Keats’s Negative Capability: Parallel Concepts in Derrida’s Theory of Deconstruction

Authors

  • Prashant Mishra Professor of English, Government S.V.P.G. College, Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh, India

Keywords:

Negative Capability, Deconstruction, Derrida, Keats

Abstract

Among the romantics, Keats due to his anti-dogmatic stand approximates postmodernism.
Postmodernism denies theological signification to a text and prefers a sceptic stand towards all
the established conventions and hierarchies. Keats too in his letters dealing with the negative
capability and poetical character denies certainties and fixities by preferring to be in a state of
half-knowledge. According to him, a poet should be equally receptive to contradictory
experiences without siding with any one of them. It is through participation in opposites that a
poet can sharpen his sensibility and save himself from becoming an egotist. This opposition of
preconceived ideas, stressing on doubts and mysteries, participation in all types of experience
and negation of identity to self brings negative capability close to deconstruction. The paper
attempts to discuss the theories of Negative Capability and Deconstruction in detail and explores
if any affinities exist between the two. 

References

Blackstone, Bernard. “The Mind of Keats in His Art.” British Romantic Poets. Ed. Shiv K. Kumar. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2002.

Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1976

Gittings, Robert. (Ed.) Letters of John Keats. New York: OUP, 1970.

Murry, J. M. Keats and Shakespeare. London: OUP, 1959.

Rajnath. “John Keats and Deconstruction: The Example of “Ode on a Grecian Urn”.” Journal of Literary Criticism. Vol. X. No. 1. (2004).

Ray, Mohit K. “Multiple Interpretations: A Practical Guideline.” Perspectives on Criticism. Ed. Mohit K, Ray. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2002.

Rice, Philip and Waugh, Patricia. (Ed.) Modern Literary Theory: A Reader. 2nd ed. London: Edward Arnold, 1992.

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Published

01.07.2009

How to Cite

Prashant Mishra. (2009). Keats’s Negative Capability: Parallel Concepts in Derrida’s Theory of Deconstruction. Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature, 1(1), 11–17. Retrieved from https://journals.eltai.in/index.php/jtrel/article/view/44

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2009): July

Section

Research Articles

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