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Applying To Such Portrayal, Chaucer Simultaneously Shows The Inability Of ...

Applying to such portrayal, Chaucer simultaneously shows the inability of youth and age to interact with each other. Although Alisoun marries John, she is not happy with him and, thus she initiates the sexual relations with Nicholas (Woods, 1994).

On the other hand, even in these relations Chaucer demonstrates Alisoun's innocence that is usually associated with youth. As Alisoun claims to her lover, Lat be, Nicholas, / Or I Wol crie out, harrow' and ‘allas'! / Do wey your handes, for your curteisye (3285-87). Actually, it is Miller's Tale that points at the debate between youth and age (Prior, 1986); however, The Wife of Bath and Knight's Tale return to this debate throughout the narrations.

John Keats also portrays youth and age as opposites in his poem Ode to a Nightingale, but, as a Romantic poet, his interpretation of these opposites stems from his understanding of nature. In particular, Keats shows that, like nature itself, human beings experience birth and death, youth and old age. Similar to Chaucer, the poet depicts youthful passions and aspirations that collide with the reality of life, as a person becomes mature. In Ode to a Nightingale Keats constantly refers to his recollections of youth, as if expressing the longing for it, and he describes old age as a state "where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs, / Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies (25-26). Through his imagination Keats makes an attempt to become a part of nature, identifying himself with the nightingale. Deviating from the reality into the world of illusions, Keats finally comes back to actuality and to the realisation that youth has vanished. As the poet sees the nightingale, he is lost in his dreams, feeling happiness and tranquillity. But, as the bird disappears, the poet recognises the limitations of the state of dreams.

Thus, the image of the nightingale signifies youth and dreams, while the nightingale's disappearance implies old age and maturation. As the poet comes back to reality, he starts to experience "the state of doubt, self-division, half-knowledge (Khan, 2002 p.92). In The Eve of St. Agnes John Keats opposes the youth of two lovers (Madeline and Porphyro) and viability against age and dying (in regard to the Beadsman and Angela). Through such contrast Keats demonstrates that, while Madeline and Porphyro experience passion and love, the Beadsman avoids life and "already had his deathbell rung" (22). He is so obsessed with his age and his soul that he does not feel any emotions or desires. As a result, the Beadsman's life is reduced to physical existence that lacks any meaning.

The same regards Angela who is not able to experience love or other powerful emotions, as she is an "old beldame, weak in body and in soul" (90). The presentation of youth is further intensified with the depiction of Madeline's purity and innocence, the features that are always associated with youth.


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