A Poetic Exploration of the Artistic Process: Inspiration and Frustration in Shakespeare and Keats

At times it seems that art cannot help but be self-reflexive. In the poetry of both Shakespeare and Keats, literature and the creative process are themes that surface and dominate their work, even when the presumed subject of their work is entirely unrelated. Shakespeare's Sonnet "66" and "76", despite being written in a form that traditionally celebrates love, explore the difficulties of the artistic process. "Sonnet 66" addresses the issue of external hardships imposed upon the artist, whereas "Sonnet 76" concentrates on difficulties that originate within. John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" seems to be more of an ode to imagination and the creative process, defying its self-proclaimed subject, the urn. External examination of the vessel inspires questions as to the events depicted on it, resulting in speculation that goes beyond the urn and creates vivid, colorful poetry. Through the form of their poetry and the various sound devices they utilize, Shakespeare and Keats express the consternation, or alternately, the joy, in the process of artistic creation.  

Sonnets traditionally deal with love (love for a woman; these sonnets are addressed to a male lover). However, Sonnets "66" and "76" are dominated by other themes. The first twelve lines of "Sonnet 66" constitute descriptions of social and religious injustices: "needy nothing trimm'd in jollity" and "purest faith unhappily foresworn". The absence of the mention of love in the majority of the poem is jarringly subversive to poetic tradition. This preoccupation with injustices instead of love clashes with the conventions of the particular poetic form, and amplifies the feel of helpless weariness that the content conveys.

The survey of injustices turns from descriptions of universal woes of the human condition to more selective woes that apply particularly to artists: "And art made tongue-tied by authority, / And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill". The next two lines can too be read as pertaining to art. "And simple truth miscall'd simplicity" can be read as referring to works of art that are dismissed because they are not excessively complex in structure and language (as Shakespeare's work tends to be, poignant and simple). "And captive good attending captain ill" may refer to the constraints put upon artists of Shakespeare's time and locale by censorship and by patronage, the "captain ills". Thus, the overview of the malevolent forces of Shakespeare's world leads him to an inspection of the injustices that affect him personally, as a writer. The mention of love in the final couplet is not significant enough to shake the sense of resigned frustration of the poet with the world around him, as the couplet is saturated with words such as "tired", "gone", "die" and "alone".

"Sonnet 76" is also, in its content, somewhat subversive to form. The subject of the poem's first line is "my verse". This immediately creates in the reader an expectation of meta-literary thematic. However, as opposed to "Sonnet 76" which casts the blame for artistic stagnation outward, in "Sonnet 66" the artist turns to himself for answers: "Why with the time do I not glance aside / To new-found methods and to compounds strange?" Just as "Sonnet 66" was overpowered by non-conventional themes, so is "Sonnet 76" – the octet deals solely with the poet's displeasure with his writing. In the sestet, the poet provides an explanation for his lack of "variation or quick change" – his preoccupation with his love. Again, as in the previous poem, love does not seem to provide a satisfactory resolution for the creative crisis at hand. Although Shakespeare refers to the object of his desire affectionately ("O, know, sweet love, I always write of you"), his affection does not diffuse the tension created by his dissatisfaction: "So all my best is dressing old words new, / Spending again what is already spent".

Ironically, even though a major theme of these sonnets is frustration with the creative process, the result is – according to wide critical acclaim, as well as my personal judgment – lovely poetry.

While Shakespeare's poems reveal a weary, pessimistic approach to art, Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn constitutes a joyful examination of the creative process. Whereas Shakespeare's subject is also the cause of his artistic stagnation, for Keats the urn is a source of inspiration. Keats addresses the urn as a "Sylvan historian, who canst thus express / A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme". However, this claim that the urn is "more sweet" than Keats' poem is far from true. Keats manages to bring the urn to life in writing. He does not do so, however, through static descriptions of the pictures on the urn. Instead, Keats raises question after question, in speculation upon the stories behind the images on the vessel: "What men or gods are these?  What maidens loth? / What mad pursuit?  What struggle to escape?" In contrast with "Sonnet 76", Keats leaves the questions he poses unanswered. In speculating thus, the urn becomes a mere vehicle, a tool for igniting the imagination. And so, even though the poem is titled after the urn, the work immediately transcends it, becoming a celebration of the imagination and of creativity.

