‘연인’으로 재현된 키츠의 독자: 소네트를 중심으로

Abstract

This essay aims at understanding John Keats’s sonnets as a poetic continuum in which he seeks the ideal relationship with his readers by asking questions and suggesting possible answers. Not only does Keats use the poetic form to position himself as a legitimate successor of the British literary tradition, but also he attempts to contemplate poetry, fame, and death by writing sonnets. Contrary to the hostile and indifferent remarks about the public in his letters, Keats’s sonnets reveal that he actively responds to issues such as changes in the literary marketplace and the pursuit of fame. Although he appears to prefer male, sophisticated readers, it is the figure of a female lover who enables Keats to envision an encounter with ideal readers. In “Oh Chatterton! how very sad thy fate,” Keats mourns the tragic fate of Thomas Chatterton, who was neglected by the public, and identifies himself with the young poet. While offering himself as an ideal reader of the genius poet, he seeks to become indifferent to public taste and severe criticism toward poets, in spite of his marginal status as a poet. Yet, two “On Fame” sonnets display Keats’s ambivalent attitude towards fame, namely, his struggle to ignore it and his desire to gain it. In the first “On Fame” sonnet, he presents the relationship with the reading public as a tug-of-war game between lovers, which is a reflection of the commercialized and feminized literary market. Meanwhile, the second sonnet reveals his reflection on the excessive self-exposure through publication and inevitable yearning for fame. In response to the feminized and public fame, Keats tells poets to achieve their poetic independence by being passive and receptive to the public in order to achieve higher fame. The idea of passiveness and openness to diverse aspects of life is the key element of negative capability, which Keats continues to develop throughout his poetic career. In addition, the representation of Keats’s relationship with Fanny Brawne in his late sonnets is a parallel with his imaginary relationship with readers. It also displays the crisis of negative capability in reality due to his identity as a poet as well as a producer/seller in the literary market. For Keats, the presentiment of corporeal death triggers the anxiety of ontological death. Furthermore, his concerns about literary failure and about an intimate relationship with Fanny are juxtaposed in “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” in which the poet tries to exert negative capability by converting love and fame into a “nothingness.” Although the absence of the lover in “Why did I laugh tonight? no voice will tell” indicates that negative capability cannot be maintained in a state of isolation, The description of Fanny and the poet’s close contact with her in “Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art” suggest that an intimate relationship with a lover-reader enables the poet to imagine the reconciliation with potential readers and to be negatively capable.