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5 Discussion / Conclusions In View Of The Received Data, It Is Obvious That ...

5 Discussion / Conclusions

In view of the received data, it is obvious that John Keats appears as a proponent of youth, depicting youth as the symbol of innocence and life, passion and desires, while Geoffrey Chaucer acquires the neutral position, objectively describing both positive and negative sides of youth and death. Actually, writers and philosophers of the medieval era interpreted every issue from two opposite perspectives, without supporting this or that side (Leff, 1958); that is why, Chaucer utilises this particular technique in his literary works. Although Keats and Chaucer belong to different eras, both poets reveal that youth is full of illusion, while old age is a knowledge of the ultimate hard reality of life (Khan, 2001, p.81). In The Eve of St. Agnes Madeline finds herself in the world of illusion when she falls in love, but maturation dispels this illusion, as well as the image of the romantic knight. Thus, Keats reveals that youth is the state of enjoyment, happiness and absorption into the unreal, while age deprives a person of these powerful emotions. Opposing love of a young female to a cruel world of reality, Keats exposes the essence of his times (Hewlette, 1970). On the other hand, Keats clearly demonstrates in both The Eve of St. Agnes and Ode to a Nightingale that, despite the inevitable loss of youth, it is possible to return it through recollections and dreams.

Such duality in the interpretation of youth and age implicitly uncovers Keats' inner controversies. Moving from the state of dreams into the reality and from the reality into dreams, the poet tries to overcome the disappointment of old age and acquire happiness of youth. According to Stillinger (1999), such transfer is characteristic to the movement of Romanticism; feeling disappointment with reality, the poet in Ode to a Nightingale tries to escape into the world of dreams.

But a person cannot live in this realm and he returns to reality. However, this return is marked by profound inner changes, and the poet starts to perceive the world and people around in a different light. These changes are especially obvious at the end of the poem and they can be considered as essence of person's experience. Through this experience Keats presents various extremes, such as happiness and pain, joy and melancholy, youth and age. Keats maintains the idea that in the world of such extremes a person should find as much positive feelings and emotions as possible. But it is impossible to experience one extreme without the other; for instance, only old age brings realisation of youth, and only pain provides a person with understanding of happiness. In both The Eve of St.

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