Keatsの伝記一考

The life of John Keats (1795-1821), so intense and short, has been a great subject for biography. He was the most rapidly developing poet in English literature, had an unhappy love affair, and was a medical doctor besides. Immediately after his death, some of his friends and acquaintances mourned his death; some wrote "memoirs" and "recollections" of Keats, and Shelley composed "Adonais." One of the early Keats biographies is Lord Houghton\u27s Life and Letters and Literary Remains of Keats (1848); he received Keats\u27s poems and letters from those who knew the poet at first hand and compiled the materials. As he was still close to the period when Keats lived, and he could not tell frankly all the details of Keats\u27s personal matters. Some Victorian bias is prevalent in the biography. In the twentieth century Amy Lowell\u27s John Keats (1925) came out as the first modern Keats biography. She uses many sources which have been collected around this period. She is chatty and affectionate as well as academic. The first really scholarly biography was published in 1963: Aileen Ward\u27s John Keats: The Making of a Poet. She focuses on Keats\u27s development as a poet and emphasizes the influence of his mother\u27s hasty remarriage and her early death on Keats\u27s life and poetry. She attempts to convey a new sense of the meaning of his life. In the same year W. J. Bate published John Keats, more thorough and detailed. He makes good use of Hyder E. Rollins\u27s The Letters of John Keats, 1814-1821 (1958) and The Keats Circle: Letters and Papers and More Letters and Poems of the Keats Circle (1948). Bate himself calls his book a companion to The Letters. He is critical and analytical and far more scholarly than any previous biographers. He closely comments on and reviews the poems and letters. These major twentieth century biographies are written by American scholars. This is partly because most Keats materials are housed in America. In 1968 another equally authoritative biography was issued by Robert Gittings, an English scholar. He uses not only American materials, but also extensively visited libraries and museums in Britain to gather a wide range of sources on Keats and his time. This has enabled him to give a thorough background of the nineteenth century British society. Based upon his predecessors\u27 works, he gains a new insight into Keats\u27s life. He especially emphasizes Keats\u27s medical career. Bate\u27s and Gittings\u27s books are established as standard biographies of Keats. Since these two authoritative interpretations have been set up, it is very difficult to present a novel treatment of Keats\u27s life. For thirty years no scholarly biography appeared. In 1995, the bicentenary of Keats\u27s birth, Stephen Coote wrote a new biography, John Keats: A Life. This may be a welcome achievement in England, as England is traditionally a lover of biography. Coote intends to show Keats as a man formed by circumstances, both public and private. He means to present a Keats who lived in the rapidly changing British society. This book would be more significant if he could describe the chaotic period in close relation with Keats\u27s life. But, in fact, his biography is not novel at all; essentially it is within the range of Bate and Gittings. His interpretation of the poems is not so critical and analytical as these authorities. In spite of these defects, he has some merits. First of all, Coote is readable and enjoyable. He colors the biographical facts with his imagination and affection toward Keats. For example, he efficiently and attractively describes the episode of Keats\u27s visit to Hunt\u27s home; Keats was impressed with Hunt\u27s room full of books and its literary atmosphere, which eventually led him to his literary career. In the successful presentation of the episodes, he skillfully creates memorable scenes. When this book was issued, the book reviews in the journals were mostly severe, saying this biography was unnecessary, though a few were favorable. I agree that there is nothing novel. But I admire some marvelous passages which attract us into Keats\u27s life. Quite recently in 1997, another new biography was written by Andrew Motion, a British poet. I have not yet obtained this book, but a book review says he efficiently deals with Keats\u27s political aspect which has been neglected. Looking through all these biographies, it is noticeable that Keats is treated with deep affection. The twentieth century biographers respect Keats who lived through the violently changing society and value his life and poetry