as an ‘immortal drink’ made for man.

Summary
According to the poet, John Keats, a thing of beauty is a source of constant joy. Its beauty goes on increasing. It never fades away i.e. it never passes into nothingness. A beautiful thing is as comforting as a bower which is a peaceful and pleasant place in the shade of a tree, providing shelter and protection from the hot rays of the sun, giving us sound sleep, full of pleasant dreams, health and peaceful breathing.

As a result of this, every morning we are weaving a flowery wreath to bind us to the beauties of the Earth despite our feelings of sadness and depression. We all possess negative attributes of hatred and disappointment. We suffer from lack of noble qualities and follow unhealthy, evil ways. In spite of all this, a beautiful thing helps us to remove the cover of gloom or darkness from our lives. It makes us love life despite the things that make us sad and dampen our spirits.

Here are a number of beautiful things that have the power to uplift our spirits like the Sun, the Moon and old and young trees. The trees sprout and spread their branches to provide shelter within their green covering (shade) for the simple sheep (humans). Similarly, the sight of daffodils blooming within their green surroundings, the clear and small streams of water which make a cooling shelter for themselves against the hot season, the thick mass of ferns looking grand with their beautiful musk roses are all things of beauty that makes us feel happy. The mighty dead people whose achievements have made them great and powerful inspire us through their sagas of noble works. Their legends and stories enthuse us and we imagine their magnificence. A beautiful thing is also a source of joy just as the lovely tales we have heard or read give us profound happiness. It is like a fountain of immortality gushing out from nature’s endless fountain pouring its sacred and immortal drink into the heart and soul of man and is a source of immense joy for us.

Poetic Devices

Metaphor:
- ‘bower quiet’–refers to a quiet shady part in the garden
- ‘sweet dreams’–happy dreams
- ‘wreathing a flowery band’–connecting to nature
- ‘pall’–a covering like a shroud
- ‘endless fountain of immortal drink’–refers to the deeds of great men and women that have made them a source of inspiration for people of all times
- The list of beautiful things are metaphors and symbols of nature. flowery band, o’er darkened ways, dark spirits

Alliteration:
- ‘noble natures’
- ‘cooling covert’
- ‘band to bind’

Imagery:
- ‘flowery bands’
- ‘shady boon’
- ‘daffodils in green world’
- ‘clear rills’
- ‘cooling covert’
- ‘grandeur of dooms’
- ‘endless fountain of eternal drink’

Symbol:
- ‘simple sheep’ – refers to mankind, as Christ is considered the shepherd who leads human souls out of the dark world of sins and temptations

Transferred epithet:
- ‘gloomy days’
- ‘unhealthy and o’er darkened ways’

Oxymoron
- ‘mighty dead’

POEM IN A NUTSHELL
Theme
1. Things of beauty have an embalming effect.
2. They help us cope with negativity.
3. They make life more meaningful.
4. God has blessed us with objects of beauty.
5. We need to bond with them.

List of things of beauty
1. Sun, Moon, deep forests
2. Sheep grazing in open pastures
3. Daffodils, rivulets, musk roses
4. Tombs built to honour heroes.
5. Legends, tales from classics and scriptures
These things of beauty are like blessings from heaven, they sweeten our bitter lives.

Qualities of a thing of beauty
1. Gives everlasting joy.
2. Ageless.
3. Never goes waste
4. Shelters and protects like a bower.
5. Relaxes, comforts, invigorates us.

Things that cause pain
1. Ill health, gloomy days, depression
2. Lack of goodness in human beings
3. In sad moments things of beauty come to our rescue, remove the gloom from our lives.

The Thing of Beauty
This poem tries to perceive the world through language. The poet believes that there are certain things which are beautiful and worth to be treasured. These beautiful things are source of eternal joy, whose attractiveness grows with the passage of time and impact never fades away. It is as pleasant as a cool quiet bower or sound sleep with sweet dreams; or robust health and mental peace. It provides the beholder with a haven of tranquility and solace.
It is the beauty of nature that keeps us attached to this earth. Every morning we collect fresh lovely flowers and prepare garlands. The fascination for flowers is our bonding with the earth. It helps us steer clear of despondency and disappointments. We forget all our despair, of acute shortage of noble souls, of misfortunes that overtake us to test our forbearance. Life is full of trials and tribulations and we often find ourselves in the midst of gloom. Beautiful things make life worthwhile as they lift the veil of gloom, finding way for optimism and hope The objects of beauty are countless. These include heavenly bodies like the sun and the moon, the old and young trees that provide cool shelter to sleep, the daffodil flowers encased in green leaves, the streams that flow through a shady passage which they make themselves with plants, and the bushes that bear fragrant flowers. These simple and even commonplace things lift the human spirit filling it with joy and delight. In addition to these objects of nature, there are wonderful tales of our legendary heroes, who lived and died heroically, which inspire us with their matchless beauty. These beautiful things are metaphorically an endless source of nectar that pours down to us from heaven bringing eternal joy for the soul’s grandeur. They are like an elixir of life, a never diminishing source of pleasure and delight, an endless fountain of joy that seems to be a precious gift from Heaven.

- The Poet, John Keats says that beautiful things will never become ‘nothing’ as they will continue to hold us in their spell and sooth our soul.
- Every beautiful thing is like a band that ties us to this earth as it makes us want to live and enjoy these things of beauty.

- And these things of beauty, according to the poet, are the things that give hope to human beings and make them want to live, in spite of all the sorrow, illhealth and unpleasant experiences that we face on earth.

- Some of the beautiful things on this earth that have such an effect on us are the sun, the moon, trees, streams, flowers, forests, beautiful monuments that we have erected for the dead, all the lovely tales that we have heard or read.

- Finally he compares all these beautiful things to the immortal drink (of perenniality)or nectar given to us by gods or gifts of God. Thus he states his firm belief in the Divine.

By John Keats

• Metaphor: bower quiet; sweet dreams; wreathing a flowery band; pall; endless fountain of immortal drink
• Alliteration: noble natures; cooling covert; band to bind
• Imagery: flowery bands, shady boon, daffodils in green world, clear rills, cooling covert, grandeur of dooms, endless fountain of eternal drink
• Symbol: simple sheep – refers to mankind as Christ is the shepherd
• Transferred epithet: gloomy days; unhealthy and o’er darkened ways