Keats' Apollo:
Myth in English Romantic Poetry
Introduction
The Greek and Roman mythologies are not dead. They live today in our studies
of ancient civilizations, in our fine arts, and even on our televisions.
As a living discourse, myth is a changing discourse. Anyone who has
tried to compare the adventures of Hercules recounted in ancient sources
with those we find in the Action Pack Adventure series will be
well aware that when we use mythology we often change it. Even
among ancient sources there is an astonishing amount of variation in the
way the stories are told and what they are made to mean. This was
as true for the Romantic poets in their use of myth as it was in ancient
times and is today. When they used traditional mythologies in their
poetry, the Romantics gave those mythologies new life and new meaning.
At the same time that myths were spoken in Romantic poetry, the poets used
myth to speak, to express ideas and comment upon issues they felt pertinent
to their time and place.
John Keats, a high-ranking member of the pantheon of English Romantic
poets, made an abundant use of myth in his poetry, especially the myth
of Apollo. For this reason, critics have found the study of Apollo
in Keats' poetry a particularly fruitful point of entrance into his body
of work. The purpose of this web site is to introduce some of the
scholarly work done on myth in the Romantic era, but particularly on Keats'
appropriation of the mythic god Apollo. It will also highlight some
of the issues involved in reading Keats, and the Romantics in general,
through a myth-critical lense.
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created 5/6/98