キーツの墓碑銘再考

概要

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On February 23, 1821 John Keats died at the age of 25 under the care of his friend, the painter Joseph Severn, a half year after he moved to Rome for medical treatment for tuberculosis with Severn. He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in a suburb of Rome, where P. B. Shelley and Severn also now lie. Keats asked Severn just before his death not to add any words to his own inscription, "Here lies One / Whose Name was writ in Water" on his tombstone. The epitaph of "writ in Water" has a sullen tone and there is also the unstrung lyre engraved on the upper side of his tombstone. Both of these apparently symbolize the tragedy of his lost fame and his sorrow due to his short life and the hostile criticism of his Endymion. The design of the unstrung lyre and the epitaph also render a positive impression, however, in light of his relationship with his fiancee Fanny Brawne, and considering Keats's philosophy of "Negative Capability" that is the key to his poetic imagination. It might even be argued that the two elements of the broken lyre and the epitaph represent Keats's intention of making invisible things significant. This paper will focus on the meanings of Keats's epitaph, or his last work, which is connected to his concept of "Negative Capability."