The second stanza of the poem can be regarded as a description of the creative process. "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter". The heard melodies are those images on the urn, those corporeal objects or experiences which inspire art; the unheard melodies are the slew of questions, inquiries and speculations that these objects spark. While the urn is lovely, Keats implies, the inspiration born thereof is lovelier. In this manner, quite cheekily, Keats places his own work, the work that was inspired by the urn, above the urn itself. At the same time, however, there is always the possibility that Keats' poem will inspire further questions, further ideas, further creations. Thus, the creative process extends before and after every work of art, certainly since antiquity, and potentially far into the future.

Keats does not utilize an accepted form for his poem, instead creating his own. The five even stanzas are graphically reminiscent of a Grecian urn, sectioned off into vertical or horizontal portions, each depicting a different scene (Fig. 1). The lines are indented differently, contributing to the effect of visual variation. And indeed, each stanza contains a depiction of a different scene, much as portions of an urn would. But again, just as the content of the poem transcends its subject and title, the content also transcends its form, offering more possibilities than the visual suggestion of an urn. What may have begun at first as a celebration of a work of art in both title and form becomes a celebration of the creative process. The question, unanswerable, arises as to whether this transcendence is intentional or if inspiration "got the better" of the poet.

Fig. 1 The visual layout of the poem is reminiscent of a Grecian urn

Aside from variations on form, Shakespeare and Keats both employ sound devices in order to manipulate the content of their poetry. The Shakespearean sonnet is conventionally written in iambic pentameter. However, in "Sonnet 66", this convention is broken as the first line begins with two trochees, echoing the distress conveyed in the content: "Tired with all these, for restful death I cry". In addition, the repetition of the word "and" at the beginning of ten consecutive lines (which is also reminiscent of the Ten Commandments, broken) puts visual, if not auditory stress on the first syllable of these lines. Rhyming too is only approximate, which further reflects the distress in content (cry/ jollity, strumpeted/ disabled). Finally, Shakespeare illustrates the idea of "art made tongue-tied by authority" by providing tongue-tying phrases throughout the poem. Portions of the poem are very choppy  or "staccato": "Tired with all these, for restful death I cry"; "maiden virtue rudely strumpeted". In particular, consonance is used, particularly with "l", "s" and "t" (below, I have marked repeating consonant sounds throughout the sonnet).

Sonnet 66

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And guilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill,
And simple truth miscall'd simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
            Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
            Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

"Sonnet 76" too begins with a trochee, hinting at thematic discord from the start: "Why is my verse so barren of new pride". The second, third, fifth, eighth, ninth and twelfth lines also (debatably) begin with a stressed syllable, creating a frequent break from the otherwise iambic meter. However, in contrast with "Sonnet 66", where the rhyming is often slanted, here the rhyming is perfect: "pride/ aside", "change/ strange". This duality of perfect rhyming and inconstant meter reflects the tension between "sweet love" and writing that is "barren".

Just as the sound devices used by Shakespeare match the content of his sonnets, the devices in Keats' "Ode" complement its themes. Keats uses an approximate rhyme scheme and approximate rhyming as well as somewhat lenient meter. The poem is written in ten-line stanzas of largely iambic pentameter: "All breathing human passion far above, / That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd". The breaks from this meter, however, are rather frequent. For instance, the following line: "Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed" consists of a spondee followed by four iambs. The line "Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone" consists of a trochee followed by four iambs.

The rhyme scheme, like the meter, is not rigorous. The first seven lines of each stanza are constant: ABABCDE. The last three lines, however, vary in terms of their rhyme scheme, being either DCE (first and fifth stanzas), CED (second stanza) or CDE (third and fourth stanzas). The rhymes themselves are at times perfect: "kiss/ bliss", "enjoy'd/ cloy'd" and at times imperfect: "quietness/express", "Arcady/ ecstasy". However, in contrast with Shakespeare, the inconsistency in meter and rhyming does not have an effect of disharmony, but instead allows for a freedom of expression that is not artificially restricted by rigorous rules. The poem is filled throughout with language that indicates liberation, childlike excitement and inquisitiveness: "What mad pursuit?  What struggle to escape? / What pipes and timbrels?  What wild ecstasy?" This feeling of joy in the discovery of new ideas and in making inquiries into the unknown is echoed in the sound devices.

Thus, the creative process is central to the works of Shakespeare as well as of Keats. Be it to express indignation, self-criticism, or joy in respect to art in general and to novel concepts in particular, both poets enlist form, meter and rhyme to empower their ideas. In using these, they subvert tradition or create their own, leaving their mark on human artistic creation. And, perhaps most importantly, their work not only embodies an examination of the creative process, but also paves the path for others to continue to inspire and be inspired, thus creating new art – perhaps ad infinitum.