Was Keats addicted to opium?
John Keats, the poet of “beauty”, a devotee of aesthetic isolation who swooned at the thought of his so-called “bright star” Fanny Brawne and succumbed to TB when he was 25, was an opium addict.
Why is Samuel Taylor Coleridge important?
His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking cultures. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including “suspension of disbelief”.
Did Percy Shelley use drugs?
Percy Shelley was said by scholars to have used opium to alter his state of thinking and free his mind. To “dampen his nerves”, Shelley took laudanum, according to letters he wrote, as well as biographies.
Why Coleridge is called opium-eater?
Desperate for some financial success with his poetry, Coleridge intentionally attempted to portray himself as a dreamy opium-eater because he, perhaps rightly, believed that it would draw a morbid fascination to his work. Opium played an exciting role in the public image of Romantic literature.
What illness did John Keats have?
The young English poet John Keats died aged just 25 in Rome on 23 February 1821, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis, or consumption as it was then known, just over a year before. In 1819, inspired by his medical training and acute observation of his disease, Keats captured the essence of its impact on society.
Why did Shelley’s heart not burn?
How could it have survived the heat of the fire? Some argue that his heart had calcified due to earlier tuberculosis. An 1885 New York Times article theorised that it might, in fact, have been his liver: ‘Shelley’s liver was saturated with sea water, and was on that account more than normally incombustible’.
What inspired Frankenstein?
In 1816 Mary, Percy and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could write the best horror story. After thinking for days, Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein after imagining a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he had made.
Who was Coleridge inspired by?
William Shakespe…Immanuel KantRobert BurnsBaruch SpinozaJohn MiltonEdmund Burke
Samuel Taylor Coleridge/Influenced by
How did Keats influence literature?
John Keats was an English Romantic lyric poet whose verse is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous appeal. His reputation grew after his early death, and he was greatly admired in the Victorian Age. His influence can be seen in the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and the Pre-Raphaelites, among others.
What was John Keats influenced by?
John MiltonVirgilEdmund SpenserWilliam Hazlitt
John Keats/Influenced by
Who was John Keats influenced by?
Who was Coleridge influenced by?
How Coleridge is different from Wordsworth?
In addition, Coleridge’s poetry complicates experiences that Wordsworth views as very simple and very commonplace. Samuel Taylor Coleridge has a poetic diction unlike that of William Wordsworth, he relies more heavily on imagination for poetic inspiration, and he also incorporates religion into his poetry differently.
What inspired Shelley to write Ozymandias?
The poem is thought to have been inspired by a gigantic statue of Rameses II that was bought for the British Museum by the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni. It was written in late 1817 as part of a competition between Shelley and his friend Horace Smith, and was published in The Examiner in January 1818.
Where did the author of Frankenstein lose her virginity?
Mary Shelley is said to have lost her virginity on her mother’s grave (described by one social media user as the most ‘goth’ thing ever). 3. Her mother’s grave was handy for something a bit more above board: Mary Shelley learned to write her name by tracing the letters on the headstone. 4.
How has Frankenstein influenced literature?
Frankenstein explored the ancient themes of literature: anguished dread of mortality, the consequences of obsession— inevitably hubris and its consequent ate—and the divine retribution that in mythology always follows overweening pride. The Penguin Classics bicentennial edition is out this month.
What are the best books on the Opium War?
The best books on The Opium War 1 Narcotic Culture by Frank Dikotter, Lars Laamann and Zhou Xun. 2 Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy by Carl Trocki. 3 The Opium War by Peter Ward Fay. 4 The Inner Opium War by James Polachek. 5 Britain’s Gulag by Caroline Elkins.
What is opium-influenced writing?
The work of these writers is discussed in the context of nineteenth-century opinion about the uses and dangers of opium, and of Romantic ideas on the creative imagination, on dreams and hypnagogic visions, and on imagery, so that the idiosyncrasies of opium-influenced writing can be isolated from their general literary background.
What do you think of Peter Ward Fay’s book ‘The Opium War’?
There is one niggling criticism I have of the book, which Peter Ward Fay himself acknowledges, in that he neglects the Chinese story. It’s an account told from European and mainly Anglophone materials. He himself admits he is no Sinologist. And that is a curious feature of the landscape of much Western writing about the Opium War.