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COPYRIGHT 2006 Adam Mickiewicz University
ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1818 John Keats journeyed to Teignmouth in Devon to care for his dying brother. This essay explores his idea of landscape in three poems of the period. The term "landscape" designates not only the geographical sense of land but also the meanings that are imposed upon or emanate from issues concerning land. Keats made clear in letters to close friends that he held Devon and its people in low esteem. Yet, in his poetry, he curiously rejoices in the beauties of Devon and its people, assuming even the idiosyncrasies of a south-west country brogue. What accounts for these extraordinary shifts in mood? The essay argues that even when the reality of Devonshire failed him, Keats' poetry reflected a willingness to reach for an imagined landscape where, free of the tribulations of actual existence, he lay kissing a milk maiden in the fields and embracing the images of country life.
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In 1818 John Keats journeyed to Teignmouth in south Devon. His brother Tom was dying of tuberculosis and had come to Teignmouth for palliative care in an environment celebrated for the healthy qualities of its climate and sea air. During the initial period of his stay at Teignmouth, Tom was cared for by his brother George at a house near the quayside--20 Northumberland Terrace. When George was forced to return to London to make arrangements for his forthcoming migration to America, John Keats undertook to take his place. While in Teignmouth, Keats completed the monumental poem Endymion, and wrote also (with the exception of the opening two or three verses) the whole of Isabella; or the pot of basil. In addition to a sheaf of letters, a number of songs and sonnets were composed during Keats' seven-week sojourn (here referred to as the "Teignmouth poems"). This essay explores the idea of landscape in three of the Teignmouth poems. In literature, "landscape" is a term that designates not only the physical, geographical sense of land but also the meanings that are imposed upon or emanate from issues concerning land. Keats' interest in landscape is well documented. From the expansive domains of Hyperion to the wintry moonscapes of The Eve of Saint Agnes, Keats reveals a willingness not only to articulate ideas of space but also to show how the demarcations and significances of landscape may shift and blur.
While Keats' stay in Teignmouth has been widely noted by critics, there has been a dearth of substantive critical appraisal of the Teignmouth period as a discernible and important stage in the poet's writing. Comprehensive studies by Sperry (1973), Clark (1993), Matthews (1995), Roe (1997), Woof and Hebron (1997), Walsh (1999), Everest (2004), and Cooperman (2004) all neglect or underplay the importance of this phase of Keats' career. A good account of the Teignmouth period is to be found in Motion's (1999) book, Keats. Here, Teignmouth is mentioned extensively, but almost always with regard to the issue of John Keats caring for his sick brother, Tom. Even in this extensive and admirable tome, none of the shorter Teignmouth poems is addressed in any detail and no recognition is accorded to Keats' sense of landscape with regard to the south Devon region.
The period immediately preceding Keats' arrival in Teignmouth had been frenetic and productive. February 1818 saw him in prolific creative form in London, producing a sheaf of poems (including "To a Lady seen for a few moments at Vauxhall" and "To Spenser") and the opening stanzas of his Boccaccian tale Isabella; or the pot of basil. His spirits were high and his muse prolific. He travelled directly to Teignmouth, declining the invitation of a friend to detour and stop off in Oxford for fear that his brother Tom, having declared himself...
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