キーツの眠り : 「睡眠と詩」を中心に

概要

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John Keats's "Sleep and Poetry", the closing poem in his very first collection, Poems, is a significant work in that it reveals Keats's poetic world and ambitions. It is in this first step toward becoming a great poet that Keats strives to immerse himself in "the agonies, the strife of human hearts", as he passes through the realm of Flora and old Pan and abandon the joy of sleep. Placed adjacent to "poetry" in the title, "sleep" is a major element of imagery, the understanding of which is critical to the appreciation of "Sleep and Poetry". To use the words of E. de Selincourt, Keats develops in this work "the contrast between the experiences of the unawakened and of the awakened mind". Studies have traditionally centered on the simple contrast between the two, with an emphasis on "poetry" rather than "sleep". This paper, however, will focus on "sleep", treating it as a manifestation of Keats's inner world that is integral to his notion of "poetry". To Keats, "sleep" was much more than a mere physical rest. It signified his intoxication, his inclination for death, and finally his self-destroying "Negative Capability" which holds the key to Keats's poetic imagination. In fact, it might even be argued that elements closely connected to "sleep" are the seeds to understanding Keats's later great poems.
2006-10-30